UT researchers honored for developing products

Friday, October 19, 2012, Vol. 36, No. 42

KNOXVILLE (AP) — Two University of Tennessee researchers are being honored for their work in turning ideas into products and businesses.

Gabor Tigyi chairs the physiology department at the UT Health Science Center in Memphis. He co-founded RxBio Inc. with colleagues to help develop a drug that could prevent lethal injuries from radiation exposure. The company was awarded a $15 million federal contract last year to fund further development of the drug.

Tami Wyatt is co-director of the Health Information Technology and Simulation Laboratory at UT Knoxville. She helped develop a simulated electronic medical records product called DocuCare that is being tested in 200 nursing programs around the world.

They were honored on Wednesday with the B. Otto and Kathleen Wheeley Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer.