Six more scientists have been inducted into the LSU AgCenter’s Patent Club, an elite group that now includes 52 researchers who have received patents or plant variety protection certificates.
The new inductees are first-time recipients of patents or plant variety protection (PVP) certificates during the past 12 months.
They include Mark Schexnayder, extension agent based in Metairie, and Jack Losso, associate professor in the Department of Food Sciences, for a patent to extract collagen from calcified tissue; Keith Bischoff, associate professor, and Kenneth Gravois, professor at the Sugar Research Station in St. Gabriel, for a patent for sugarcane variety L98-128; Peter Rein, formerly head of the Audubon Sugar Institute and now retired, for a patented process to produce white sugar from sugarcane and sugar beet juice; and Xueyan Sha, assistant professor at the Rice Research Station in Crowley, for a PVP certificate for a rice variety.
Other patents issued to the AgCenter in the past year include a herbicide-resistant rice to Tim Croughan, former rice researcher and now retired; synthesis of natural insect repellents to Gregg Henderson, professor in the Department of Entomology, and Roger Laine, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences; a new rice variety, Cheniere, to Steve Linscombe, rice breeder and director of the AgCenter’s Southwest Region.
In addition, PVP certificates were awarded for oat, wheat and three rice varieties.
In the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2007, the AgCenter received 52 invention disclosures and filed 19 patent applications, according to David Boethel, vice chancellor for research. In addition, the AgCenter executed six license agreements and options.
“We continue to rank among the top research universities in the country as far as our rate of return on dollars invested in research and development,” Boethel told a group gathered for a ceremony at the AgCenter to honor club members. “Our royalty income is more than 3 percent of our research expenditures as compared to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), for example, with 2.5 percent.”
Linda Foster Benedict
(This article was published in the fall 2007 issue of Louisiana Agriculture.)
