Three UArizona inventors have been selected as Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors. The NAI Fellows Program highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.

Sahand Sabet, Ph.D., who was working towards his degree in engineering, has developed a new drone that can transition between flying through the air and rolling on the ground, giving it not only unmatched mobility in confined spaces, but also durability and efficiency. With his colleagues, they have launched a startup to bring the technology to the world.

Entrepreneurial UArizona researchers have made a significant breakthrough on a safe and effective non-opioid pain reliever. The prestigious medical journal, Science Transitional Medicine, published the results of this breakthrough study in its November 2021 issue, representing a leap forward for the team's startup, Regulonix.

Neuro-ID, a startup commercializing technology developed at the University of Arizona Eller College of Management, has raised $35 million in Series B funding. The company was founded based on inventions stemming from research done by Joseph Valacich, professor of management information systems, and his former Ph.D. student Jeff Jenkins, now an associate professor of information systems at Bringham Young University. 

Want to spend a summer working for a UArizona startup? Through a new internship offered through Tech Launch Arizona, students do just that, gaining real-world entrepreneurial experiences while contributing their skills to fast-moving, high-tech teams. 

The Arizona Technology Council and the Arizona Commerce Authority honored optical sciences professor Jim Schwiegerling with two awards: Inventor of the Year on October 6 in Tucson at the Southern AZ Tech + Business Expo, and Innovator of the Year - Academia on October 13 at the Governor's Celebration of Innovation in Phoenix. 

Tech Launch Arizona has kicked off a new UArizona program to recognize inventors who are named on issued patents. “The goal is to recognize the contributions of each inventor,” said TLA Assistant Vice President Doug Hockstad, “as well as elevate the visibility of patents and the impact of commercialization throughout our campus community.” 

On September 28, 2021, Tech Launch Arizona hosted its eighth annual I-Squared Awards and Expo event. Along with honoring the top inventors and entrepreneurs dedicated to commercializing UArizona inventions, the evening included an expo of innovations and startups hosted by entrepreneurial, innovative UArizona teams. 

University of Arizona researchers have developed a new therapy for Alzheimer’s disease designed to restore cognitive function in early-stage patients. The therapy, University of Arizona Health Sciences Center for Innovation in Brain Science, is now proceeding through a Phase 2b clinical trial and has been licensed to startup NeuTherapeutics, Inc. 

From July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021, the university achieved a record 124 license agreements, launched 17 new companies, and grew the number of inventions disclosed and patents filed.

A new study, published in the journal Cell Reports, found that the stiffness of the breast tumor microenvironment can cause changes to cancer cells that make them more aggressively spread to bone. The concept of a “mechanical memory” or “MeCo score” that describes this aggressiveness has driven the foundation of startup MeCo Diagnostics, LLC.