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XL Vision likes UT tongue
The
electronic tongue, one of the most high-profile inventions to come out of the
University of Texas in recent years, has found a home in the private sector.
After
16 months of negotiations, the university has reached an all-equity deal with
Florida incubator XL Vision to commercialize the device, which consists of
hundreds of chemical microsensors arranged on a silicon wafer. The tongue,
developed by the school’s chemistry and electrical engineering departments, is
expected to have a variety of medical and industrial uses, but commercializing
it has been tough.
XL
Vision will start an Austin-based biotechnology company — as yet unnamed — that will develop diagnostic tests for human and animal conditions, and
UT will be a shareholder. It is the first time the university has taken owner
ship in a company in exchange for the rights to one of its patents.