Multiple New Jersey innovators receive Edison Patent Awards.

Byline: Anthony Vecchione

Rutgers University is among more than 60 winners of the 2019 Edison Patent Awardscommemorating the state's most prolific inventor, Thomas Alva Edison which is in its 40th edition celebrating New Jersey's exceptional inventors.

The Research & Development Council of New Jersey awarded winners on Nov. 14 at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. Innovative patent work spanned 15 R&D categories including: information technology, environmental, enabling technology, medical technology, medical device, energy, industrial process, emerging therapy, pharmaceutical, agriculture, telecommunications, biotechnology, smart grid, medical imaging and telecommunication systems.

Recipients of the 2019 installation included Avaya Inc.; BASF Corp.; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Celgene Corp.; Ethicon Inc., a Johnson & Johnson Company; ExxonMobil Research & Engineering Co.; Honeywell International; Insmed Inc.; Merck & Co. Inc.; New Jersey Institute of Technology; Nokia Bell Labs; Siemens Corporate Technology; Siemens Healthineers; SubCom and Rutgers.

Taking on TB

The two Rutgers University researchers who received the 2019 Edison Patent Award David Alland, chief of infectious disease at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) and director of the Center for Emerging Pathogens and Rutgers Regional Biocontainment Laboratory, and Soumitesh Chakravorty, adjunct assistant professor at NJMS and director of R&D at Cepheid Inc. were selected for their milestone patent for a rapid, automated test for detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) and Rifampicin-resistant M. tuberculosis in the biotechnology category.

"Detection of Drug Resistant Mycobacterium Tuberculosis" consists of a technology that shortens the time it takes to diagnose tuberculosis from around seven weeks to less than two hours.

"I'm gratified, pleased and honored with this award but also humbled to know that this is just a very small part of a very large mission. Tuberculosis has become more drug resistant. There...