Indiana CTSI supported researchers awarded patents for discoveries

Two researchers connected to the Indiana CTSI have been awarded patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the March and April 2026 period.

• Feng Guo, PhD, has been awarded a patent for high throughput fabrication spheroids, 3D self-assembled clusters of cells that mimic natural tissues and tumors, for use in biomedical research, drug screening, and disease monitoring. Guo, who is an associate professor of intelligent systems engineering at IU Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering in Bloomington, was supported by the Indiana CTSI via a 2019 GLUE grant for his research, “A scaffold-free, high throughput biofabrication method for cancer immunotherapy.”

• Adam Zlotnick, PhD, has been awarded a patent for Heterodimeric Hepatitis B virus-like particles. Zlotnick, a Distinguished Professor of molecular and cellular biochemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences in Bloomington, developed Orthohepadnavirus capsid protein heterodimers, the foundational components of the viral capsid of the Hepatitis B virus, to improve the manufacturing of virus-like particles while reducing the limitations to current technology. His research was supported by a 2011 Core Pilot award, “Screening for molecules that interfere with Hepatitis B virus assembly,” and a 2020 Core Pilot, “Efforts of antivirals on HBV structure and intracellular localization.” Virus-like particles have shown promise as vaccine carriers, nano-material containers, and carriers for MRI imaging reagents.

Zlotnick and Guo join fellow researcher Mangilal Agarwal, PhD, who was also awarded a patent in 2026 for work that was supported by collaboration with the Indiana CTSI. You can learn more about his patent here.