Re: Anyone with good biz ideas for Silicon Valley? I got office space there available
great idea.. did you actually invented anything proprietary or just a methodology? There are already some materials that are already behaving this way...... so care to explain what is so unique abt yours?
Managed to file any IP? hmm... I thot in US, just need to tok big to them .... think big.... file patent and $$ will come rolling in..... dun really need to hv content ....
I have 2 main ideas in my portfolio, currently trade-secrets, no IP filed yet, but I know a bit of IP law so I know how to maneouver around, I've not revealed formulation to anyone even my thesis supervisory committee, but I currently have 5 research manuscripts (4 published - in ACS Journal of Industrial Chemistry & Engineering Research, Journal of Biomaterials, a Journal of Biomaterials Review Article, Journal of Membrane Science , 1 accepted - Journal of Protein Chromatography, coming out in April.) which demonstrate the possible applications with these membranes:
1. filtration membranes that change their pore size dynamically in response to a stimuli-condition - light, temperature, salinity, pH, electrical, magnetic fields or presence of a stimuli molecule. Possible applications in longer lasting filtration membranes, multi-component separation in 1 filtration stage (previously not possible), drug delivery, sensor apps. I can make the membranes change their pore size between a MF and UF regime (actually even down to NF)...so 100 times change in size of pores by varying stimuli-conditions.
2.affinity-responsive membranes that change their affinity in response to a stimuli-condition - again, light, temperature, salinity, pH, electrical, magnetic fields or presence of a stimuli molecule. An easy example is a film which is hydrophobic (water hating, like how a water droplet beads up on a lotus leaf) in one stimuli-condition, and extremely hydrophillic (water loving, like how a drop of water wets and spreads across a tissue paper) in another stimuli-condition. Possible applications in 'smart' fabrics (turns water-proof in thunderstorms to keep you dry, and turns washable in the washing machine), and ability to bind lots of a class of compounds (which are hydrophobic) in one instance and then release them in another instance by turning the material hydrophillic so it rejects all the compounds it has absorbed in sequence - this is where cleantech apps (cleaning up chemical spills) and purification & separation applications are also possible.
And some other century-old ideas which are non-patentable (ideas picked up while working & reading stuff up in NS actually, was fortunate to be in a position which allowed me to do that), but which you still need a lot of proprietary know-how to execute...like bacteriophage therapy-type biological control of invasive species.
Was talking to a bunch of guys last year about trying out my other ideas in an algae farm, but interest has evaporated since the oil prices have plunged. I'm interested in NUS's A/Prof Jeff P. Obbard's research in marine algae-culture though, his PhD student Probir Das has an interesting talk in mid-April about how to harvest algae cheaply, and I've been trying to squeeze his method out from him along with another lawyer from Lee & Lee.
Can check out his talk if you're interested:
http://www.ese.nus.edu.sg/seminarSeries-15Aug08_ProbirDas.html
