Three Patents For Universal Display
Corrections or additions?
These articles were published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on December 8,
1999. All rights reserved.
Life in the Fast Lane: Paytrust.com
Paytrust.com, the Emmons Road Internet start-up that
allows customers to pay bills online, may have gotten a jump start
on competitors like PayMyBills.com and Cyberbills.com with an infusion
of cash from investors and a marketing deal to boot.
Secure Commerce Services Inc., the company behind Paytrust.com (U.S.
1, August 25, 1999), announced on Monday, December 6, that it raised
$30 million from a group that includes Softbank Corp., American
Express
Co., and General Electric’s G.E. Capital. This brings total investment
in the company up to $37 million. The company is currently valued
at about $90 million.
The real diamond in the deal, though, is an agreement by American
Express to market the Paytrust service to its 29 million members.
At the moment, Paytrust has only 20,000 customers. This deal could
cause membership to soar.
Meanwhile, Cyberbills Inc. raised $9 million in September.
PayMyBills.com
raised $5 million in May, but the company is in the process of another
round of fundraising that CEO John Tedesco hopes will be tens of
millions
of dollars.
Secure Commerce Services, 29 Emmons Drive, SuiteB-30, Princeton 08540. Ed McLaughlin, president and CEO. 609-720-1818;fax, 609-720-1819. Home page: https://www.paytrust.com. (U.S.1, August 25, 1999).Top Of PageThree Patents For Universal DisplayA flexible laptop computer screen that is easy to readin bright light. A solar panel that produces even more energy fromsunlight. These are some of the commercial applications of technologydeveloped by Princeton University professors and Universal DisplayCorporation that secured patents this week.The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office just issued three patents toPrinceton University as part of the Organic Light Emitter Project,a joint effort between professors at Princeton, researchers at theUniversity of Southern California, and Universal Display Corporationat 375 Phillips Drive. This brings the number of patents issued tothe company on this project up to 18.A technology that makes electronic displays easily readable in brightlight is the first patent. The “High Contrast Transparent OrganicLight-Emitting Device Display,” as it is called, involvesintegratinga black background into the display to increase the contrast ratio.The second patent secured by the company involves a new process forcreating “Organic Light-Emitting Devices,” or displays. Thedisplays are created by applying layer-upon-layer of carbon-basedmolecules. Researchers, however, discovered a process that wouldreducedamage to the layers beneath the one being grown, thus speeding upthe fabrication process of the displays. It’s called “Method forDepositing Indium Tint Oxide Layers in Organic Light EmittingDevices”The third patent is for a process of applying an organic film overlight detectors, which researchers discovered increases the efficiencyof those detector. The technology could be used in solar cells, forexample, where sunlight is converted into energy. Theoretically, theapplication of the film would cause more energy to output from thesame amount of sunlight. It’s called “Organic Luminescent Coatingfor Light Detectors.”Although none of the new technologies have been licensed to amanufacturer,Universal Display did sign a letter of intent with Luxell Corporationin Canada, a custom-display house for high contrast display, for the”high-contrast” technology.Steve Abramson, CEO of Universal Display, foresees plenty ofopportunityin this electronic display industry. “The flat panel displayindustryis about a $16 billion a year industry,” he says, “and theindustry in general is looking for a cell phone or a portableelectronicdevice that is legible in sunlight” (U.S. 1, February 25, 1998).The company leased a 11,000 square foot building in Ewing, which willserve as a development center, a technology transfer center, and apilot line facility to scale up the processes for this technology.A grand opening is scheduled for Friday, December 10, 2 to 4 p.m.,by invitation only. Abramson expects initial commercial prototypesto be out by next year.Universal Display Corporation Inc. (PANL), 375Phillips Bouvevard, Ewing 08618. Steven Abramson, COO. 609-671-0980;fax, 609-671-0995. Home page: https://www.universaldisplay.com.Top Of PageNew