Eligible start-up companies — including those that operate out of university incubators across Missouri — will be required to obtain an investment, raised or invested directly by the founder(s), at a level that shows a commitment to the company’s success, according to Forsee. Additional consideration will be given to start-ups with funding from Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and/or Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants and/or matching funds from other sources. Start-ups that apply for the funds also must have licensed a U-Missouri technology, must be located and licensed to do business in Missouri, and must be committed to commercializing IP owned by U-Missouri. In addition, the start-ups must agree to grant the university an equity interest in the venture with a fair market value equivalent to the amount of the university’s financial investment and accept funding installments based on achievement of agreed-upon milestones.

Source: St. Louis Business Journal

Also coming soon:

• Patent Prosecution: Best Practices for Reducing Costs While Improving Patent Quality — Next Tuesday, February 9, 2010
• Performing Market Research Studies: Testing the Waters to De-Risk Your IP Investments — Wednesday, February 24, 2010
• Tech Transfer Marketing on a Shoestring: Guerilla Tactics in a Budget-Cut World — Tuesday, March 9, 2010

“We must find new ways to encourage and grow innovation and entrepreneurship,” says David Johnston, president of U-Waterloo. “This initiative brings together enterprising students who, with the support of a leading university, [will] learn how to collaborate with the technology incubator, start-up, and venture capital communities.” At the conclusion of the BootCamp, students will be eligible for additional seed funding through a new entrepreneur program managed by the Ontario Centres of Excellence Centre for Commercialization of Research. VEB is open to any post-secondary student in Canada. In addition to a resume, applicants must submit an overview of their start-up and a YouTube video promoting the idea.

Source: Marketwire

One of the program’s founders, vice provost for entrepreneurship Duncan Moore, has started a few companies of his own during his tenure at U-Rochester using technology that he helped develop. Many academics aren’t comfortable in industry, Moore says, making it difficult for potentially job-creating technologies incubated in universities to enter the marketplace. Local engineers need to learn to start their own companies, he adds — especially in Rochester, where traditional large, high-tech companies are struggling and engineering jobs are leaving the city. The university also has a financial incentive to use some of its dormant patents, adds Jack Fraser, deputy director of U-Rochester’s OTT. The university pays roughly $15,000 in attorneys’ fees to file a patent. When a patent sits unused, that money is not recouped.

Source: University of Rochester News

Although vaccines are commercially available against meningitis A and C strains, the meningitis B strain is not addressed by current vaccines and presents a significant disease burden. Meningitis B vaccines have been elusive for two main reasons, according to Novartis. Unlike other serogroups, MenB polysaccharide produces a poor response from the immune system, and some MenB antigens are similar to glycoproteins found in humans, prompting concerns about autoimmunity. The vaccine outlicensed from Imperial Innovations has the potential to produce an enhanced immune response, which may confer greater protection than other vaccines currently in development. Completing the deal with Novartis “provides the finance to move the research towards clinical development,” says Susan Searle, CEO of Imperial Innovations. “If successful, such a product could provide a significant royalty stream to Imperial Innovations.”

Sources: Science Business and Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

With proof of principle nearly complete, the company plans to carry out an array of follow-up experiments to determine exactly how the gene works and how to develop a therapy from it. NellOne estimates a potential market of more than $3 billion. To continue the work, the company plans to pursue a Series A round of funding — likely $12 million to $20 million, says Tracy Warren, NellOne CEO and general partner at Battelle Ventures. In addition to the ORNL licenses, which establish NellOne’s platform discovery, the company is pursuing other potential applications of the genetic research. NellOne may commercialize some therapies on its own while partnering with outside companies on others, according to Warren. “We hope to have some announcements this summer,” she says.

Sources: Knoxville News Sentinel and Newswise

Goldschmidt says Antimicrobial Technologies Group is excited about the sock line and by the potential to apply the research in other product areas. The company was created in April 2009 specifically to commercialize research conducted at USD. “It’s been a long-time dream of our founder and Dr. Sun to see these technologies actually get out there in products that will help people,” Goldschmidt says. The company also is working to manufacture Sun’s antimicrobial paint, which would kill germs and make environments such as hospitals, kitchens, and locker rooms cleaner and safer. Although many antimicrobial paints are on the market, Sun says his contains specific agents that are more practical, durable, and easier to monitor.

