John Gillespie (left), director of the University of Delaware's Center for Composite Materials, and John Tierney hope their work will make fitting orthotics less of a trial-and-error process and one that's more precise so that injured people will get their needed braces quicker and at a lower cost. / THE NEWS JOURNAL/GARY EMEIGH

For today’s doctors to treat a crushed foot or a deformed leg, measurements are taken.

Those specifications then are used to construct a brace by hand over several weeks. When the patient gets fitted, the bulky brace often doesn’t fit the first time, and more time is spent adjusting it.

The way University of Delaware researcher John W. Gillespie Jr. envisions it, the future of orthotics would be different. A computer scanning device would take thousands of tiny, precise measurements, generating a 3D image.

Then an automated machine would use the image to manufacture a custom brace out of lightweight carbon fibers and plastic polymers.

For people undergoing leg or foot rehabilitation — because of a car accident or a stroke, among other things — the result of these advances could be better treatment, quicker recoveries and lower medical bills.

The research will be funded through a $3 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Although the government awarded the grant to help wounded military personnel, the impact of the technology could be broader. It possesses the potential to reshape an entire industry.

“We really feel this could be a breakthrough technology that could create a new industry,” said Gillespie, director of the university’s Center for Composite Materials.

The promising prospect developed through a partnership between Gillespie’s center and the Bridging Advanced Developments for Exceptional Rehabilitation Consortium, an initiative with headquarters in UD’s College of Health Sciences.

As opposed to prosthetics, which replace lost limbs, orthotics are used to support damaged joints or body parts to aid in rehabilitation.

While Gillespie’s lab provides the expertise in materials and manufacturing, the scientists in the BADER Consortium understand the needs of patients and how a new type of orthotic product could improve rehabilitation.

“Right now, it’s more of an art than a science, a lot of trial and error,” said Steven J. Stanhope, director of the consortium. “We envision new machines created here that could manufacture orthotics easily.”

Not only would the orthotic fit correctly the first time, Stanhope and Gillespie hope to build the braces with the ability to be adjusted as the patient heals and needs less support.

A patent for the breakthrough process is pending, and Stanhope said clinical trials could start within the next couple of years.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval process for orthotics is less rigorous than for pharmaceuticals, meaning the new product UD plans to create could reach the market in three to five years, Stanhope said.

Like other industries that have seen the advent of computer-aided design and automated manufacturing, the field of orthotics would go through tremendous upheaval if the ideas developed at UD come to fruition.

Harry Lawall, a Delaware orthotist and prosthetist, agreed automation would cost the industry jobs, but the advances also would have benefits.

The University of Delaware's John Tierney (left) and John Gillespie use 3D computer imaging to create custom orthotics. The project, originally to help soldiers, also will benefit civilians. / THE NEWS JOURNAL/GARY EMEIGH

His company, Lawall Orthotics, has offices in Dover and Wilmington, as well as a small manufacturing facility in the basement of Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Rockland. He said he employs eight workers in Delaware to craft custom orthotics. Some larger orthotics companies employ thousands nationwide, he said.

“The turnaround time would be much better,” he said. “You could do it a lot faster, and you could schedule more patients.”

A typical orthotic brace costs $700 to $800, of which insurance usually pays 80 percent, Lawall said. People without health insurance often have to forgo the brace, leading to an irregular gait and chronic injury. A more efficient production method could make orthotics cheaper and more widely available.

“The insurance companies are getting tighter on what they pay for, so we need to find ways to keep the doors open,” Lawall said. “So we need to find ways to make it more economical.”

Stanhope said many in the orthotics industry already have started to take notice of the process UD is developing. If it is successful, researchers on the project are committed to using the technology to help bring new jobs to Delaware, Stanhope said.

“We continue to be visited by high leadership of major orthotic and prosthetic companies, and they see how this could change the whole industry,” Stanhope said. “Whether that means they are friends or foes we’ll find out in the end. It’s clear the industry sees the fundamental concepts as likely effective and highly disruptive.”

Contact Wade Malcolm at 324-2386, on Twitter@WadeMalcolm or wmalcolm@delawareonline.com

Bloom Energy Chief Executive Officer KR Sridhar speaks at the University of Delaware's Science, Technology and Advanced Research Campus in Newark today. / The News Journal/JENNIFER CORBETT

NEWARK — Leaders from Bloom Energy, the University of Delaware and the Delaware political world gathered this morning to formally break ground for construction of a fuel-cell generator factory on the old Chrysler assembly site in Newark.

The Bloom factory, which is expected to be completed by the summer of 2013, eventually is to employ 900 people manufacturing the cutting-edge “Bloom Boxes,” which use natural gas to produce electricity without carbon emissions.

