Tech Transfer Spotlights
Integrated Sensing Systems (ISSYS)
Press Release:
ISSYS Awarded New Patent for a Resonant Tube Viscosity Sensing Device (June 21,
2006)
These days, some of the biggest
developments in engineering are also some of the smallest. Health care,
communications, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and food processing are
among the industries that are benefiting from remarkable advances in
microelectromechanical engineering (MEMS). As a doctoral student at the
UM College of Engineering, Dr. Nader Najafi was keenly aware of the vast
potential of MEMS. He founded ISSYS in 1995 along with his brother and
UM engineering professor Khalil Najafi and their former faculty advisor
Kensall Wise. With the help of UM Tech Transfer, the company licensed
eight patents for micro devices from the University of Michigan.
Today, ISSYS is well on its way to
marketing a broad line of leading-edge microsystems. Animal studies have
just been completed on prototype pressure sensors-wireless,
battery-less, implantable micro devices for monitoring and treating
congestive heart failure and hydrocephalus. Using its patented microtube
technology, the company is refining portable multiple-drug delivery
systems for treatment of AIDS, cancer, tuberculosis and other diseases.
Its flow sensors are finding ready buyers in a wide range of industries.
And the company is also doing a brisk business as a provider of
fabrication and pre-production services.
Najafi is quick to credit the
University's role in his company's success. "The University of Michigan
has been-and continues to be-a fantastic partner," he says. "I view it
as an ocean of opportunity for start-up companies."
Copyright, Regents of the University of
Michigan
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