Source: The Volante

Sonsino and colleagues have devised a better solution: low vision eyeglasses. The glasses combine the three factors needed for clearer reading: magnification to enlarge the image, prisms to keep the eyes straight and focused, and LED lighting for bright illumination. The glasses are powered by rechargeable batteries and designed so that when the bows are opened, the light automatically turns on. In a small clinical trial, users reported an 89% improvement in their reading ability. With the assistance of Vanderbilt’s TTO, Sonsino is working with a manufacturer to produce the glasses, which are expected to be available later this year for about the same price as a pair of bifocals.

Sources: 6abc.com and WSOC Charlotte

“We’re trying to do a better job of preparing our opportunities so our outside partners are willing to take the risk,” says Kenneth Nisbet, executive director of U-M Technology Transfer. At the same time, entrepreneurs and VCs outside the university can look to the center for a portfolio of start-up concepts with the talent, development funding, and connections needed for market success. All individuals seeking help in venture creation will now begin at the same “hub,” and then be directed to the appropriate services “spoke.” One of the main drivers behind the new center, says Nisbet, was operational efficiency. “By integrating a number of programs that had operated independently, we will become more effective and efficient,” he notes. “This integration will allow better sharing of talent and resources across our projects, resulting in higher quality and more timely assistance.” A detailed article on the new center appears in the January issue of Technology Transfer Tactics. To get the complete article and become a subscriber, including access to the entire archive of back issues, CLICK HERE.

To develop the technology, Dalibor Sames, PhD, associate professor in Columbia’s department of chemistry, and David Sulzer, PhD, professor of neurobiology at Columbia University Medical Center, created several fluorescent false neurotransmitters (FFNs) — a class of highly efficient optical imaging probes that fluoresce sufficiently to provide resolution at the individual synaptic level but at concentrations that do not interfere with normal synaptic function. “We believe that FFN511 has the potential to become an essential research tool for neuroscientists studying the synaptic transmission of dopamine as well as for drug discovery efforts seeking to identify improved blockers and enhancers of dopamine transporter activity,” Sulzer says. “Blocking of dopamine active transport proteins has been shown to ameliorate symptoms in preclinical models of Parkinson’s disease, and drugs that target dopamine transporters and receptors are used to treat ADHD, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.”

Source: News Blaze

Source: Cloud Computing Journal and EE Times

RPX established the Defensive Patent Aggregation service 14 months ago to reduce patent assertion and litigation initiated by non-practicing entities (NPEs). These so-called “trolls” cost technology developers around the world billions of dollars annually by acquiring patents solely for the purpose of offensive licensing and litigation. RPX counters this problem by acquiring patent rights and providing them as a defensive patent aggregation for its member organizations, which pay annual fees ranging from $35,000 to $4.9 million, depending on size. To date, RPX has invested $130 million to acquire more than 1,000 U.S. and international patents and patent rights in the mobile, Internet search, telecommunications, networking, consumer electronics, and eCommerce sectors. In 2009, one out of every five of the 470 NPE cases filed involved software defendants.

Source: Enhanced Online News

• Discovery: A research institute that focuses on new discoveries.
• Definition: A company that invests in defining the initial product(s) from the research-based discoveries in a given field of expertise.
• Development: A company with responsibility for funding and advancing product development.
• Delivery: A company with a significant marketing and distribution channel.

“Our model is fundamentally different than previous models in that it focuses on these independent groups to collectively contribute to advancing products from research discovery to commercialization,” Roth explains. Two key enabling elements of the proposed model include 1) the formation of a new type of company called a product definition company (PDC) to address the “Valley of Death” bottleneck; and 2) more efficient use of infrastructure and product development expertise provided by professional service providers (PSP). PDCs would focus on translating a portfolio of research discoveries into an early, development stage product managed by an experienced entrepreneurial team with significant operating experience in a given field. The PDC business model calls for selling the product or technology assets to VCs or distribution companies after the initial product definition phase for further product development and, eventually, delivery to the market. Potential PDC investors include angels, large corporations, VCs, and foundations, and investor focus would be on their field of interest and the expertise of the operating team.