CRO in Town: ABRAnother clinical research organization (CRO) has movedto Princeton to be in the heart of the “pharmacorridor,”definedas northern New Jersey to Wilmington, Delaware. Advanced BiomedicalResearch aims to expand its space in a permanent location. Theclinicalresearch center for Phase I studies remains in Hackensack.Founded in 1994 by Michael Willitt, the firm’s clients range fromthe largest pharmaceuticals to small biotechs. It can do Phase IIto Phase IV studies on an outpatient basis, do Phase III management,medical writing, regulatory submissions, clinical trial reports, andmanuscripts.The son of an electrical engineer for Bell Labs, Willitt is marriedand has three school-aged children. He earned a pharmacy degree atthe University of Illinois, Class of 1984, his PharmD degree in 1986.After doing a residency in Kansas City he worked at a communityhospitalin Greensboro, North Carolina, then returned to Missouri for a jobat what is now Hoechst Marion Roussel, where he worked on internalclinical trials. He worked on Phase III and IV trials at Bristol-MyersSquibb. In 1992 he moved to a CRO in north Jersey, Health and SciencesResearch. When that company was sold off he started his own firm inthe same location.What distinguishes his firm, Willitt says, is that it is ascientificallydriven organization; it eschews templates, and includes “a fairamount of insight” into its reports.Advanced Biomedical Research Inc., 600 AlexanderRoad, Princeton 08540. Michael Willitt, director of pharmacokineticsand medical writing. 609-514-4422; fax, 609-514-4466. Home page:https://www.abr-pharma.com.Top Of PageExpansions: NovafluxIf cleanliness is close to godliness, then you mightcall Novaflux Technologies the angel of the medical industry. Thecompany, a product division of Princeton Trade & Technology at 1 WallStreet, is the result of research on a new method for cleaning medicalinstruments — specifically, medical tubing.”To put it simply,” says a company spokesperson, “we’reable to clean really small tubes, really well.” For a businessidea, it’s not sexy or dramatic, but if you’ve ever tried to cleanout a straw you can appreciate the genius in it. The tubes thatNovafluxcleans are even smaller — as small 200 microns (or one-fifth ofa millimeter) — and they are routinely used in dental officesand hemodialysis centers, where sterilization is paramount.”I think we are deemed by several people in the industry to havethe best solution,” says Mohamed E. Labib, president and founderof Princeton Trade & Technology. The sterilization technology involvesa two-phase cleaning process that mixes both liquid and gas to ridthe equipment of organic bacterial slime, or biofilm. Rather thanuse a toxic and corrosive biocide to directly kill the bacteria, thecompany uses a surfactant, a non-toxic chemical that breaks up theorganic material stuck to the surface of the tubing, to create asterileatmosphere. The company claims to be able to complete the processin about three minutes.Prior to starting Princeton Trade & Technology, Labib worked for 14years at RCA Laboratories and the Sarnoff Corporation as a memberof the technical staff. He has a BS in chemistry and geology fromAlexandria University, Class of 1967, as well as a PhD from McGilland an MBA from Monmouth University.So far, Labib has found three different applications, and at leastas many interested customers, for Novaflux’s process. The mostpromising,so far, has been in cleaning up modern dentistry.Novaflux has had a contract with the United States Air Force since1997, and with the Navy since 1998, to engineer a new approach toremoving biofilm in dental unit waterlines. The imperative to cleanthe dirty water came right from the American Dental Association, saysLabib. “When you go to the dentist biofilm grows on the lines,and the count is measured in bacteria is something like 1 to 10millioncolony forming units,” he says. “The ADA doesn’t want to seeany more than 200.” Labib says that the company is in the finalstages of negotiating an agreement with a major manufacturer of dentalunits for the Novaflux process.Novaflux’s technology is also being applied to the cleaning ofendoscopes,hemodialyzers, and equipment used in water treatment plants. Forhemodialysis,where the tubing pumps fluid directly into the body, the Novafluxtechnology may be a real godsend. Earlier this year, the NationalInstitutes of Health contracted with Novaflux to find a way to removerogue blood cells proteins from hemodialyzers.