North Dakota State University faculty and staff are involved in research that not only impacts the world today, but will for decades into the future. Discoveries in areas such as food, energy and water security, cybersecurity, computer science, life sciences and entrepreneurship have solidified NDSU’s reputation as one of only 146 Carnegie Institutions of Higher Education R1 research institutions in the nation.

The NDSU Research Foundation (NDSURF), established in 1989, helps in furthering research from NDSU faculty and staff. The NDSU Research Foundation is an independent, not-for-profit organization that facilitates the NDSU transfer of scientific discoveries, technologies, products and processes to market.

Zane Gernhart, Ph.D., became the first full-time executive director of NDSURF in July 2024. Gernhart spent nine years at NUtech Ventures, which is the nonprofit commercialization affiliate for the University of Nebraska, and brings to NDSURF a great deal of experience with intellectual property protection and technology transfer activities

“Part of NDSU’s mission as a land-grant is to ensure impact from the new knowledge generated by our researchers, whether it’s translating that knowledge into new technologies or products, or helping to improve the wellbeing of North Dakotans in other ways,” said NDSU vice president for research and creative activity Colleen Fitzgerald.  “Bringing in Zane, with his experience in commercialization and tech transfer, is an investment in North Dakota by expanding the impact of our NDSU reseachers.”

NDSURF is a vehicle for transferring scientific discoveries developed at NDSU research out into the marketplace. Intellectual property developed at NDSU is assigned to the NDSU Research Foundation, which in turn provides legal protections through trademark and/or copyright protection, plant variety protection (PVP) and patent protection.

The foundation holds active 106 patents and 117 PVPs that are results of NDSU’s research efforts. In FY24, NDSU research produced 47 invention disclosures (which are confidential forms that NDSURF requires to assess an invention’s patentability and commercialization potential), 49 licenses and earned $1.1 million in intellectual property licensing revenue.  Heartland Forward, a think tank and resource for states and communities located in the middle of the United States, listed NDSU’s Research Foundation sixth in the normalized measure of licenses and options issued.  

The Research Foundation’s licensing income is used to support and expand research and educational endeavors at NDSU.  The foundation partners with local, regional, national and international businesses and industries and facilitates the commercialization of intellectual property developed by NDSU staff, faculty and students.

“The NDSU Research Foundation helps to maximize the impact of NDSU researchers,” said Gernhart. “By supporting commercialization activities on our campus, the foundation ensures that important innovations move from the lab into products and services that improve the lives of people in North Dakota and across the world. These innovations support jobs locally and bring funds back to the university that can support continued research and innovation efforts.”

Once an invention is developed at NDSU, the university owns the technology under State Board of Higher Education and NDSU policies. The research foundation will then assess the specific invention and evaluate the most likely market for it and determine how intellectual property can be protected. Once NDSURF has protected an invention, it turns its attention to finding a company or business that can bring the invention to market. The foundation negotiates agreements with those companies to use the inventions in exchange for royalties. The royalties received by NDSURF go through a distribution process with inventors receiving a percentage of the royalties with other funds going to support further research and innovation at NDSU. Gernhart is the Translations of Innovations to Practice (TIP) co-workstream lead for NSF Farms, which seeks to develop resilient and secure food systems in the state of North Dakota by blending advanced genomics, climate modeling, nanoscale sensors and computer systems together. FARMS was born as a result of North Dakota ecosystem partners working together to spur innovation that helps solve food insecurity.

Translation of innovations to practice is the process of advancing discoveries from basic science into clinical settings and everyday practice. Gernhart’s role as co-workstream lead is to help FARMS set up the best practices for intellectual property that is developed.

“The foundation is excited about the potential for FARMS to increase innovation and commercialization opportunities across our region,” Gernhart said. “We are working with the FARMS team to support their translation efforts.”

FARMS is only one example of support. The foundation’s has enabled many projects from NDSU researchers since its inception , including recently in pharmaceutical sciences, crop breeding and in engineering.

Novel Synthesized KPSAT Peptides for Chronic Lung Disease Treatment (RFT-704)

Sathish Venkatachalem, NDSU associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences, is conducting research that seeks to reduce severe symptoms of lung disease and has an invention with a provisional patent involving peptides that aims to reduce the symptoms of asthma. He was awarded a $2.4 million National Institute of Health grant in the summer of 2024 for that research.

Working with NDSURF allowed Venkatachalem’s team to get a provisional patent for the peptides that have shown positive results in reducing asthma symptoms.