Instead of investing in infrastructure — the norm for the VC start-up company model — the translational experiments to reach “proof of relevancy” would be contracted to PSPs to perform the key development activities. By transferring the product development and technology to the PSPs, acquirers will not be dependent on the PDC management team for expertise. Following acquisition, the product development company could operate in a virtual mode with a small group of key managers by simply continuing to fund the PSPs. Hence, the vast majority of investment in this model is focused solely on advancing the product or technology rather than on start-up infrastructure and associated operating and maintenance costs. “We believe the distributed partnering model offers a rational framework for a new approach to risk-adjusted financing of innovation,” Roth concludes.

Source: Xconomy

• A description of the licensed technology
• Compensation terms including royalty rates and license fees
• Identity of the licensor and licensee
• Transaction background and history
• Market analysis and benefits of the licensed technology

This new edition is available for immediate download. For more detail and to order, CLICK HERE.

In addition to the TTO name change, UW’s LaunchPad Services is changing its name to UWC4C New Venture Group, with Clement and Rick LeFaivre, managing director of OVP Venture Partners in Kirkland, joining the team to bring a large additional dose of real world start-up experience to the office. Both will report to Rhoads. LeFaivre will split his time evenly between the university and OVP, while Clement is expected to work full-time at UW for about 18 months. Janis Machala, who has spearheaded the LaunchPad since Rhoads hired her in November 2008, is leaving UW at the beginning of February to return to consulting. Machala says she feels “great” about the progress made in stirring more commercial activity in 2009. “New VCs are also engaging from the Bay Area and other locales now that they are seeing commercial progress” coming from UW research, she says.

The hiring of two individuals with deep expertise in high tech, cleantech, and life sciences is a recognition that UW needs specialized talent on staff to help nurture more start-ups, Rhoads says. The UW conducted more than $1 billion worth of research in 2008 — funded mostly by the federal government, charitable foundations, and corporations — and ranks second in federal research funding nationally behind Johns Hopkins University. Yet before Rhoads and Machala came aboard, business leaders complained that UW was mediocre at best in transforming that research into start-ups or useful products. Recruiting experienced industry talent to mentor scientists and engineers about business operations is a key part of bridging that gap. “This takes a lot of expertise,” Rhoads says. “There’s a lot of domain expertise required in knowing the safety and efficacy requirements, regulatory issues, [and] product reimbursement.”

Sources: TechFlash and Xconomy

As vice-provost, Norris will help develop strategies for the licensing and commercialization of IP developed at U-Rochester, foster corporate collaborations, and assist in establishing start-up companies that use technology developed at the university. As the new OTT director, Farewell will continue to provide guidance to university researchers on all aspects of protecting and commercializing innovations. She’ll also offer strategic direction for the licensing and commercialization of the university’s patent portfolio and work with the business community to identify technology needs and negotiate transfers of technology to meet those needs. For instance, students in the department of biomedical engineering senior design class have been working with the OTT to protect IP generated in the class and to produce real products from these discoveries. Farewell also plans to explore novel marketing channels such as social networking and Internet video to publicize research developments that are ready for commercialization and, in collaboration with U-Rochester’s Medical Center OTT, to establish a venture capitalist-in-residence program.

Source: University of Rochester News

The UD agreement with AutoPort stands to benefit not only the owners of electric cars but also the regional economy and the university, which will gain R&D experience as the technology goes into real-world use. If the initial test is successful and V2G vehicles are subsequently manufactured, the university would receive a royalty for each vehicle sold with V2G equipment. During the next year, AutoPort plans to retrofit the first 100 V2G cars as a proof-of-concept demonstration of the technology, which was developed by Willett Kempton, PhD, a professor in UD’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, and UD research fellow Jasna Tomic, PhD.

AutoPort will work with major companies in the area to demonstrate the V2G concept, according to Dick Johnson, the company’s director of business development. A minimum of 60 vehicles is needed to produce one megawatt of power when the vehicles are plugged into the grid. AutoPort is presently completing four vehicles for the State of Delaware and expects to have the first 100 vehicles produced in the next 12 to 18 months, according to Johnson. “We believe there is a great potential to increase the number of conversions from hundreds to thousands of vehicles, and this means a significant growth of jobs for Delaware,” he says. “The estimate for additional jobs at a thousand conversions is approximately 250. So as the numbers increase, so do jobs for Delaware.”

