In 1992, the University of Iowa Research Foundation received its first U.S. patent on the CMV promoter, a prevalent tool in the biotechnology industry. The CMV promoter is used to manufacture FDA approved therapeutic proteins for treating patients with cancer and other diseases, and to develop gene therapy and DNA-based vaccine products. UI Microbiology Professor Mark Stinski discovered the CMV promoter. (Photo Mark Stinski : courtesy University of Iowa)

Dr. Stinski joined the University of Iowa Department of Microbiology in 1973 as an Assistant Professor of Virology, and as of December 2011, is Professor Emeritus. He has provided 39 years of service to the Department and its members as a researcher and educator. He is also an exceptionally rare and highly important entrepreneur, whose dedicated efforts have paid off in major ways to contribute financially to The University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine, and Department of Microbiology. (Photo Mark Stinski: courtesy University of Iowa)