Bloom received $18 million in direct state subsidies to build what will be its East Coast manufacturing center on a portion of the 272-acre Chrysler site, which University of Delaware officials today formally renamed the Science, Technology and Advanced Research Campus.

Bloom also made news this morning, announcing that it has lined up five companies to buy Bloom Boxes for east Coast facilities: Owens Corning, Urban Outfitters, Delmarva Power, Washington Gas and AT&T, which already uses Bloom Energy Servers at its California facilities.

The company also confirmed that it will be the supplier for a new Apple data center in North Carolina, providing 4.8 megawatts of capacity.

This morning’s ceremonies were to include comments by Bloom co-founder and CEO KR Sridhar, Gov. Jack Markell, UD President Patrick Harker, U.S. Senators Chris Coons and Tom Carper and U.S. Rep. John Carney.

Bloom will continue to manufacture Bloom Boxes at its growing Sunnyvale, Calif., plant, where it employs more than 1,000.

DSU Innovative Technology & Research Symposium

Incyte President and CEO Paul A. Friedman (center) accepts congratulations from Delaware's U.S. senators, Chris Coons (left) and Tom Carper, after his company was honored as DelawareBio's Company of the Year on Monday night. / THE NEWS JOURNAL/GINGER WALL

Incyte Corp., a startup that has developed the first drug to treat a life-threatening blood cancer, took top honors Monday night as DelawareBio’s 2012 Company of the Year.

The Alapocas-based drugmaker joined three other innovators honored at the sold-out annual awards gala inside the opulent DuPont Country Club. On a night that also bestowed country club weather, honorees were cited for exemplary work in the bioscience industry and for “making a difference,” in Delaware.

“We are honored,” said Incyte Chief Executive Officer Paul A. Friedman. “We have had a good year. We had a drug approved and that doesn’t happen that often in our business. … The really nice aspect to it is that the drug approved is novel, first in a class and first for the disease (myelofibrosis).”

In November, Incyte, which was founded and led by former DuPont employees, received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Jakafi — the first drug approved for myelofibrosis. Roughly 18,000 people at any given time suffer from the disease, Friedman said. Jakafi is the company’s first drug to hit the market and it was developed at DuPont’s Experimental Station, where Incyte leases a laboratory and offices.

“Incyte has quickly made its mark in Delaware and the region and over the last 10 years has reached a major milestone, its first FDA-approved drug,” said DelawareBio President Bob Dayton.

Jakafi could scoop up more than $1 billion in annual sales by the latter part of this decade, according to analysts.

Incyte has about 300 employees and a sales force of 60. It also has boosted its research operations, adding a handful of chemists and biologists.

Also winning awards at the reception:

» Charles W. Robertson Jr., who accepted the Innovation award. He is an inventor, co-founder and chief technology officer at NanoDrop Technologies Inc., which manufactures instrumentation for testing biological samples used in research, academics, bio-manufacturing, drug discovery and genomics.

» Noureddine Melikechi, winning the Academic Research award for his work as dean of the College of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Technology, optics and laser spectroscopy at Delaware State University.

Melikechi is credited as the founder and director of DSU’s first Applied Optics Center, which opened in 1997, and its first Center for Research and Education in Optical Science and Applications in 2006.

» J. Michael Bowman, chairman and president of Delaware Technology Park, received the Service award.

Bowman, a board member on five “early stage companies,” leads the nonprofit research-based technology park, which provides bioscience and biotechnology companies with access to the business connections and resources needed to drive success.

Contact Cori Anne Natoli at 324-2855 or cnatoli@delawareonline.com

2012 President's Forum on Innovation Entrepreneurship

“Delaware Bio members annually honor and recognize key people and organizations that have made an impact in the Delaware bioscience community. Each of the honorees of the  class of 2012 possesses a pioneering spirit prevalent in the bioscience industry,” stated Bob Dayton, president of Delaware Bio.

This year’s award recipients are:

Company of the Year: Incyte Corporation’s Paul A. Friedman, M.D., President and CEO. Incyte’s Jakafi™ is the first and only FDA-approved treatment for intermediate or high-risk myelofibrosis, a potentially life-threatening blood cancer.

Academic Research: Noureddine Melikechi, D.Phil., Dean, College of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Technology, Delaware State University. DSU recently announced its first-ever transfer of intellectual property to a technology company, a method created by its optics scientists for development of a device for use in hospitals and laboratories.

Innovation: Charles W. Robertson, Jr., Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, NanoDrop Technologies, Inc. NanoDrop, a leading manufacturer of micro-volume ultraviolet visible (UV-Vis) instrumentation, was acquired by ThermoFisher in October 2007.

