Faculty researchers at Indiana University are advancing human health through the development of novel methods and devices.

Here are the most recent patents awarded for IU discoveries in the past two months from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office:

• A device that repairs rib fractures: The developer is Peter Jenkins, an associate professor of surgery at the IU School of Medicine. Rib fracture repair is a highly invasive procedure that often results in extensive pain and high rates of infection for patients. This device is a soft robotic drill that can articulate up to 180 degrees and has the flexibility to cut, hold and screw in plates in the small pleural space of the chest cavity. It allows for a smaller incision that lessens the chance of infection and accelerates healing.
• Treatment for radiation exposure: The developer is Christie Orschell, the Robert Wallace Miller Professor of Oncology at the IU School of Medicine. Acute radiation exposure — being exposed to a high dose in a short period of time — can lead to severe morbidity and death for patients. Orschell’s treatment method administers an inhibitor that helps lower blood pressure and a dose of a protein that plays a critical role in creating a wide variety of blood and bone marrow cells. This combination treats the acute and long-term effects associated with radiation exposure such as lung, kidney or heart failure.
• A long-noncoding RNA that protects the heart against pathological hypertrophy: The developers are Ching-Pin Chang, the former Charles Fisch Professor of Cardiology at the IU School of Medicine, and Wei Cheng, a former post-doctoral fellow at the IU School of Medicine. Pathological hypertrophy is an abnormal thickening of the heart muscle, which can lead to heart failure; however, the long-noncoding RNA governs cardiac resistance to pathological stress and provides therapeutic benefits to heart failure patients.

These innovations were disclosed to the IU Innovation and Commercialization Office, which transfers IU innovations from lab to market for public benefit and global impact. The office files patents to facilitate commercialization of the innovations.