Source: Innovations Report

The tests indicate the potential preservative is stable at most temperatures and appears to have a long shelf life — two characteristics in its favor, Olson says. It degrades when heated, so it’s not considered a harmful addition to food. The compound could potentially either be injected into food or sprayed onto external food surfaces prior to packaging. UA has obtained a provisional patent on the product and has a utility patent pending.

Source: dialog

Because downstream funding requirements for drug development are so much greater now, he continues, “there is much more reticence with venture folks to fund therapeutic companies. The prospects of going out and raising $50 million to $100 million are much more difficult now, and [VCs] don’t want to get involved in a deal that will run out of water before it crosses the desert.”

Ashley J. Stevens, D.Phil. (Oxon), executive director of technology transfer and senior research associate in the ITEC School of Management at Boston University, describes a typical VC’s criteria in the current economic climate: “If you want to fund a drug discovery company, they are comfortable with coming in about one year pre-clinical — and that is a very difficult standard for an academic institution to meet. I’m not saying that in a specific case they won’t consider coming in at an earlier stage, but that’s their current starting point.”

But Mark Lupa, PhD, a principal at High Country Venture, LLC, in Boulder, CO, cautions against painting all VCs with a broad brush. “It depends what [your fund] is focused on,” he says. “We are focused on an earlier stage; I think we are earlier than most VC firms, but I would not call us unique.” In short, he offers, “there are a large enough number of venture firms that will get into pre-clinical stage deals.” Lupa concedes that “every VC would prefer to get into later deals from which more of the risk has been removed, but that’s not always realistic or practical. We certainly look at pre-clinical deals. He also stresses that the general VC freeze which came in reaction to the global recession is now thawing. “There was a period from when the market imploded until last summer where it was very difficult for anyone to raise capital — a recessionary black hole. Since then it has opened up, but it is more difficult than it was two to five years ago.” A detailed article on the what it takes for TTOs to attract venture funding in the current economy appears in the January issue of Technology Transfer Tactics. To get the complete article and become a subscriber, including access to the entire archive of back issues, CLICK HERE.

Nanoemulsions are superfine mixtures of soybean oil and water, stabilized by surfactants and blended at very high speeds so that the resulting droplets are less than 400 nanometers in diameter. Nanoemulsion droplets fuse with a microbe’s outer membrane, disrupt the membrane, and kill the organism. Under the agreement, New Jersey-based GSK will pay NanoBio an up-front fee of $14.5 million for licensing rights to the nanoemulsion product, called NB-001. NanoBio is eligible to receive additional milestone payments of up to $40 million plus high single-digit royalties on future sales. Baker believes that the GSK-NanoBio partnership will “enable the development and commercialization of NB-001 to its fullest potential and validate the promise of our proprietary platform technology and its potential use in a wide range of dermatological and anti-infective applications.”

In a separate development, GSK is partnering with scientists at the Emory Institute for Drug Discovery (EIDD) in Atlanta and with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals on research to develop new drugs for neglected tropical diseases in underdeveloped countries. Emory signed a Memorandum of Understanding with GSK as the first university to join the company’s new “intellectual property pool,” consisting of hundreds of patents and patent applications, scientific reports, and analyses. Under the MoU, Emory will have access to GSK scientists who can provide information about the history and current development of selected compounds targeting 16 neglected diseases identified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: tuberculosis, malaria, blinding trachoma, buruli ulcer, cholera, dengue/dengue haemorrhagic fever, racunculiasis, fascioliasis, human African trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, leprosy, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil transmitted helminthiasis, and yaws.

