New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame Inducts Two Montclair State Research Scientists

Montclair, NJ (PRWEB) November 02, 2011

When Montclair State University research scientists Lynn Schneemeyer and John Siekierka were formally inducted into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame on October 27 at the W-Hotel in Hoboken, they joined the ranks of leading New Jersey inventors including Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Herman Sokol, and James Hillier.

During the induction ceremony, Schneemeyer was honored for her pioneering and world-class research in the fields of superconducting, magnetic, electronic, and optical materials and devices with over 250 publications, and 21 patents issued or pending. Of particular note was Schneemeyers invention of a unique single crystal material that is a critical component in telecommunications optical transmission. This novel material balances thermal and optical changes in a manner that allows the path traveled by light to remain unaffected by temperature change, thus enabling athermal optical elements to be incorporated into high bandwidth optical transmitters used by fiber optic system providers.

Siekierkas distinguished career in the fields of biochemical, immunological, and drug discovery research, as well as his ground-breaking work in the development of the first drug-eluting cardiovascular stent were cited during the induction ceremony. Siekierkas early research in the mechanism of action of several immunosuppressive drugs ultimately played a role in the identification of an immunosuppressive (anti-inflammatory) drug that would significantly enhance the efficacy of cardiovascular metal stents by preventing re-blockages of arteries following angioplasty procedures.

Based on Siekierkas earlier research on immunosuppressive drugs, the drug sirolimus was selected by a transdisciplinary development team for incorporation into a polymeric coating on metal stents. The resulting Cypher