Service: J. Michael Bowman, Chairman and President, Delaware Technology Park. Mr. Bowman has nurtured many successful companies in the Park and throughout Delaware and supported efforts to locate large bioscience and other technology operations in the state.

U.S. Senators Tom Carper (D-DE) and Chris Coons (D-DE), and Cabinet Secretary, Delaware Economic Development Office, Alan Levin, plan to participate in the Gala’s formal program.

The 2012 Delaware Bio Annual Awards Gala is made possible through generous sponsorships from VWR Scientific, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Fish & Richardson, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), Conner Strong & Buckelew, RatnerPrestia, McCarter & English, Black Stallion Machine Works, and Armor Graphics.

About the Delaware BioScience Association:

Delaware Bio is a non-profit trade association that serves its members and the State of Delaware by collaborating with other local businesses and organizations to advance the growth of the bioscience industry in Delaware and the region. To learn more about Delaware Bio, please visit www.delawarebio.org.

Contact:

Delaware BioScience Association

Alok Patel

Marketing Coordinator

302-452-1104

Fax: 302-452-1101

alok.patel@delawarebio.org

www.delawarebio.org

Markell’s typical recruitment speech came in a setting surrounded by irony in the opulence of the almost 100-year-old Italian Renaissance-inspired Hotel du Pont.

The gathering of vaccine scientists came on a day when the movie offered in the guest rooms upstairs was the 2011 medical thriller “Contagion” — a tale of a killer virus run amok.

The forward-looking group was convened in a shimmering gold room, adorned with historical carvings, an ornately gilded cathedral ceiling with Tiffany blue accents and a warm glow from brilliant brass chandeliers above — a remnant of the glory days of the DuPont Co. — where Markell was speaking in hopes of perhaps attracting businesses.

“There are lots of reasons to come back to Delaware beyond this beautiful hotel,” a smiling Markell told the group as he encouraged them to bring their business to Delaware. “The reason why I wanted to be here is this is a world-class convening of some of the greatest thinkers in the world. … We are excited to have you here for the conference and would be even more excited to have you stay.”

The conference itself was anything but light, as scientists and medical minds from as far off as Germany, Sweden, Brazil and England rolled up their sleeves to swap, share and showcase the latest findings in new vaccine processes.

Advancements from the event sponsor, Fraunhofer, a global biotechnology company with a site in Newark, include using human tissue to test certain vaccines as opposed to laboratory mice.

To iBio President Robert L. Erwin, advancement in vaccines and technology at bioscience-driven companies and research organizations is critical.

“Conventional vaccine methods are so slow that if there were some kind of catastrophic outbreak, our conventional methods of response would take far too long to produce an effective vaccine,” Erwin said, referring to the kind of pandemic envisioned in “Contagion”.

“It would take too long to produce an effective vaccine. We’re discussing efficiency, meaning reducing costs, and shortening time.”

Contact Cori Anne Natoli at 324-2855 or cnatoli@delawareonline.com.

A career fair at the University of Delaware's Bob Carpenter Center on Tuesday hosted more than 120 engineering, technology and science businesses. About 1,000 job-seekers and students attended the event. / THE NEWS JOURNAL/ROBERT CRAIG

Alexander Dulin, a junior at the University of Delaware, was one of many students looking to land an internship at an engineering, science and technology career fair Tuesday.

“It’s encouraging,” said Dulin, a 20-year-old mechanical engineering major, as he surveyed the number of potential employers there. “I’m not too worried about finding a job when I graduate [in 2014].”

About 1,000 job-seekers and students attended the event at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, held in a partnership between the University of Delaware and Delaware BioScience Association. More than 100 employers from the mid-Atlantic region, including DuPont, AstraZeneca and branches of the U.S. military, were looking to fill internship and full-time job openings.

In itself, that’s a positive sign.

Dulin, a New Jersey resident, was hoping to land an internship at W.L. Gore & Associates in Maryland.

“We are looking for the new talent just like everybody else,” said Kevin Cluff, 27, a mechanical engineer for Gore. “This is a great opportunity to interact with people … and [find who is] the strong link in a team chain.”

Both the internship market and full-time job market are showing signs of improvement, according to Matthew J. Brink, director of the Bank of America Career Services Center at the university.

“We see clear signs the internship market is picking up in a significant way compared to last year’s [fair],” Brink said. “Year to date, this year compared to last year, our internship activity, including postings and recruiting, is up 32 percent, and the full-time market is also picking up but at a slightly slower pace.”

Brink said he credits the upswing to credit markets “loosening up.”

“Employers have more capital for investment and growth and that is now affecting, in a positive way, the employment market,” Brink said.

Overall, the state economy has been growing, said George Sharpley, senior economist for the Delaware Department of Labor.

