The Inventivity Pod

When is a heart attack not a heart attack? Current diagnostic tools are surprisingly inaccurate. 2020 Cade Prize finalist Dr. Russell Medford and his team have developed a “virtual cardiac catheterization” that takes existing CAT scan images and analyzes them using advanced mathematics and computational fluid dynamics. Heart doctors can quickly run this analysis on a desktop and determ...

Dr. Margaret K. Offermann, MD, PhD is a medical oncologist, tumor biologist, former Deputy National Vice President for Research at the American Cancer Society, and CEO of OncoSpherix, an early-stage cancer drug development company that is trying to significantly improve the lives of cancer patients. Join us to get to the inside scoop on how cancer treatments get discovered and tested, the challeng...

Millions of people each year face natural coastal disasters, leaving them without water, and electric power.  A Wave Energy Converter named Platypus, using only oceanic wave motion can continuously generate enough electrical charge to operate a seawater desalinator that turns saltwater into clean drinking water, or it can provide sufficient power for heating, lighting, or other electrical ite...

Adam Kinsey is the founder of Verigo, a technology that uses smart sensors to track and monitor fresh produce during its journey from farm to truck to warehouse to store to table.  New technology like RFID chips has gotten dramatically cheaper, making the business model viable. A former engineer at Texas Instruments, Adam saw a new communications platform there that he knew could be adapted f...

How does the brain change itself, and can those changes be passed on to the next generation? ‘Yes’ and ‘yes’ according to Dr. Bryan Kolb, a neuroscientist at the University of Lethbridge, author of a classic neuropsychology textbook and a recipient of Canada’s highest civilian honor.   Listen in to learn about brain plasticity as well as epigenetics, the science...

In 1999, Chris Malachowsky was on the team at NVIDIA that invented the Graphics Processing Unit, an invention that transformed the consumer electronics industry. The GPU is now used by video games and virtually all social media platforms. The son of a doctor, Chris started out as pre-med but switched to engineering and got hired by Hewlett Packard. “I never felt we were at risk,” Chris...

Beloved by corporate HR departments and government agencies alike, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator measures personality types. Betsy Styron, board chairman of the Myers-Brigg Foundation, explains how the assessment works and what it should and shouldn’t be used for.  An introvert herself, Betsy powers through a great interview. *This episode was originally released on July 11, 2019.* &n...

Microbiologist Phillip Furman is the inventor of AZT, an anti-HIV drug, and other antiviral drugs for Herpes and Hepatitis B and C. He talks about his breakthrough moments, the difficulties of taking “miracle” drugs to market, and the culture shock of moving from New York to Florida as a teenager. Furman’s interest in science was fueled at age 8 with the gifts of a microscope fro...

Can video games be used for education? Co-host James Di Virgilio puts that question to Lindsey Tropf, founder and CEO of Immersed Games. Unlike other educational software, Immersed Games uses online, multi-player experiences to teach things like STEM skills to middle-schoolers. Eventually, the programs can be customized by individual teachers to achieve their specific learning goals. A gamer herse...

Dr. Rich Patton, MD, grew up in the small town of Wahoo, Nebraska where the town doctor clearly had a better life than he did as a child farm hand. That inspired Rich to eventually go to medical school and to become a pathologist. From there he saw how many patients got treated unnecessarily for sepsis – blood infection – and he was pretty sure he knew why. So, he invented the SteriPat...

All sorts of organizations, big and small, are attempting to create a vaccine for COVID-19.  While big pharma has access to seemingly endless resources, even small organizations are obtaining funding for their vaccine ideas. Alan Joslyn Ph. D. President and CEO of Oragenics Inc, has spent 20 years in Big Pharma and has been the CEO and Director of several privately held companies. Join us as...

Gainesville, Florida, home to the Cade Museum, is a university town famous for being the home of nine members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Thanks to technology to harness their creativity, a fresh crop of Gainesville musicians are using their music to bring comfort and joy during troubled times. This is the story of 25 musicians with Gainesville connections, collectively known as Band Togeth...

