Mechanical Engineering Professors Mark Rentschler and Greg Rieker are now Senior Members of the (NAI) – an honor that recognizes their thought-leadership and discovery.

The two professors were inducted on Nov. 1, during NAI’s tenth annual meeting. NAI Senior Members are active faculty, scientists and administrators who have produced technologies that have brought, or aspire to bring, real impact to the welfare of society. They are also recognized for educating and mentoring the next generation of inventors.

Rentschler’s patent success can be seen at his medical device startup . The company recently received a patent for medical balloon technology to improve anchoring consistency in the gastrointestinal tract. 

The PillarTM Technology are small nubs on the balloon that are made of silicone. The pillars create more friction, allowing doctors to better secure the device in the small intestine. Aspero Medical uses the micro-textured balloon in its AncoraTM Balloon Overtube for endoscopies.

Rieker’s company – – has found success as well, recently being named the . LongPath uses laser technology to help oil and gas companies monitor methane and detect leaks across large areas of infrastructure.

The Frequency Comb Laser technology the company uses was the basis of Nobel Prize-winning research at the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Rentschler and Rieker are among the 63 inventors in the 2021 class of Senior Members. University of Colorado Boulder molecular, cellular and developmental biology professor Tin Tin Su is in this year’s class as well. 

Su is the lead inventor on three issued patents, two of which are licensed to her startup company . She now serves as the company's chief scientific officer. Su’s inventions have garnered $4.5 million in federal contracts from the National Cancer Institute, resulting in subcontracts to five Colorado researchers at other institutions and a potential new treatment for an orphan disease.

Currently, Su is utilizing a $2 million  contract for SuviCa to develop an innovative screening platform–hardware and software–to identify novel radiation modulators for cancer. This system will be leveraged to generate intellectual property through partnership agreements to screen compound libraries. Each new compound identified has the potential to generate upwards of $4 million.

The NAI represents 37 research universities, government and non-profit research institutes. The 63 inventors are named on more than 625 issued U.S. patents. Rentschler, Rieker and Su are the first three inventors from CU Boulder to be inducted as Senior Members. 

Inventors need to be nominated to receive the Senior Member standing with the NAI. Nominations are reviewed by the Senior Member Advisory Committee, a peer group comprised of NAI Fellows and Members.

The NAI includes more than 4,000 individual inventor members and fellows from more than 250 institutions around the world. Ten CU Boulder inventors have been named NAI Fellows since 2015.   

Correction: The original article included Mollecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Professor Tin Tin Su's name, but it did not include her photo and work. Both have been added to celebrate her accomplishments and value to the CU Boulder community.

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 has received a patent for new technology that will help physicians diagnose and treat gastrointestinal illness more effectively. The medical device startup, cofounded by Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering Professor Mark Rentschler, created a micro-textured medical balloon for endoscopies.

The new patent covers the startup company's Pillar^TM Technology, the small nubs on the balloon made of silicone. The pillars are shaped and spaced out in a way that creates more friction, which allows doctors to secure the balloon in the small intestine. Medical balloons made by other companies are smooth and tend to slip in the mucus lining the intestine. Those balloons make endoscopies technically challenging and time-consuming.

"We feel like we're able to give better traction and better anchoring with less force," Rentschler explained. "Speed for the physician, deeper access for the patient, less trauma and full diagnosis and treatment that first time."

Balloon endoscopy is the standard to diagnose and treat small bowel disease. The balloon is inflated when inserted into the intestine, making room for a scope to move through. The procedure allows physicians to see the entire small intestine.

One of Rentschler’s goals is to “figure out a way to try to make a bigger impact with our discoveries at the bedside with the patient and the physician.” His new Pillar ^TM Technology helps push that mission forward.

Engineering the micro-textured balloon 

Companies have tried designing balloons with texture before, but not like this. Rentschler said the idea in the early 2000s was to use mesh around a balloon. When the balloon was inflated, it would squish through the holes of the mesh to create nubs intended to secure the balloon.