“Virtually all the economic indicators point to that, where we’ve seen the unemployment rate fall pretty steadily in 2011,” Sharpley said. “By looking at payroll data, the number of jobs is up.”

The strongest industries are health care, retail trade and food service, he said.

“The economic growth is there but it’s not strong enough, fast enough, to re-employ all those who lost their jobs in the recession and employ all those who are entering the workforce,” Sharpley said.

By the sheer number of companies on site Tuesday with hiring needs, the growth was evident and evoked optimism.

The DuPont Co., for example, had immediate openings for summer interns and some full-time positions in the science and technology fields.

Blue Ocean Systems, a Wilmington-based business software and implementation services company, was looking for one person to employ as a full-time consultant.

“We hired one person last year from this career fair, and it worked out awesome,” said Karen Musselman, the company’s marketing consultant. “And we are back again this year because it has really been beneficial to us.”

Contact Cori Anne Natoli at 324-2855 or cnatoli@delawareonline.com.

“It’s extremely powerful for an individual to understand whether a news outlet is reporting what the public actually thinks about a topic, or if they are suggesting a public sentiment that is not in line with reality”

Released on Jan. 18 as a BETA version, a one-year license of Quantum Leap Buzz Consumer Edition can be downloaded free at www.QuantumLeapBuzz.com. The company plans to release Quantum Leap Buzz Business Edition in April with a subscription price of $495.

“Quantum Leap Buzz is a disruptive innovation,” said Joseph Budner Elad, founder and CEO of Quantum Leap Innovations. “An incredible amount of time and money has been spent by individuals and companies trying to better understand what people are thinking and feeling. Quantum Leap Buzz mines trending Twitter patterns to provide unprecedented analysis of public sentiment in real-time, free of charge, and far more effectively than products that cost thousands of dollars. That’s why I call it ‘disruptive.’”

Among its many uses, Quantum Leap Innovations envisions Quantum Leap Buzz as a tool for tracking news bias and inaccuracy–comparing the news media’s angle and coverage of a particular story with public sentiment analysis gathered by Quantum Leap Buzz. For example, how does news coverage of the world’s reaction to Iran oil sanctions compare with actual public sentiment gathered from the Twitterverse? Analysis for such topics is available to every “Internet-connected” person who downloads this freely available technology. Examples of Quantum Leap Buzz analysis can be found in tweets posted by @quantumleapbuzz.

“It’s extremely powerful for an individual to understand whether a news outlet is reporting what the public actually thinks about a topic, or if they are suggesting a public sentiment that is not in line with reality,” said Elad. “Quantum Leap Buzz provides the necessary data to draw a clear conclusion.”

Recently, Quantum Leap Innovations announced a partnership with The Economic Times, the third-largest financial daily newspaper in the world. Using Quantum Leap Innovations’ PBA technology, The Economic Times provides readers with daily insight on trending Twitter topics in the newspaper’s print edition.

As with all Quantum Leap Innovations products, Quantum Leap Buzz runs on users’ desktops rather than living in the cloud, thus maintaining maximum user privacy and security.

In creating this product, Quantum Leap Innovations applied technology developed through past contracts with the U.S. Government that examined geo-political, world health and military trends.

Quantum Leap Buzz Business Edition will feature Geo-Location, a function that maps tweets by geographic areas and tracks the pathway of a tweet as it spreads from its origin. This feature will make it possible to instantly identify influencers and trend drivers. The business edition will also include Tweet Topology and Sentiment Analysis.

About Quantum Leap Innovations

Begun in 1999, Quantum Leap Innovations, Inc. has established itself as a trailblazer in Pattern Based Analytics, creating the Quantum Leap® Pattern Based Analytics suite of products that includes Pattern Based Discovery, Pattern Based Prediction, and Pattern Based Reasoning – all based on transparent, flexible discovery, visualization and analysis of informative patterns in large, complex data environments for strategic forecasting and decision making.

Quantum Leap Innovations has worked extensively in the public and private sectors, including contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Intelligence Community, CSC, DuPont, Exelon, Ford, IBM, SAIC, Texas Instruments, and Verizon. Quantum Leap Innovations’ sophisticated Pattern Based Analytics products were essential in the U.S. government’s decision to keep the U.S./Mexico border open during the H1N1 pandemic.

Quantum Leap is headquartered in the Delaware Technology Park, which is affiliated with the University of Delaware and is located in Newark, Delaware.

Contacts

Coltrin & Associates, for Quantum Leap Innovations
Mark Beck, 212-221-1616 ext. 117
mark_beck@coltrin.com
or
Jennifer Webb, 212-221-1616 ext. 102
jennifer_webb@coltrin.com