James Clement conducts research into anti-aging technologies. He has studied people over 110 years of age and has found a strong genetic connection to their super long lives.  Yet, periodic environmental signals such as fasting and certain dietary supplements will prompt human cells to effectively cleanse themselves and recycle materials for energy. This causes cells, and thus bodies, to live...

Big public infrastructure projects used to be synonymous with corruption, including bid rigging. Super-smart professors Jim McClave and Tom Rothrock figured out a way to detect bidding irregularities and catch cheaters. As a kid, Jim loved solving puzzles and did well at school, but suffered from bad “comportment” according to his teachers.  Tom, a farm boy from Missouri, went to...

“Creativity is finding unity in what appears to be diversity,” says Dr. Kenneth Heilman. Author of  Creativity and the Brain, Heilman, a distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida, explains where creativity may reside in the brain, how it differs from raw intelligence, and how creative people actually think. Heilman has been fascinated by creativity since childh...

“Every imagination is distinct,” says Dan Hunter.  “It is a conglomeration of what you’ve experienced, what you want to achieve, and what you remember.”  Can imagination be measured, and what does it have to do with creativity and invention?  How do teachers develop imagination in their students, and how is it elicited in the workplace?  Host Richa...

Does UV light kill COVID-19? How can we best use it? Is it expensive?   Terry Berland, CEO of Violet Defense, whose UV solutions are currently being used in operating rooms, hotels, schools, ambulances, food processing, and athletic facilities and Jim Thomas of Kirenaga Partners and The Central Florida Tech Fund join the program to discuss all things ultraviolet light.    TRANSCRIPT...

What is a vaccine? How long will it take to get one for COVID-19? Are there are other alternatives? What about herd immunity?  Our guest is Dr. Peter Khoury, the President and CEO of Ology Bioservices Inc.  He is an expert on vaccines and biologics and during his 30-year career, he has worked for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Merck, and Baxter International. Dr. Khoury has inv...

Moving COVID-19 patients from one ICU to another is possible thanks to transportation ventilators.  In the second of two episodes on ventilators, James Di Virgilio talks to Dr. Richard Melker, Professor Emeritus of Anesthesiology at the University of Florida College of Medicine. He holds over 25 issued U.S. patents including several for emergency medical devices in use throughout the world,&n...

Building ventilators to help COVID-19 patients could be much easier than we think.  Dr. Sem Lampotang is a Professor of Anesthesiology and the Director of the Center for Safety, Simulation and Advanced Learning Technologies at the University of Florida.  Based on a design Lampotang helped create 30 years ago,  simple “crisis” ventilators can be built with parts from Home...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is hard to detect, and is sometimes called the “invisible injury.” Ron Hayes and Nancy Denslow, both scientists at the McKnight Brain Institute and the founders of Banyan Biomarkers, have developed a blood-based test that will make TBI detection and treatment easier and faster.   One potential application is to detect brain injury in newborn infants. *...

Dr. Richard Melker holds 69 issued US Patents, with others pending, as well as hundreds of foreign patents.    A University of Florida Professor Emeritus of Anesthesiology, Melker has invented everything from disappearing sunscreen to a new type of oxygen saturation sensor.  His first invention was an emergency airway, which is used primarily by the military and by EMT’s.&nbsp...

“Super tasters” are people who experience more intense sensations than others. Dr. Linda Bartoshuk is a University of Florida researcher who figured out how to identify super tasters by using “cross-modality” testing. For example, subjects are asked to compare the sweetness of a soft drink to the intensity of various sounds. Linda attributes her interest in taste research t...

What is it like to grow up with an inventor as a dad? Phoebe Cade Miles, co-founder of the Cade Museum and daughter of Gatorade lead inventor Robert Cade, talks with James Di Virgilio about her father, his creative spirit, and what his creative legacy has inspired. Phoebe also explains the neuroscience of creativity, and how everyone – but especially kids – can wire their brains to be...

James Di Virgilio talks to Daniel Barousse, the founder of Slice, a company that makes components for 3D printers that help improve their performance. Daniel and his co-founder Chris Montgomery literally started in a garage, tinkering their way to solutions to problems they encountered with 3D printers at work. In just over a year of existence, Slice is now distributing its product in 12 countries...