{"id":24983,"date":"2018-05-29T13:11:50","date_gmt":"2018-05-29T17:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=24983"},"modified":"2024-07-02T16:55:28","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T16:55:28","slug":"schoenfisch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=24983","title":{"rendered":"Inventor of the Year: Mark Schoenfisch makes NO the optimistic answer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mark
Mark Schoenfisch was named UNC-Chapel Hill Inventor of the Year.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While receiving the 2018 UNC-Chapel Hill Inventor of the Year award, Mark Schoenfisch, professor of chemistry in the College of Arts & Sciences, discussed his decades-long research of the molecule nitric oxide. Schoenfisch has a record of bringing his research to market, where it has the potential to improve the lives of patients through medical devices, pharmaceutics and drug development.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mark Schoenfisch likes to quip that his favorite letters are \u201cN\u201d and \u201cO.\u201d That might seem like a surprising preference for a chemistry professor who teaches his students to explore new scientific possibilities and whose own entrepreneurial spirit leads him to develop life-improving inventions. Yet, when you hear Schoenfisch explain that his fondness for these two letters isn\u2019t based on the word that they form or a contrarian perspective on the world, but rather his passion for researching the molecule nitric oxide (NO), you make the connection. Through his research, he\u2019s discovered a number of potentially huge medical benefits associated with this tiny molecule and is inventing novel ways for using nitric oxide to make a positive difference in the lives of many.<\/p>\n

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\"This\u201cI\u2019ve spent decades of work on nitric oxide, and I continue to do so because it\u2019s rich with important chemistry problems to solve,\u201d said Schoenfisch, a professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. \u201cIt extends into medical devices, pharmaceutics and drug development. I\u2019m lucky to have picked an interesting molecule and area of study.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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It wasn\u2019t luck, however, that resulted in Schoenfisch being honored by the UNC Office of Technology Commercialization<\/a> as the University\u2019s 2018 Inventor of the Year. Instead, it was his commitment to innovation and his success in translating his research on nitric oxide into devices and therapeutics for patients dealing with a range of diseases: diabetes, sepsis, cystic fibrosis, dermatological conditions and others.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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During the award presentation at the annual Celebration of Inventorship, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Bob Blouin remarked on the importance that the University places on the work of Schoenfisch and other faculty inventors like him. \u201cOne of the most important things that we can do for the people of North Carolina and the people of this country is to create that next big thing that is going to have a chance to change the world and perhaps save a life as Mark\u2019s work is doing,\u201d said Blouin.<\/p>\n

Schoenfisch\u2019s commitment has added up to 13 issued U.S. patents, 13 issued foreign patents and 22 pending patent applications. He is also the founder of three companies:<\/p>\n