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UNB Inventors Were Granted 10 Patents in 2025–26, Tying a Decade High

The patents cover eight technologies: portable MRI devices for fluids and tissue, a propolis-based compound against blood cancers, an exoskeleton actuator, a forestry-waste bio-oil process and a smaller grid inverter.

Closing card with the UNB wordmark: 10 patents across eight technologies (MRI, propolis compound, exoskeleton, bio-oil, inverter), tying 2017 and 2020 for the decade high

The University of New Brunswick says its inventors were granted 10 patents between 2025 and 2026, over a 12-month period. That ties 2017 and 2020 for the best single-year total in the past decade. The 10 patents protect eight technologies, some in more than one country.

UNB has what it calls an inventor-owned policy: an invention generally belongs to the person who made it, not to UNB, even when a faculty member made it on the job. Inventors can commercialize it themselves, or assign the rights to UNB in exchange for help from its technology-transfer staff. Many of the patents are listed on ExploreIP, the federal marketplace for publicly funded intellectual property.

What was patented

Each patent number links to its public record.

  • Magnetic resonance, four ways. Igor Mastikhin, Will Selby and Phil Garland received US 12,444,526 for a compact, portable MR device that analyses vibrating tissue samples. UNB says it could lead to low-cost, point-of-care tests for conditions like foot ulcers and liver fibrosis. Bruce Balcom, Michael M. B. Ross, Jiangfeng Guo, Ben Newling and Devin Morin received US 12,560,665, on MR methods and devices for measuring a fluid's rheological properties. Balcom, Guo, Newling, Mary-Margaret Lawrence and Morin received US 12,578,291, on characterizing a fluid's flow pattern. UNB says the pair could make flow measurement more compact and cheaper than what industry uses now. Mastikhin and Selby also received US 12,625,100 for spinning a small sample between two surfaces, so it can be analysed with less fluid than pipe-based tests need.
  • A bee-resin compound against blood cancers. Alli Murugesan, Anthony Reiman and Université de Moncton's Mohamed Touaibia hold an Indian patent (IN577460) and US 12,605,352 on analogues of caffeic acid phenethyl ester, a compound found in propolis. UNB says the researchers found the compounds inhibit the growth of myeloma and lymphoma cells.
  • A modular exoskeleton actuator. Jon Sensinger and Christian Grandmaison received Canadian patent CA 2,947,625 for a compact actuator design and control method that can drive the hip, knee or ankle of a powered lower-limb device.
  • Bio-oil from forestry waste. Gobinda Saha, Disha Bisto and Muhammad Afzal hold a European unitary patent (EP 4,251,708 C0), which UNB says took effect in 18 countries, plus a U.K. validation of EP 4,251,708. The patent is titled "Method for producing a high-phenolic-content biooil"; UNB's write-up describes the result as a low-viscosity thermoplastic polymer made from forestry by-products instead of petroleum.
  • A smaller grid inverter. Guanghong Song, Hassan A. Hassan, Liuchen Chang and Bo Cao received US 12,609,604 for a single-phase inverter design that shrinks the power filter needed to connect to the grid.

What a patent does and doesn't mean

UNB's own write-up is frank that a patent is a start, not a product. Some inventors will start companies or work with partners. Others will wait for the right collaborator. "Some inventions, unfortunately, never find the right opportunity to be implemented," it says. UNB did not name any licensee or startup for these patents.

UNB's MRI work has turned into a company before: Fredericton's Green Imaging Technologies was founded out of research at the university's MRI Research Centre, after Balcom invited Derrick Green to assess commercializing an NMR measurement.

Sources

ChronologyUNB· 42 stories since Nov 20, 2024

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