MIR Faculty Honored at WashU Celebration of Inventors

Inventors, researchers and faculty entrepreneurs from WashU Medicine gathered to recognize their innovations at the Office of Technology Management’s eighth annual Celebration of Inventors. Held in the Jeffrey T. Fort Neuroscience Research Building, the cohort of awardees includes 2024 United States Patent and Trademark Office awardees; newly elected National Academy of Inventors fellows and senior members, the inaugural Venture Fellows cohort and the recipient of the 2025 Chancellor’s Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Members of the WashU Medicine Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology faculty who were honored include:

• Hongyu An, PhD, professor of radiology and director of the Biomedical MR Center, for “Systems and Methods of Reconstructing Magnetic Resonance Images Using Deep Learning.”
• Tammie Benzinger, MD, PhD, Hugh Monroe Wilson Professor of Radiology, for “Quantitative Differentiation of Tumor Heterogeneity Using Diffusion MR Imaging Data.”
• Cihat Eldeniz, PhD, assistant professor of radiology, for “Systems and Methods of Reconstructing Magnetic Resonance Images Using Deep Learning.”
• Robert Gropler, MD, professor of radiology and senior vice chair and division director of radiological sciences, for “Methods for Detecting CCR2 Receptors.”
• Gloria Guzmán Pérez-Carrillo, MD, associate professor of radiology, for “Quantitative Differentiation of Tumor Heterogeneity Using Diffusion MR Imaging Data.”
• Hao Jiang, PhD, instructor in radiology, for “Anti-Apoe Antibodies.”
• Yongjian Liu, PhD, professor of radiology, for “Methods for Detecting CCR2 Receptors.”
• Abraham Snyder, MD, PhD, professor of radiology, for “Real Time Monitoring and Prediction of Motion in MRI” and “System and Method for Task-Less Mapping of Brain Activity.”
• Zhude (Will) Tu, PhD, professor of radiology and director of the Precision Radiotheranostics Translation Center, for “SPHK Inhibitors and Methods of Making and Using Same” and “Alpha-Synuclein Ligands.”
• Qing Wang, PhD, assistant professor of radiology, for “Quantitative Differentiation of Tumor Heterogeneity Using Diffusion MR Imaging Data.”

This celebration comes on the heels of the university’s new ranking in The National Academy of Inventors’ Top 100 Worldwide Universities Granted Utility Patents, placing 38th with a total of 82 patents awarded in 2024.

Learn more about the awards from the Office of Technology Management/Tech Transfer and watch the recap video.