“We wanted something super thin,” Rentschler said. “While we want the textures, we don’t want them to break. We want them to be as small as reasonably possible.”

While Rentschler pointed out that molding technology has improved in the last five years, the process to create such small pillars is not easy.

“In fall 2019, we started proving out our technology by transitioning to manufacturing and building our first micro-textured balloons at scale,” Rentschler explained. “That itself was a huge challenge. Most contract manufacturers wouldn’t even try to create these balloons with us because they didn’t think it was possible.”

Once Aspero Medical found a vendor ready for the challenge, the startup began building the balloons in spring 2020.

Rentschler created the Pillar ^TM Technology with Dr. Steven Edmundowicz, Aspero Medical’s chief medical officer and the medical director of the  at the . The foundational intellectual property was developed at the University of Colorado. The CU Board of Regents owns the patent.

Utilizing the technology on medical products

Aspero Medical uses the micro-textured balloon in a product the company has lined up to submit for FDA approval.

The Ancora^TM Balloon Overtube attaches the pillared balloon to a silicone tube for endoscopies. Physicians move a scope through the silicone tube to visualize the digestive tract. Rentschler and Edmundowicz will apply for FDA approval this year. Rentschler said if all goes well, they expect approval three months after submitting. From there it’s commercialization.

Aspero Medical also plans to use the Pillar ^TM Technology on a product for colonoscopy procedure. The company intends to submit that product for FDA approval in 2022. The Pillar ^TM Technology is designed so that it could work with other balloons as well. That could include balloons used in cardiovascular or urology procedures.

“This product (Ancora Balloon Overtube) is for GI. Our second product is for colonoscopy, again GI,” Rentschler said. “We’re starting to put our heads together on what we think could be third.”

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A swallowable, remote-controlled robot that roams around inside a person’s intestines, using tools to perform procedures and sending back a live video stream of this funky pink environment? Now that’s some seriously cool science. 

It’s hard to imagine a teenager who could resist exploring mechanical engineering after learning about Endoculus, the small device developed by CU Boulder Professor Mark Rentschler and student researchers in his lab that can navigate the human gastrointestinal system with ease and may someday help doctors care for their patients.

In fact, educators are hoping that middle and high school students are so intrigued by Rentschler and his sci-fi-esque robot that they pursue further study and maybe even a career in science, technology, engineering, math or medicine.

A comprehensive, , and PowerPoint presentation about Rentschler’s research are now available, free of charge, to teachers all over the world thanks to a partnership with , a United Kingdom-based organization that aims to help develop the next generation of scientists, engineers, mathematicians, researchers, doctors and beyond. 

Futurum helped translate Rentschler’s complex research into easy-to-digest (no pun intended) content that teachers can incorporate into their lesson plans and share with their students.

“Mark is a brilliant example of someone using his passion and knowledge to improve people’s lives,” said Brett Langenberg, Futurum’s founder. “His research is innovative — and the robotic element is cool — and has a real-life application that many young people will find inspiring. Mark’s work shows what can be achieved when you have aspirations, which is something we want all young people to have.”

The colorful and engaging online Futurum package also includes a question-and-answer interview with Rentschler, a CU engineering professor and Sylvia Norviel Cancer Research faculty fellow, about his path to becoming a mechanical engineer, the ins and outs of the field itself and some of Rentschler’s advice for young people. 

Rentschler said he enjoyed the opportunity to think about his research through the eyes of a young person and reflect on his personal journey to becoming a scientist — from the tiny town of Atkinson, Nebraska, to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and, eventually, to CU Boulder, with many other influential stops along the way. 

He’s also glad that his research can serve as a real-world example of the types of fun, creative and potentially helpful projects students can work on if they pursue a career in STEM.

“One of our goals as faculty is to make a broad impact with our research, not only with the students that we’re directly training but also bringing the research to classrooms here at the university and even wider dissemination,” Rentschler said. “It’s a creative challenge to share your research with the broadest community possible, but this experience has demonstrated to me how you can distill your research into a tangible form for a younger audience.” 

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