The patents in the IP pool are not generally filed in the least developed countries, and the new initiative is designed to encourage R&D of new medicines for these countries, as defined by the United Nations. The MoU states that, once the EIDD identifies technologies or selected compounds to pursue, Emory and GSK will develop a license agreement and additional collaborative research aimed at advancing the development of new medicines. The independent group BIO Ventures for Global Health will administer GSK’s IP pool. GSK also will collaborate with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and the South African company iThemba Pharmaceuticals, using the IP pool, to encourage R&D into new medicines to treat tuberculosis. iThemba, founded in 2003 by Dennis Liotta, PhD, professor of chemistry at Emory, and research partners in the United Kingdom, the United States, and South Africa, is developing new and affordable medicines for infectious diseases of the poor.

Sources: zikkir Technology News and Health News Digest

• Performing Market Research Studies: Testing the Waters to De-Risk Your IP Investments, on Wednesday, February 24, 2010, features a high-powered roundtable of four marketing pros and an IP attorney, who’ll focus on improving triage using market research tools and strategies. CLICK HERE for full faculty and program details.
• Tech Transfer Marketing on a Shoestring: Guerilla Tactics in a Budget-Cut World, on Tuesday, March 9, 2010, will deliver a treasure trove of inventive, clever, out-of-the-box ideas to move your innovations to market without busting your budget, and also features a 30-minute idea-sharing add-on session. CLICK HERE for complete information and to register.

PLUS, don’t miss:

• IN TWO WEEKS, Tuesday, February 9: Patent Prosecution: Best Practices for Reducing Costs While Improving Patent Quality.

Their device holds the tiny early-stage embryos in a thimble-sized funnel. The bottom of the funnel is lined with microscopic channels that allow fresh nutrient-rich fluid to flow in and waste products out. The funnel sits on rows of Braille pins that are programmed to pulse up and down, pushing the fluids in and out of the channels. The current generated simulates flows that occur in the body due to muscle contractions and the motion of hair-like cilia that line the oviducts. In the body, these motions help to push fertilized eggs to the uterus and flush out the eggs’ waste products. Compared with mouse embryos grown in a static dish, those incubated in the new dynamic device were healthier and more robust after four days. Approximately 77% of the rocked mouse embryos led to ongoing pregnancies, compared with 55% of the statically grown embryos. In a control group of mouse embryos conceived naturally and grown within the oviduct, 83% led to ongoing pregnancies. In humans, IVF currently has a success rate of about 35%. “If we could increase that, even just to 45%, that’s significant,” Smith says. Takayama and Smith founded the company Incept Biosystems, which has initiated human clinical trials of the device.

Source: Science Daily

Taylor and her team successfully grew the rat’s heart in a jar by stripping the cells off a dead rat’s heart and injecting cells from a live rat into the organ. In addition, Taylor designed a bioreactor that could successfully nurture the nascent heart with blood and oxygen in a sterile environment. More importantly, the technology creates matrix structures that can deliver the right number of cells to an injury, attract new cells, and keep the cells alive so they develop into tissue and, eventually, organs that the patient’s body will more readily accept. “The cells itself are not the whole solution,” Taylor says.

It’s difficult to overstate Miromatrix’s importance to Minnesota. If successful, some say the company could spark a biotechnology boom in the state the same way Earl Baaken’s homemade pacemaker launched Minnesota’s dominance in implantable heart devices 40-plus years ago. State leaders who once paid little attention to homegrown start-ups are now scrambling to craft a package of financial incentives to ensure that Miromatrix stays local. To generate sales, Miromatrix CEO Robert Cohen says the company will operate two businesses: one to develop the core technology and the other to sublicense Taylor’s work to other companies. The first product launch will likely be biological cardiac patches that can repair diseased heart tissue after a heart attack. As for sublicensing, Taylor envisions other biotech companies will use her technology to develop skin grafts for burn victims or cosmetic applications such as breast reconstruction after mastectomy. “It’s exciting to see this moving forward but it’s also a little scary,” Taylor says. “There’s a lot of science yet to be done.”

Source: Med City News

Inventions related to business methods are typically claimed as a series of steps, with one or more steps often performed using a computer. The decision rendered by the Federal Circuit in Bilski set forth that processes must satisfy at least one prong of the M-or-T test to be eligible for patent protection. The Federal Circuit, however, expressly declined to comment in Bilski on whether a computer could meet the definition of a particular machine or apparatus.

