Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation

ENABLE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON RESEARCH TO SOLVE THE WORLD'S PROBLEMS.TO SUPPORT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH WITHIN THE UW-MADISON COMMUNITY BY PROVIDING FINANCIAL SUPPORT, ACTIVELY MANAGING ASSETS, AND MOVING INNOVATIONS TO THE MARKETPLACE FOR A FINANCIAL RETURN AND GLOBAL IMPACT.

1) DIRECT FISCAL 2019-2020 GRANTS OF $81,249,086 WERE MADE TO THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MADISON. THE GRANTS PROVIDED THE UNIVERSITY THE FINANCIAL FLEXIBILITY TO CREATE 176 COMPETITIVE RECRUITMENT PACKAGES TO ATTRACT WORLD-CLASS FACULTY MEMBERS TO JOIN UW-MADISON, AND RETAIN CURRENT FACULTY WHO RECEIVE OUTSIDE OFFERS. THE FOUNDATION SPONSORED GRADUATE STUDENT SUPPORT HELPED RECRUIT AND RETAIN 7,239 TOP QUALITY GRADUATE STUDENTS. THROUGH THE FALL RESEARCH COMPETITION, THE FOUNDATION FUNDED 283 AWARDS AIMED AT SUPPORTING JUNIOR FACULTY AS THEY BUILD THEIR RESEARCH PROGRAMS AND PILOT STUDIES FOR EXTERNAL GRANT APPLICATIONS. THE FOUNDATION ALSO MATCHED GRANTS, WHICH ALLOWED THE UNIVERSITY TO APPLY FOR AND ACCEPT EXTRAMURAL GRANT OPPORTUNITIES THAT REQUIRED A MATCH FROM THE INSTITUTION. THE DIRECT GRANTS ALSO SUPPORTED 10 NAMED PROFESSORSHIPS, 11 NEW KELLETT MID-CAREER FELLOWSHIPS AND 11 NEW ROMNES FACULTY FELLOWSHIPS. THROUGH THE ENDOWMENT FOR EXCELLENCE, THE FOUNDATION FUNDED 37 INTERDISCIPLINARY FACULTY MEMBERS IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS; AGRONOMY, ASTRONOMY, BACTERIOLOGY, BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, BIOCHEMISTRY, BIOMOLECULAR CHEMISTRY, BOTANY/STATISTICS, CHEMISTRY, COMPARATIVE BIOSCIENCES, COMPUTER SCIENCE, ENTOMOLOGY, ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING, ENGINEERING PHYSICS, GENDER AND WOMEN'S STUDIES, GENETICS AND NEUROLOGY, MATERIAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, MATH/ECE, MATHEMATICS, MATERIAL SCIENCE, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, NEUROSCIENCE, NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROLOGY, PHARMACY, PHYSICS, PLANT PATHOLOGY, PLANNING AND LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE, PSYCHOLOGY, RADIOLOGY, AND GENDER AND WOMEN'S STUDIES. THE PATENT AND LICENSING FUNCTION PRODUCED THE FOLLOWING RESULTS DURING THE YEAR: THE UNIVERSITY OF MADISON DISCLOSED 380 INVENTIONS TO THE WISCONSIN ALUMNI RESEARCH FOUNDATION. THE FOUNDATION FILED 248 U.S. PATENT APPLICATIONS AND 277 FOREIGN PATENT APPLICATIONS ON BEHALF OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. DURING THE 2019-2020 FISCAL YEAR 166 U.S. PATENTS AND 155 FOREIGN PATENTS WERE GRANTED TO THE FOUNDATION BY THE RESPECTIVE PATENT OFFICES. UNDER FEDERAL LAW (I.E. THE BAYH DOLE ACT) UNIVERSITIES OR THEIR 501(C)(3) PATENT MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATIONS HAVE THE RIGHT TO TAKE TITLE TO INVENTIONS MADE IN THE COURSE OF UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FUNDED IN WHOLE OR IN PART BY AN AGENCY OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MADISON HAS DELEGATED THIS RIGHT TO WARF. WARF IS THE DESIGNATED PATENT MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN- MADISON AND IN THAT ROLE WARF EXERCISES THE UNIVERSITY'S RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE BAYH DOLE ACT. DURING THE 2019-2020 FISCAL YEAR, 68 NEW COMMERCIAL LICENSES OR OPTIONS WERE CLOSED.