– Melinda SherwoodPrinceton Trade and Technology, 1 Wall Street,Princeton08540. M.E. Labib, president. 609-683-0215; fax, 609-683-5003. Homepage: https://www.novaflux.com.Top Of PageStart-Ups: New Media PartnersNew Media Partners, 666 Plainsboro Road, Suite1375, Plainsboro 08536. Gary LaSasso, president. 609-799-8700; fax,609-799-8840. Home page: https://www.nmpartners.net.This company focuses on cost effective multimediapresentationscomplete with animation and interactivity. A native of Hammonton,Gary LaSasso was a communications major at Rutgers, Class of 1987,and worked for a business to business communications company inLibertyCorner as a project manager, doing everything from brochures toproducingmeetings. He and Michael Gallagher, with whom he had worked at twoprevious companies (Speaker Support Group and Visual Media), foundedthe firm this year.The partners recently returned from an asthma conference in Copenhagenwhere, for a major pharmaceutical, they coordinated a presentationbased on audience response polls. Their major clients are in thepharmaceuticaland financial areas and include Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merrill Lynch,Merck, and Bell Atlantic.New School For Music Study, 90 Main Street,Kingston08528-0407. Lucille Conti, business manager. 609-921-2900; fax,609-924-2536.The Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy has opened at the NewSchool for Music Study, and the New School will continue as anexperimentallaboratory to do research in music education at the keyboard and asa year-round community music school.The late Frances Clark, a leader in piano pedagogy, applied hermethodsapplied to all levels, from beginners to concert artists. The centerwill be the first organization created exclusively to make independentinquiry into why some students succeed at music study (and othersfail), why some published materials are more effective than others,and what is the most appropriate way to teach future keyboardteachers.The center will develop, test, and disseminate new applications ofher philosophy. Louise Goss, co-founder of the New School for MusicStudy, will chair the board.Top Of PageName Changes: Robert PowellNassau Capital Advisors LLC, 92 Nassau Street,Princeton 08540. Robert S. Powell Jr., principal. 609-430-9700; fax,609-466-4164.Arete Capital Advisors LLC has changed its name and added a partner,Michael Schonberger. Schonberger majored in marketing at Pace, Classof 1984, has a master’s degree in finance from New York University,and a law degree from Rutgers law school. As a commercial mortgagebroker he worked for Dorman & Wilson (now Legg Mason Real EstateServices)in Parsippany and in Manhattan for Ackman Ziff Real Estate Group.He teaches at Rutgers and specializes in real estate mortgage bankingand investment sales.Powell founded this firm after leaving DKM, where he had been inchargeof DKM’s development activities (U.S. 1 April 9, 1997) and is workingon deals concerning the proposed hotel for downtown Trenton. The firmprovides financial services to the real estate industry includinginvestment sales, economic development incentives, and public/privatedevelopment projects. It is not associated with Nassau Capital LLC,the Chambers Street-based firm that manages Princeton University’salternative asset investments.Princeton Securities Corp., 100 Canal PointeBoulevard,Suite 206, Princeton 08540. Kenneth Kamen, president. 609-987-0500;fax, 609-987-1715.This full-service broker, a market maker in over-the-counter stocks,has been acquired by Kirlin Holding, based in Syosset, Long Island(800-899-9400). The deal was announced in November and is waitingfor regulatory approval.”We really like what Kirlin is doing and it made strategicsense,”says Kamen. “In line with a lot of the consolidation in thefinancialindustry, we wanted to link up with a larger organization with morein-house capabilities.”Top Of PageDeathsJohn C. Harris Jr, 77, on November 27. He worked at theInstitute for Advanced Study.Henry J. Glanton, 56, on November 29. He was senior cooksupervisor at Princeton University.Sam Bard Treiman, 74, died November 30. He was a PrincetonUniversity physicist, known for his work in the field of elementaryparticle physics.Claudette Haba, 51, December 5. A director at the state’sDivision of Youth and Family Services, she was also an artist whosework was frequently exhibited, most recently at the State Museum.Corrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
