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KU Lawrence campus has assisted in the development of numerous start-up companies since 1991. Below is a list of currently operating companies founded on KU technologies.
Cadstone, Inc.
Cadstone was formed with the specific purpose of pursuing the substantial
business opportunity available in commercializing services, training,
and a suite of electronic design automation development tools. This
foundation is being developed around the next generation system level
design language currently emerging as an industry standard. Initially,
Cadstone will provide innovative solutions to current SoC (system
on a chip) design problems facing the semi-conductor and CAD (computer
aided design) industries. Founded: 2001. Location: Lawrence, Kansas.
CritiChem, Inc.
CritiChem, Inc., is a company with interests in the petrochemical and
pharmaceutical processing industries. It conducts research and development
into techniques for producing alkylate, a valuable agent used widely
by the petroleum refinery industry for the production of gasoline.
CritiChem has developed KU patented techniques for producing alkylate
in high quality and yield. The KU technologies licensed to CritiChem
enhance solid acid catalyzed chemical reactions, and may be sub-licensed
to companies in the petrochemical production arena. Founded: 2001.
Location: Lawrence, Kansas.
CritiTech, Inc.
CritiTech has licensed KU patented technologies related to Super Critical
Fluid (SCF) particle-size reduction techniques for pharmaceuticals.
These technologies include methods and apparatus to produce nanoparticles,
methods for SCF precipitation, and a harvesting apparatus for size-selective
separation of nanoparticles. Founded: 1997. Location: Lawrence, Kansas
CyDex, Inc.
CyDex was established to license and commercialize modified cyclodextrins
for use in drug development and formulation. The series of anionically
charged sulfobutyl ether beta-cyclodextrins (SBE-CDs) were originally
synthesized and patented by scientists in the Higuchi Biosciences
Center for Drug Delivery Research. CyDex has an exclusive license
to the SBE Cyclodextrins. Their lead compound, Captisol®, enables
two drugs on the market (2003) by Pfizer, Vfend® and Geodon®.
Founded: 1994. Location: Overland Park, Kansas.
DARcorporation
Located in historic downtown Lawrence, Kansas. DARcorporation's
extensive library holds more than 1,000 airplane designs, analytical
texts and USAF, NASA and ESDU reports. DARcorporation has been a leading
provider of consulting services in the areas of aircraft configuration
design and analysis, stability and control and estimation of airplane
models for flight simulators and aircraft technical analysis since
1991. Other services include windtunnel and watertunnel testing and
analysis. Their personnel are experienced with many software packages
for airplane analysis and design. Founded: 1991. Location: Lawrence,
Kansas.
e-Learning Creations, Inc.
e-Learning Creations was formed to commercialize technologies developed
within the Center for Research on Learning (CRL) for the special
education market. ELearning Creations' initial strategy includes
a partnership with a major special education publisher to produce
a 10 course on-line series to certify special education teachers.
The company will also market the licensed content to provide continuing
education opportunities for teachers seeking re-certification for
special education. The backbone of this product was developed by
the CRL team and was part of the highly successful On-Line Academy
and the e-Learning Design Laboratory. The product has been further
enhanced to meet the recently-established standards of the Council
for Exceptional Children. As the company grows, it is the intent
of the founders to expand into other markets where the technology
can be easily replicated. Founded: 2002. Location: Lawrence, Kansas.
ImmuPep, Inc.
Dedicated to modern immunotherapy. ImmuPep is a start-up biotechnology
company founded to develop new approaches to modulating the immune
and inflammatory responses and to treat disorders of the immune response.
The principal technology inhibits, in a specific manner, the small
subset of immune cells that cause autoimmune disease or rejection
of organ transplants while leaving the rest of the immune system
to function normally. This is in direct contrast with therapies currently
on the market that inhibit the entire immune response and result
in generalized immune or inflammatory suppression that lead to unwanted
side effects such as sepsis. Targeted diseases include rheumatoid
arthritis, multiple sclerosis, insulin-dependent diabetes, and psoriasis
as well as rejection of organ transplants. Technologies under development
include anti-viral agents and diagnostic immunoassays. Founded 2002.
Location: Lawrence, Kansas .
ProFusion, LLC.