“We were able to get provisional patent on our lab developed novel therapeutic peptides with the support and aid of the NDSU Research Foundation,” Venkatachalem said. “The novel peptides we developed have shown promising results in treatment for remodeling in the lung particularly in the setting of asthma.”

Peptide hormones are a class of hormones that are produced by specialized endocrine glands and are made from amino acids. Kisspeptins are peptide hormones that regulate pubertal development and sex hormone signaling. Those particular peptides are intended to improve therapeutic outcomes in lung diseases, including asthma.

Venkatachalem said the new idea will help treat uncontrolled asthma rather than only managing asthma for patients.

The study is looking at a pivotal modulator involved with the body’s environmental interactions in terms of airway inflammation.

North Dakota Stampede Wheat Variety

Wheat is a large driver of North Dakota’s agricultural economy. The overall value of the 2023 wheat crop was $2.42 billion. NDSU has been involved in wheat breeding for more than a century, with the first variety released by NDAES in 1892. NDSU’s breeding program has directly released, produced parents of or contributed genetically to millions of acres of spring wheat every year.

The latest new wheat variety, the North Dakota Stampede, has the potential to increase wheat yields further in North Dakota. The North Dakota Stampede wheat variety was first crossed in 2014 and the line was derived in 2017. In 2024, Foundation Seed was produced across the state of North Dakota at locations in Minot, Williston, Carrington, Langdon and the Agronomy Seed Farm in Casselton. Distribution through the county crop improvement system will begin in Feb. 2025 for registered seed production.

“In a breeding program, we often have lines which quickly become favorites as they differentiate themselves in testing,” said Andrew Green, Richard Frohberge Endowed associate professor of spring wheat breeding at NDSU. “When they make it all the way through the program and get released, it is very exciting. ND Stampede (tested as NDHRS14-0134-C03) is one of those varieties which makes plant breeding fun when you start to see the effort of the team and our collaborators across the state pay off in a big way. We talk about wanting to get the yield of ‘Faller’ and the quality of ‘Glenn’, and we came pretty close on both accounts with ND Stampede.”

According to Green, the ND Stampede has superior straw strength, leaf rust resistance, grain protein and improved end-use quality. The Stampede has similar yield potential to the ND Faller but is one-inch shorter, one day earlier and has superior straw strength. The Faller variety was a 2007 NDSU release that remains a high-yielding variety but is susceptible to leaf rust.

During trials in North Dakota, Minnesota and Montana ND Stampede has been a top-yielding variety. It has been noted for having very high yield potential with high grain protein.

The NDSU Research Foundation owns the varieties released by the NDSU wheat breeding program, and collects royalties used to make that program sustainable, Green said.

Solar Panel Fencing

NDSU professor of civil, construction & environmental engineering Mijia Yang has developed a snow solar fence that includes a modularized solar conversion system which has better efficiency and can integrate solar panels of groups. NDSURF funded Yang’s patent for the RTF 637: Solar Energy Power Conversion System. The patent covers the solar conversion system used for the fence.

"The research team strives to develop a multipurpose solar snow fence that does not occupy additional lands, mitigates snow and wind, and powers a greenhouse,” Yang said. “A self-sustained off-grid greenhouse colors harsh winters of Fargo with green and supplies residents with fresh agricultural products."

The project has multiple uses – producing electricity and also piling up snow alongside the road before it can reach the highway. The initial solar snow fence was placed along U.S. Highway 10 east of Moorhead, Minn., in the winter of 2023-24.

It is estimated a 100-foot solar snow fence can produce between 20 and 30 kilowatts of electricity per day, which would be enough to power a typical residential home for 24 hours.

The solar snow fence will be implemented at Prairie Rose Farm near Felton, Minn., this winter. Prairie Rose Farm is a community farm partnership that sits on 71 acres of land that focuses on regenerative agriculture, training and research.

The solar power from this fencing will be stored on batteries and connected to the electrical system with the aim of powering the greenhouse at the farm through the winter season.

“The research foundation has helped me to expand the research to the Controlled Environmental Agriculture sector,” Yang said.  “The project is ongoing right now. We are expecting a fully functional solar powered greenhouse in early December.”

“The partnership between the NDSU Research Foundation and our NDSU researchers lays the groundwork for innovation and impact for public good,” Fitzgerald said.  “That helps us demonstrate the value proposition of NDSU’s research for the state, whether it’s developing technologies in ag, engineering, computer science or the life sciences.”