The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) recently issued nine U.S. patents to UNM Rainforest Innovations during the months of January, February, and March for technologies invented at the University of New Mexico. The patents, issued during UNM Rainforest Innovations’ 2026 fiscal third quarter, are for a variety of technologies created by researchers in the Departments of Electrical & Computer Engineering; Nuclear Engineering; Chemical & Biological Engineering; Physics & Astronomy; Computer Science; Internal Medicine; Global Health; Chemistry; the Center for Biomedical Engineering; the Center for Micro-Engineered Materials; and the Center for High Technology Materials.
Patent No. 12,529,030 issued on January 20, 2026
Inventors: Frank A. Fencl, Nick Carroll, Gabriel P. Lopez, Jacqueline De Lora, Andrew P. Shreve
(Ref. 2019-028)
Described here are methods and apparatus for acoustically assisted droplet generation with or without cell encapsulation.
Issued Patent for “Heterochiral Translators and Molecular Circuits”
Patent No. 12,529,103 issued on January 20, 2026
Inventors: Tracy L. Mallette, Matthew R. Lakin, Darko Stefanovic, Milan N. Stojanovic
(Ref. 2019-049)
A heterochiral strand displacement molecular circuit generally includes an input oligonucleotide, a first translator, a second translator, and an output oligonucleotide. The first translator generally includes a domain that binds to the input binding oligonucleotide, at least a portion of which is complementary to, and has the same chirality as, the input oligonucleotide. The first translator also includes a translation domain having chirality opposite the chirality of the input oligonucleotide (and the binding domain). The second translator generally includes a nucleotide sequence, at least a portion of which is complementary to, and has the same chirality as, the translation domain of the first translator. The output oligonucleotide includes a nucleotide sequence, at least a portion of which is complementary to, and has the same chirality as, the second translator.
Issued Patent for “Microsphere-Based Coatings for Radiative Cooling under Direct Sunlight”
Patent No. 12,529,532 issued on January 20, 2026
Inventors: Sang Eon Han, Sang M. Han
(Ref. 2016-018)
The present prevention provides a surface coating for cooling a surface by light scattering comprising a plurality of successive layers, each of the layers may be comprised of a plurality of spheres arranged to form a structure comprised of packed spheres. Each layer may have a different arrangement of packed spheres to create to a different light scattering property in each of the layers. The coating of the structures may also be formed by randomly packed spheres and the spheres may have a uniform diameter.
Issued Patent for “A Motionless Molten Salt Pump on Leverage of Pressure Variation Force”
Patent No. 12,546,337 issued on February 10, 2026
Inventors: Minghui Chen, Mingfu He
(Ref. 2024-020)
Described here is a motionless pumping design that reduces operation and maintenance costs, and enhances reliability in three aspects of pneumatics system configuration. A motionless and corrosion-resistant pump which uses the continuous generation of pressure variation push/pull force by relying on the venturi effect induced by a pair of gas ejectors together with an argon pneumatic sub-system.
Issued Patent for “Integrated Silicon Photonics Platforms for Scalable Quantum Systems”
Patent No. 12,549,262 issued on February 10, 2026
Inventors: Marek Osinski, Ganesh Balakrishnan, Arash Mafi, Roman Sobolewski
(Ref. 2019-032)
The present invention provides an electronic device having a quantum photonic integrated circuit (QuPIC) including a photonsource, a photon detector and an optical waveguide configured for guiding the photons from the source to the detector.
Issued Patent for “Integrated Chirped-Grating Spectrometer-on-a-Chip”
Patent No. 12,553,771 issued on February 17, 2026
Inventors: Steven R.J. Brueck, Payman Zarkesh-Ha, Alexander Neumann
(Ref. 2017-095)
A spectral sensor and a method for forming the spectral sensor is disclosed. The spectral sensor includes a planar waveguide on a substrate; a restriction mechanism that restricts a range of angles of incidence of light impinging onto the chirped input coupling grating; the chirped input grating formed to couple incident light into the planar waveguide, wherein the chirped input coupling grating comprises a first transverse chirp to provide a spectrally selective coupling of incident light Into the planar waveguide; a propagation region to filter out light that is not coupled into the planar waveguide; a detector array arranged on the opposite side of the propagation region from the chirped input coupling S grating to receive light coupled out of the planar waveguide and produce output signals representative of the light; and an electrical circuit to readout output signals from the detector array.
Issued Patent for “Pressure-Induced Crystallization and Topochemical Cross-Linking of Conjugated Polymers”
Patent No. 12,570,808 issued on March 10, 2026
Inventors: Hongyou Fan, Yang Qin
(Ref. 2025-027)
Polytriacetylene, a unique conjugated polymer with all-carbon main-chains consisting of alternating double bonds and diacetylene units, can self-assemble into ordered structures under moderate pressures, driven by side-chain crystallization. At higher pressure, the polymer undergoes topochemical cross-linking reactions, resulting in insoluble materials with graphyne-like structural and property characteristics.
Issued Patent for “Encapsulation of Larvicides into Biopolymer Capsules”
Patent No. 12,582,117 issued on March 24, 2026
This technology is currently licensed.
Inventors: Alexandra Victoria Yingling, Ivy Foo-Hurwitz, Linnea Ista, Scott Matthews, Fernando Genta, Bruno Gomes da Silva
(Ref. 2020-064)
The present invention describes capsule compositions consisting of crosslinked chitosan, beta-glucan or alginate, and encapsulates an environmentally compatible ingestible larvicide, especially larvicidal agents such as essential oils or other ingestible larvicides such as Bacillus thuringiensis which are lethal to the larvae of pest insects, especially mosquito larvae.
Issued Patent for “Multi-Cationic Aluminate Spinels”
Patent No. 12,582,967 issued on March 24, 2026
Inventors: Christopher Ryan Riley, Abhaya Datye, Andrew De La Riva
(Ref. 2022-087)
The present invention is directed to both stoichiometric and sub-stoichiometric high entropy aluminate spinels as a novel high entropy oxide (HEO) crystal phase. Previously reported HEOs are overwhelmingly stoichiometric structures containing a single cationic site and are stabilized solely by intermixing increasing numbers of cations. According to an aspect of the invention, sub-stoichiometric spinels, containing various mixtures of divalent metal cations and cationic vacancies in nominally equimolar concentration, provide entropic stabilization similarly to cations in stoichiometric spinels. The chromatic, structural, and chemical properties of these complex spinels are highly tunable via incorporation of cationic vacancies and multiple divalent metals, enabling their application as unique pigments, catalysts, and thermal coatings.