ProFusion was a Kansas company formed to commercialize University of
Kansas developed internet meta-search software programs. Agreements
with ProFusion, LLC resulted in the transfer and commercialization
of web-based search technologies developed by KU/ITTC. The core technologies
received several awards including "Editor's Choice" award
for 1998 from PC Professionell, the German Ziff-Davis Internet Technology
magazine which is a sister publication to PC Magazine. In 2000 ProFusion
entered into and concluded a negotiated merger with a larger, VC-funded
internet company. Founded: 1998. Location: Lawrence, Kansas.
Pathfinder Science, L.L.C.
Pathfinder Science L.L.C. is an emerging science education company
that has grown out of the KanCRN Collaborative Research Network,
a Technology Innovation Challenge grant from the U.S. Department
of Education (1997). The company was developed to sustain the Patfinder
research/education community beyond funding. The Pathfinder community
uses a variety of technologies to facilitate student work that fulfills
the vision of national efforts to reform science, geography, and
technology education. Pathfinder Science organizes a research environment
in which students and teachers have the necessary tools to construct
this type of learning environment. The Pathfinder Science community
uses technology to facilitate communication through the Pathfinder
Science web site. The web site includes threaded discussion areas,
organizing protocols, data submission, retrieval from interactive
databases, background information on the research areas and a publication
area for students to submit their own research work. Founded: 2004.
Location: Lawrence, Kansas.
ProQuest Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
ProQuest was founded in 1997 in lawrence, KS, as a drug delivery company
specializing in prodrug research. Prodrugs are bioreversible derivatives
of new drug candidates or marketed drugs designed to have physiochemical
properties that overcome limitations of the parent molecules. The
new properties allow prodrugs to circumvent physiochemical and biological
delivery barriers and convert in vivo to the active drugs. ProQuest
targeted existing acute care drugs that can be enhanced by improving
the water solubility and absorption. Their lead technology, AQUAVAN®,
is a prodrug of the world's leading injectable anesthetic, propofol.
In 2004, ProQuest merged with Guilford Pharmaceuticals. As of 2005,
AQUAVAN® is in the final phase of clinical trials.
TerraMetrics Agriculture Inc. (TMAI)
TMAI is affiliated with the University of Kansas Applied Remote Sensing
(KARS) Program and the Kansas Biological Survey (KBS), incorporating
30 years of agricultural and natural resource research and product
development experience. KARS and KBS are responsible for maintaining
TMAI's leading edge in research and commercial product development.
TMAI scientists and consultants work hand-in-hand with KARS Program
scientists. The KARS Program is the home of the NASA Great Plains
Regional Earth Science Applications Center (Great Plains RESAC),
one of only seven NASA centers for excellence in the United States
selected in a national competition, and the only NASA center dedicated
to large-scale agricultural remote sensing research. Founded: 1998.
Location: Lawrence, Kansas.
TVN Systems, Inc.
TVN Systems, Inc. is a research and development company dedicated to
advancing and developing the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel
cell market. The PEM fuel cell is a highly efficient and environmentally
friendly electric power generation device, which is favored to replace
the internal combustion engine in automotive applications. PEM fuel
cells are also suitable for other power generation segments such
as stationary/home, military, space, mobile phone, and laptop computer
applications. PEM fuel cells have the ability to cut dependence on
fossil fuels and deliver us into the hydrogen energy currency of
the future. TVN Systems, Inc. believes the PEM fuel cell is the eventual
and lasting winner in the mobile power generation market and wishes
to accelerate their advancement. TVN Systems, Inc. has senior staff
with experience and in-depth knowledge of PEM fuel cells. Through
the senior staff, TVN has developed a novel approach to create high
quality membrane and electrode assemblies (MEAs). TVN also has a
patented Active Gas Management (Patent No. 6,503,651) technology
that enables a fuel cell stack to sustain high power density operation.
Put these together with TVN's expertise in flow field design, and
TVN Systems believes it can lead the charge toward a mobile future
powered by fuel cells. Founded: 2004. Location: Lawrence, Kansas.
Veatros, LLC.
Veatros specializes in software systems to monitor the broadcasts of
television commercials using digital video processing technology
developed in ITTC. Their primary product "VidWatch" enables
international broadcasters to detect local commercial insertions
by cable operators and gather valuable marketing information. VidWatch
was licensed in 1998 to Turner Broadcasting System to perform video
authentication and commercial detection of international broadcasts
throughout Latin America. Founded: 2002. Location: Lawrence, Kansas.
