|
For more than 20 years, the Edison Biotechnology Institute's people have made discoveries, patented technologies, helped create businesses and addressed human health problems.
Our history officially began in 1984, when we were established by the Ohio University Board of Trustees. Our organization was founded as one of the six original Technology Centers funded through the Ohio Department of Development's Thomas Edison Program. EBI continues its affiliation with this program as a regional affiliate of BioOhio, formerly called the Edison BioTechnology Center.
The technology upon which the institute was founded — the microinjection of exogenous genes into laboratory mice, resulting in the production of transgenic animals — was pioneered in the early 1980s by an Ohio University research team led by Dr. Thomas Wagner. This team created worldwide headlines in 1981 by successfully producing the first ever animal expressing a transgene.
The institute's research base was significantly broadened in 1987 with the arrival of Dr. John Kopchick, nationally known for his study of growth hormone genes and growth biology. He continues to pursue these interests, as well as related diabetes research.
In 1997 Dr. Xiaozhuo Chen returned to Ohio University, his alma mater, as a third principal investigator at EBI. Dr. Chen investigates gene therapy, diabetes and herbal medicines.
After Dr.Wagner retired in 1998, EBI leadership sought new scientists who would complement and expand our capabilities — and who could engage in interdisciplinary work with colleagues at EBI, across the campus and around the world. We wanted to transition to a larger, more broadly based research entity whose focus was biomedical diagnostics and therapeutics. While retaining our emphasis on developing and commercializing innovative technologies, we recognized the importance of interdisciplinary endeavors to current and future bioscience.
Based on this vision, we recruited Dr. Shiyong Wu in 2003.
Dr. Wu’s interest is in cancer research, but with a special focus on cellular processes and their effects on cancer. He studies protein synthesis, particularly in relation to stresses, such as UV, insufficient oxygen, growth factor depletion and viral infection. Dr. Wu would like to combine efforts with physics and engineering researchers who already are investigating cancer at Ohio University.
We at EBI hope to continue to expand, doubling in size over the next five years through additional partnerships with the departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Biomedical Sciences and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
Over the past twenty years, EBI's interdisciplinary and entrepreneurial environment has led to substantial technology productivity. Though EBI comprises less than one percent of the Ohio University faculty, as of the spring of 2005 our faculty have generated:
- One international patent
- Twenty-six U.S. patents
- Twenty-eight U.S. patent applications pending
- Thirteen active invention disclosures
EBI success in this arena is the major reason that Ohio University consistently ranks among the top U.S. academic institutions in terms of technology productivity.
|
