Standing Innovation 2023

On October 18, UF Innovate | Tech Licensing hosted its annual event to recognize top innovations stemming from the University of Florida. Standing InnOvation, the best kind of “standing ovation” you can give innovators, recognized the six inventions of the year and the Innovator of the Year, Dr. Shannon Boye, a researcher using gene therapy to repair or improve vision.

Jim O’Connell, assistant vice president of commercialization at UF and director of UF Innovate | Tech Licensing, emceed the event highlighting the Inventions of the Year chosen by the licensing teams, each invention standing out as one with great potential.

The inventions selected this year range from next-generation gene vectors to enzyme inhibitors for potent herbicides to a system using AI and machine learning for personalizing patient care. These innovations look to the future, pushing the limits and revolutionizing their respective fields.

Learn more about our innovator of the year and the inventions showcased at the event in the videos below. You can read all about our winners and relive the celebration, here.

We are incredibly thankful to Wolf Greenfield Intellectual Property Attorneys for sponsoring the event for 6th consecutive year. We are happy to welcome law firms Alston & Bird and Thomas | Horstemeyer as sponsors this year.

We’ve gotten so many kudos for the event’s quality, and we credit our sponsor’s generosity that allowed us to do Standing InnOvation right once again.

Photo Gallery

table with edison light bulbs, being awarded to our Innovator of the Year and Inventions of the Year.

Videos

"I Am A UF Innovator"

The first in a series, this video highlights a few of the innovators who work with the Office of Technology Licensing and their research. This video opened the awards program at Standing InnOvation 2023.

Innovator of the Year - Shannon Boye

This year's Innovator of the Year was Dr. Shannon Boye. Dr. Boye is a visionary scientist whose contributions to the ophthalmology and gene therapy fields are inspiring and open avenues for new, innovative treatment. When selecting an Innovator of the Year, UF Innovate considers a researcher’s body of work and selects one who has made significant scientific contributions that have been licensed and taken to the marketplace, sometimes by the researcher launching a startup based on the discoveries.

Inventions of the Year

This compilation video highlights the six inventions selected for an Invention of the Year. These were selected from the 300 newly disclosed technologies in fiscal year 2023 that stood out as having great potential. The inventions range from next-generation gene vectors to enzyme inhibitors for potent herbicides to a system using AI and machine learning for personalizing patient care.

Invention of the Year - Christian Jobin

Dr. Christian Jobin and Rachel Newsome were honored with an Invention of the Year for their identification of a six-strain consortia of gut biome bacteria. It has the potential to make tumors that are nonresponsive to check-point inhibitor therapies, responsive.

Invention of the Year - Shuo Wang

Dr. Shuo Wang was honored with an Invention of the Year for his transformer impedance balance technique for isolated converters. Dr. Wang’s technology enables the internal dampening of the background noise. It does away with needing a massive amount of conductive shielding to drown out the radio interference, leading to smaller and better-performing electronic devices.

Invention of the Year - Tyler Loftus

Dr. Tyler Loftus and his collaborators, his collaborators, Drs. Benjamin Shickel, Azra Bihorac, Matthew Ruppert, and Parisa Rashidi, are turning to AI and machine learning to personalize patient care. This Invention of the Year uses machine learning and AI to measure patient acuity and predict their risk for hospital mortality and/or prolonged ICU admission.

Invention of the Year - Gilles Basset

The Invention of the Year, from Dr. Gilles Basset and his co-inventors, Drs. Lauren Stutt and Scott Latimer, looks at an enzyme and an inhibitor of the enzyme, to potentially develop a new, potent herbicide.

Invention of the Year - Keyun Qing

Drs. Keyun Qing, Arun Srivastava, and Jakob Shoti developed the Generation Z single-stranded AAV serotype vector. This vector is more efficient, overcoming several rate-limiting steps in DNA synthesis and dampening the host immune responses in patients, making it highly promising.

Invention of the Year - Adam Veige

Dr. Adam Veige has developed a cyclic version of polypropylene. It uses a ring expansion tungsten catalyst to generate commercially relevant cyclic polymers.