2) MORGRIDGE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH, INC. WAS ESTABLISHED ON NOVEMBER 24, 2006, AS AN INDEPENDENT RESEARCH INSTITUTE THAT PROVIDES UW-MADISON INNOVATIVE NEW WAYS TO CONDUCT BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH AND EDUCATE THE COMMUNITY. MORGRIDGE'S MISSION IS TO IMPROVE HUMAN HEALTH THROUGH INNOVATIVE, INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOMEDICAL DISCOVERIES, SPARK SCIENTIFIC CURIOSITY AND SERVE SOCIETY THROUGH TRANSLATIONAL OUTCOMES, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON. THE MORGRIDGE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH'S SEVEN RESEARCH THEMES UNIFY 12 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS CONDUCTING, ENABLING AND TRANSLATING RESEARCH IN THE FIELDS OF: REGENERATIVE BIOLOGY: UNDERSTANDING AND DIRECTING CELLULAR FATES TO IMPROVE HUMAN HEALTH. MEDICAL ENGINEERING: ADVANCING TECHNOLOGIES TO BETTER DIAGNOSE, TREAT AND PREVENT DISEASE. VIROLOGY: UNLOCKING THE SECRETS OF VIRUS-HOST INTERACTIONS TO BETTER PROTECT HUMAN HEALTH. METABOLISM: STUDYING THE CHEMISTRY OF LIFE AND ITS DISRUPTION IN HUMAN DISEASE. WITH EXPERTISE IN: BIOMEDICAL ETHICS: ADDRESSING EMERGING ETHICAL ISSUES AND BUILDING A CULTURE OF RESPONSIBLE SCIENCE. HIGH THROUGHPUT COMPUTING: HARNESSING COMPUTING POWER TO ADDRESS NEW QUESTIONS IN SCIENCE.

3) WICELL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC.'S MISSION IS TO SUPPORT STEM CELL RESEARCH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF STEM CELL CLINICAL APPLICATIONS WORLDWIDE. WICELL IS A SUPPORTING ORGANIZATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON, A WORLD LEADER IN THE AREA OF HUMAN PLURIPOTENT STEM CELL RESEARCH. WICELL IS A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION ESTABLISHED IN 1999 TO ADVANCE THE SCIENCE OF STEM CELLS. THE GLOBAL LEADER IN CELL BANKING, CHARACTERIZATION TESTING AND DISTRIBUTION OF STEM CELL LINES, WICELL BUILDS ON THESE CORE STRENGTHS BY ALSO PROVIDING CLINICAL GRADE PLURIPOTENT STEM CELL LINES, QUALITY CONTROL TESTING AND CELL BANKING SERVICES. AS A SUPPORT ORGANIZATION FOR UW-MADISON, WICELL OFFERS A WIDE ARRAY OF SERVICES AND SUPPORT DESIGNED TO KEEP UW AT THE FOREFRONT OF ADVANCES IN STEM CELL TECHNOLOGY. CURRENT OFFERINGS INCLUDE: PRE-QUALIFIED REAGENTS SUCH AS MEDIA AND MEDIA COMPONENTS, MATRICES, MEFS AND ANTIBODIES, A FULL RANGE OF CHARACTERIZATION TESTING SERVICES, SPECIALIZED TESTING INCLUDING TERATOMA SERVICES AND HISTOLOGICAL ANALYSIS, MYCOPLASMA SCREENING AND QUALITY CONTROL TESTING, HIGH QUALITY AND WELL CHARACTERIZED CELL LINES FROM THE WICELL STEM CELL BANK, TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND HANDS-ON TRAINING, FULLY EQUIPPED LABORATORY SPACE, GRANT WRITING ASSISTANCE FOR BUDGETING AND CORE SERVICES NEEDS. DURING FISCAL YEAR 2019-2020, WICELL DISTRIBUTED 731 HUMAN CELL LINES TO COMMERCIAL AND ACADEMIC RESEARCH LABORATORIES BRINGING THE TOTAL CELL LINES DISTRIBUTED TO DATE TO 5,558.