A new discovery can take decades to move from the laboratory
to the public, where it is most needed, but the process of discovery to patent to
license and to the public is expedited through the Purdue Research Park and its
147 companies.
Products and technologies, from cancer treatments to new biofuels, biomedical devices, homeland security systems and drug manufacturing, are all examples of products and technologies being researched and developed at the Purdue Research Park.
The park, which is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, is the largest university-affiliated research park in the country. The 725-acre park employs nearly 3,000 people. The Association of University Research Parks recognized Purdue Research Park for Excellence in Technology Transfer in 2005, and the park received the organization's Research/Science Park Company of the Year Award of Excellence in 2004.
"Many of the companies were founded by Purdue University faculty or have Purdue faculty serving as scientific or technology officers," said Joseph B. Hornett, senior vice president, treasurer and COO of the Purdue Research Foundation. "The park-based companies operate in the arenas of life sciences, homeland security, engineering, advanced manufacturing and information technology."
The Purdue Research Park combines award-winning technology transfer and business acceleration programs, flexible leasing plans and human resources, media relations and marketing assistance that has led to explosive growth for individual companies.
Cook Biotech Inc. works with surgeons around the world to relieve pain and discomfort with a true breakthrough in the area of human tissue repair. The product, which helps healing in cases such as hernia repair, plastic surgery, burns and skins ulcers, has been used in more than a million patients around the world.
MED Institute Inc. helps move diagnostic and therapeutic discoveries to the market through the development of devices ranging from advanced endovascular products to peripheral stents, from gastroenterological products to urological devices and more.
Endocyte Inc. is a biotechnology company developing a new generation of receptor-targeted therapeutics, or "smart drugs," for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases.
Quadraspec Inc. Is changing the face of diagnostic medicine by commercializing a simple blood test that could instantly detect cancer, cardiovascular disease or other serious illnesses at their earliest, most treatable stages.
The Purdue Technology Center of Indianapolis at AmeriPlex-Indianapolis will open in the fall with the 55,000-square-foot technology incubator. This park will accommodate up to 75 businesses and create 1,500 jobs. The park will be located along the I-70 corridor and near the midfield terminal of the Indianapolis International Airport.
The Purdue Technology Center of Northwest Indiana sits on 386 acres west of I-65, near Merrillville. This 48,000-square-foot center anchors the surrounding mixed-use business and technology park—Ameriplex at the Crossroads÷serves 15 technology-based tenants, five additional tenants and six technology-based affiliate companies.
The 40-acre Purdue Technology Center of Southeast Indiana will open this fall with a new technology park and expanded academic programming in New Albany, Ind. near Lousiville, Ky. The center will contain 18,000 square feet of business incubator offices, an economic development office and an office for Purdue's Technical Assistance Program, which connects companies with Purdue resources and assists them in implementing state-of-the art technologies. As they grow, the companies will have an opportunity to move into the adjacent technology park.
"Weāve expanded our scope as well as our reach by providing many of our industry-leading amenities and services to every company within our parks, not just our client firms," Hornett said. "We offer top-notch business plan competitions, job fairs, internship programs and entrepreneurship academies and the list of services continues to grow."
Clustered together, the firms in the Purdue parks create an environment conducive to information sharing through networking, as well as a larger pool of highly skilled labor. Clustering also encourages the development of additional onsite amenities, such as trail systems, fitness centers, daycares, restaurants and other bonuses that make working in the Purdue Research Park network worthwhile.
They grow with the help of the Purdue Research Foundationās Office of Technology Commercialization, one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the United States. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the university's academic activities.
"We work hand-in-hand with Purdue faculty-, staff- and student-entrepreneurs to provide the resources needed to better understand Purdue policies related to intellectual property and the processes in which this intellectual property can become an actual product or service," Hornett said. "The office helps faculty members with patents, copyright, trademarks and tangible research property. To ensure the long-term success of the innovations, we take the process one step further—at times—and help our inventors form startup companies complete with investor support and qualified management teams."
Advanced tissue engineering for wound care/surgery. More than a million individuals worldwide have been helped by Purdue biomedical engineering researchers, who discovered that a portion of porcine (pig) small intestine had remarkable remodeling properties for the reconstruction and repair of anatomical defects. Applications for this extra-cellular matrix technology can be found in wound care, soft tissue augmentation, burn management, hernia repair, urological surgery and general surgery. Licenses for various applications of this technology are held by DePuy Orthopedics of Warsaw, Ind., Cook Biotech Inc. of West-Lafayette, Ind., (a Purdue Research Park company), and CorMatrix Cardiovascular of Atlanta, Ga. Medical products derived from this technology are marketed worldwide.
Nerve regeneration technology. Researchers with the Center for Paralysis Research in Purdue's School of Veterinary Medicine have developed a treatment for central nervous system injury and disease that has shown early promise in bringing quality-of-life improvements to patients with paralysis. The technology includes a platform of treatment alternatives, including a medical device called the Oscillating Field Stimulator, a combination medical device and drug, and a series of drugs, all targeting injury and diseases of the central nervous system. The technology is licensed exclusively to Andara Life Science Inc., an Indianapolis-based company that is a subsidiary of Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Inc.
Improving the efficiency of ethanol production. Researchers with Purdue's Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering have developed a strain of yeast that more effectively makes ethanol from agricultural residues that would otherwise be discarded or used as animal feed. Purdue's genetically altered yeast allows about 40 percent more ethanol to be made from sugars derived from agricultural residues, such as corn stalks and wheat straw. Unlike traditional ethanol feedstocks, such as corn kernels, most agricultural residues contain two major sugars, glucose and xylose, which cannot both be fermented into ethanol by natural Saccharomyces yeast. Purdue researchers altered the genetic structure of the yeast so that it now contains three additional genes that make it possible to simultaneously convert these cellulosic materials.
Portable mass spectrometer. Purdue researchers have developed a technology that enables mass spectrometers to be portable and capable of multidimensional mass analysis. This mass spectrometer is based on cylindrical ion trap technology that has the ability to detect trace concentrations of chemicals in air, water and soil, and then confirm the presence of these chemicals through an additional process called multidimensional mass analysis. Specific applications range from detection of explosives and chemical weapons to field-based environmental health and safety analysis. A license for this technology is held by Griffin Analytical Technologies Inc., a Purdue Research Park-based company in West Lafayette, Ind.