FedEx Institute of Technology Invests in Eight New Technologies
August 31, 2017 - The FedEx Institute of Technology recently awarded development grants
for eight new technologies to researchers from across the University of Memphis. The
grants, totaling $160,000, were awarded to the most commercially promising technologies
to promote faculty innovations, plus support the protection and commercialization
of inventions made by faculty and researchers.
The eight include:
"Fully-Passive Wireless ECG and SpO2 Monitoring System on Smartphone Using Low-Cost
Disposable Body-Worn Inkjet Printed Sensors." Typical monitors used on patients are
heavy and uncomfortable for long-term use. Dr. Bashir Morshed's technological research
will combat these issues by developing a Band-Aid-like sensor worn on the body for
physiological signal capture;
"A Novel Cost-Effective Method for Improving Transient Stability of Grid-Connected
Wind Generator." The next development milestones are building the hardware for the
nonlinear controller of the proposed capacitor device and verification of the controller
performance for transient stability enhancement of winger generator system through
the hardware-in-the-loop system – Dr. Mohd Hasan Ali;
"Fully Automatic, Real-Time Lead Analysis System for Community-Based Monitoring and
Early Warning." The succeeding steps in Dr. Gary Emmert's research involves developing
a fully automated, on-site Pb Rapid Response (Pb-RR) system as well as using the system
to monitor in real-time lead concentrations in drinking water supplies in both a distributed
system and in homes;
"Modular Amphibious Unmanned Aerial System for Environmental Sampling and Analysis"
will be tested with the assistance of the Tennessee Department of Environment and
Conservation. After successful testing, work will continue on real-time full feedback
and display of water-quality sensor outputs to the user – Dr. William Alexander;
"Fetal Transport System." This system would help transport infants born at less than
26 weeks to an advanced NICU in order to receive proper treatment and care for greater
survival outcomes. The next step in this research is to determine what nutrients the
placenta provides to the fetus in order to mimic those womb conditions within the
transport system – Dr. Randal Buddington;
"Multi-Focal-Light Sheet Structure Illumination Fluorescence Microscopy: Illumination
Module, Method and Software to Obtain 3D Super-Resolved Images with Improved Optical-Sectioning." The
primary goals of this project are to design and evaluate the performance of the illumination
system, the data acquisition software, and the computation method and software for
data processing – Dr. Chrysanthe Preza;
"Expression+: An Assistive Solution for Affect-Enabled Dyadic Conversation." Dr. Mohammed
Yeasin is working toward collecting more natural emotion data and developing techniques
for generating virtual examples for training purposes. A primary objective of this
work is to customize the feedback system to suit the needs of specific users; and
"Raman Exosome Assay for Cancer Liquid Biopsy." A liquid biopsy is a method of detecting
and identifying cancer biomarkers with the body fluids used as samples. Dr. Xiaohua
Huang's continuing research will deal with the standardization of the assay used for
a cancer-detecting liquid biopsy, specifically in terms of sensitivity, specificity
and reproducibility. Further testing will occur with in vitro validation of the assay.
After a record year for the UofM that included receiving eight issued U.S. patents,
The FedEx Institute's goal is to support and propel these innovations so that they
join the University's ever-expanding profile of commercialization and patent achievements.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Mary Ann Dawson
901.678.1592
mdawson@memphis.edu