A closer look at Bishop-Anderson's "InQ" invention
HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) - WAFF 48 News has learned about the invention Dr. Amy Bishop and her husband developed.
It's an invention that could mean new strides in diseases like Alzheimer's and ALS.
But if Amy Bishop lost her UAH job, did she still stand to gain from her invention?
When the shooting started in the Shelby Center February 12th, Amy bishop's husband, Jim Anderson, told us he was at Biztech.
He works in the lab at Prodigy, the biotech company formed under the non-profit business umbrella of Biztech to mass produce their invention: InQ.
Anderson was helping to get the couples' invention into other labs around the world.
"Amy was working on research in neural diseases and stroke and Alzheimer's and she couldn't keep brain cells alive long enough for useful research," said Prodigy board chairman Dick Reeves.
So Anderson turned that problem into potential in the form of InQ.
"The 'InQ' allows the researchers to put the cells in place like the human body. The temp stays steady. The current incubator can't do that," said Reeves.
The first InQ is scheduled to be sold in June and is about the size of an laser printer.
Reeves said while UAH owns the technology, and Prodigy is licensed to distribute it, Bishop and Anderson's names are listed as co-inventors on the patent.
That means even if she lost her $66,000 per year job at UAH, she still stood to earn much more off the invention.
We're told the new incubator, InQ, stands to earn millions.
If it does, the board of directors wants to distribute the money to the victim's families.
Ironically Dr. Maria Ragland-Davis worked with Biztech as well, hoping to turn one of her bright ideas into a promising invention.
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