Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation

MEET THE WARF INVENTORS THAT ARE PART OF OUR LEGACY

UW-Madison has a long history of landmark inventions that have the potential to improve the lives of millions. In partnership with the university, WARF is proud to advance those discoveries to market where they can begin making an impact.

From new options for cancer diagnostics and treatment to technologies that may lead to faster, greener and more powerful computers, from improved wireless communications to advancements in clean technology, UW-Madison researchers are continually developing game-changing innovations.

Meet some of the university researchers and their ideas that have the potential to change the world.

David Lynn
With support from WARF Accelerator, a super-slippery coating being developed at a University of Wisconsin-Madison lab could benefit medical catheters, factory equipment and even some day, oil tankers....

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Kevin Barnett, Kefeng Huang & George Huber
“When I describe what I do, I say I put dirt in a reactor, heat it up and flow liquid over it,” jokes Kevin Barnett. It is a profound understatement for Barnett, a postdoctoral researcher in the visionary lab of Prof. George Huber...

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Melissa Skala
There was a time when biomedical engineer Melissa Skala dreamed of becoming an astronaut. But at a young age a fascination with physics, and then with light, emerged....

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Dan Ludois

Dan Ludois

For being audaciously young, Dan Ludois has an appreciation for history. In his office in Engineering Hall, a poster of Nikola Tesla broods beside a Ghostbusters-inspired proton pack….

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Mark Cook

Mark Cook

Some of the biggest players in the meat industry are losing their appetite for the status quo. It’s a welcome trend for researchers like Mark Cook who are alarmed by the rise of drug-resistant pathogens in our food supply….

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Mike Sussman & Melanie Ivancic

Mike Sussman & Melanie Ivancic

Local biotech company Exact Sciences made headlines in 2014 when it received FDA approval for a potentially transformative screening test for colorectal cancer. The noninvasive stool-based test just may be the best of its kind….

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Weiping Tang

Weiping Tang

What makes Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin type 9 the most exciting frontier in heart health since the invention of statins? In his office in the pharmacy school, Weiping Tang gives a bold answer…

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Jim Dumesic

Jim Dumesic

For a world hooked on fossil carbons, the vials of amber syrup in Jim Dumesic’s lab are full of sweet potential. Dumesic’s group caused a stir in research circles and the media in 2014 by publishing a paper in the journal Science…

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Jack Ma

Jack Ma

Today’s computers depend on wire to move data. The big data centers of Google and Facebook are steaming jungles of cables. Cooling accounts for half the operating costs, explains Zhenqiang “Jack” Ma…

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Sundaram Gunasekaran

Sundaram Gunasekaran

To see the world – or the supermarket aisle – through the eyes of a food engineer is an epiphany. Marshmallows become spring systems. Apples appear non-isotropic. A bag of Cheetos suddenly poses questions of viscosity, extrusion and tensile stress….

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Aurelie Rakotondrafara

Aurelie Rakotondrafara

Aurelie Rakotondrafara had packed for the tropics. So when a clerk at the Fulbright fellowship office asked if she was ready for winter, her face fell. She thought she was heading to a Ph.D. program in Hawaii….

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Denise Ney

Denise Ney

One mother’s determination can shape the course of science. It can launch decades of research, discovery and a breakthrough at long last – a test that is saving children around the world, though it came too late to save her own….

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