911±¬ÁÏÍø

Contact: Jennifer Hollingshead

Office: (573) 882-0601

E-mail: hollingsheadj@umsystem.edu

A 911±¬ÁÏÍø faculty member and a UM student were recognized at the sixth annual Technology Transfer Showcase, held in Columbia, Mo., Thursday, April 20, 2006. The 911±¬ÁÏÍø recognized faculty members and students who submitted invention disclosures, had patent applications filed by the University in their name, or had their inventions licensed during 2005.

2006 Student Entrepreneur of the Year

Paul Pattison

Mr. Paul Pattison is a senior at the 911±¬ÁÏÍø-Columbia in mechanical aerospace engineering. He is the President of Sigma Phi Epsilon and an Associate Justice of the Missouri Student Association Student Court. Mr. Pattison is the founder of Picture Cloud, LLC. The company was started “to improve the way objects are broadcast on the web by creating multi-angular images that require very little time or technical merit to create.” As a client of the Missouri Innovation Center and with $100,000 in “angel” financing, Picture Cloud, LLC was publicly launched in January 2006. 

The $2,500 award honors a 911±¬ÁÏÍø student who has shown entrepreneurial potential.

2006 Faculty Entrepreneur of the Year

Jeffrey O. Phillips, Pharm.D.

Dr. Jeffrey O. Phillips is Research Associate Professor and Head of Applied Research in the Department of Surgery at the 911±¬ÁÏÍø-Columbia.  He holds a bachelor’s of science degree in pharmacy from the St. Louis College of Pharmacy and a doctor of pharmacy degree from the University of Utah. 

Dr. Phillips is known for his invention combining a buffer with a non-enteric coated proton pump inhibitor, or PPI, (a class of drugs that prevent the production of excess stomach acid). His invention defied the conventional wisdom of the time that an enteric coating was essential to protecting the drug from the acid environment of the stomach.  Dr. Phillips’ invention was licensed in January 2001, to Santarus, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company that develops therapies for gastrointestinal diseases. A few weeks later, on the strength of that license, Santarus was able to raise more than $33 million in private financing. Since then the company has raised more than $225 million in cash and commitments through private placement, public stock offerings and equity financing. The company has obtained U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for suspension, capsule and chewable tablet formulations of the product. Marketed by Santarus and its marketing partner as Zegerid®, the product is the first immediate release PPI on the market. When all of this began, Santarus consisted of a handful of people; it now employs more than 300 persons.

Dr. Phillips continues to develop a portfolio of inventions related to the PPIs, including novel combinations and new uses of the drugs. He was the first to develop a method of using a tiny, radio frequency pH probe in young children that is much more tolerable than traditional means of diagnosis. He also developed a software program that creates more meaningful diagnostic data for acid reflux disease.

Dr. Phillips also developed, and the University has patented, a medical device that predicts outcomes of patients with closed head injuries within the first few days of hospitalization. In addition, he developed software for the early diagnosis, monitoring and endpoint attainment for nosocomial pneumonia. 

Dr. Phillips, an avid outdoorsman, also has invented, patented and marketed a novel pop-up camper.

The $15,000 award is given to honor a 911±¬ÁÏÍø faculty member for a record of entrepreneurial innovation that demonstrates commercial utility, contributes to the public welfare, and brings visibility to the University.

The Technology Transfer Showcase is coordinated by the 911±¬ÁÏÍø Office of Technology & Special Projects. Created in 1999, the office takes an aggressive, entrepreneurial approach to licensing technologies from all four campuses, creating research and development partnerships, and assisting start-up firms that utilize University discoveries.