“The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) recently published New Interim Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Examination Instructions (”SME Instructions”) [that] embrace the Federal Circuit’s Bilski decision,” Harper and Weed write. The SME instructions require that, to be eligible for patent protection, process claims must either: 1) be machine implemented or 2) transform a particular article. The SME Instructions also set forth two corollaries to the M-or-T test: 1) the machine or transformation must impose a meaningful limitation in the invention as claimed and 2) the particular machine or transformation must involve more than insignificant “extra solution activity.” In the PTO’s view, it is no longer sufficient to insert a step such as presenting a result on a display. However, the SME instructions provide guidance on the recitation of a computer in a process claim, stating that a “general purpose computer may be sufficiently ‘particular’ when programmed to perform the process steps,” the attorneys write.

In view of that interim guidance, consider ways in which the business method may be characterized to transform articles or how a particular machine such as a computer may be incorporated into the business method in order to satisfy the M-or-T test, Harper and Weed suggest. Second, provide support for the transformation and/or particular machine in the specifications of newly filed applications and consider filing a continuing application to add such support to existing applications. Finally, incorporate features necessary to satisfy the M-or-T test into the claims of the application.

Though most observers have focused attention on the case’s impact on software patents, innovations in the diagnostics space are also affected, the attorneys note. Patent applications claiming methods of diagnosis typically recite the basic steps of gathering data from a patient sample, comparing the data with a standard, and generating information about or diagnosing the patient based on the comparison, Harper and Weed add. The Federal Circuit addressed the question of whether such medical diagnostic methods can constitute patent-eligible subject matter on two occasions post-Bilski. In Classen Immunotherapies, Inc. v. Biogen Idec, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s grant of summary judgment that certain claims were invalid as directed to ineligible subject matter. The claims covered a method for determining whether an immunization schedule affects the incidence or severity of a chronic immune-mediated disorder, and included a step of immunizing a patient in accordance with an immunization schedule, followed by interpreting the incidence, prevalence, frequency, or severity of a chronic immune-mediated disorder compared with a control group. The Federal Circuit found that such claims were not tied to a particular machine or apparatus and did not transform a particular article into a different state or thing, thereby failing the M-or-T test. More recently, the Federal Circuit held in Prometheus v. Mayo that claims directed to a method of optimizing therapeutic efficacy for treatment of an immune-mediated gastrointestinal disorder satisfied the M-or-T test and thus represented patent-eligible subject matter. The claims included a step of administering a drug to a subject followed by determining the level of the drug’s metabolite in that subject.

“Although the SME instructions issued by the PTO do not specifically discuss medical diagnostic method claims, they do advise examiners to reject method claims if they do not tie at least one step to a particular machine or if they do not confer a different function or use on the data they manipulate,” Harper and Weed write. “Thus, one possible solution to the problem of patenting medical diagnostic methods is to include claims that specify that a comparing step is carried out using a computer programmed to compare gathered data with a standard. An alternative solution may be to include a step of treating a specific condition in the patient consistent with a diagnosis. Still another approach, as suggested by Mayo, is to include in the claims a step where either a drug or other substance is administered to a patient in connection with diagnosing the patient and/or a step where a sample from the patient is analyzed in some way.”

Source: Ratner Prestia

Konneker founded Diagnostic Hybrids with former OU professors Joseph Jollick and Thomas E. Wagner. The foundation invested $1 million, or about $2.17 million in inflation-adjusted 2009 dollars. “There are faster ways to make money for a university through tech transfer than investing in start-ups, such as licensing technology to companies around the world,” says OU chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut. “But there is only one way to create jobs in Ohio, and that’s what OU is doing. This is a model we are following across the state.”

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

The RPCI tumor imaging technology also shows potential as an anti-cancer treatment agent, according to Hua Bai, president and CEO of Zhejiang Hisun. “We believe a drug with these properties would be extremely valuable for patients in China,” he says. “It may play a significant role in improving treatment options for people with cancer and will greatly enrich Zhejiang Hisun’s growing oncology drug pipeline.”

Source: Newswise

The deal is a major coup for Burdica and for the university, which helped to launch the company in 2007 through its Edinburgh Pre-Incubator Scheme (EPIS). EPIS provided Burdica with space at the university as well as business mentoring support and an interest-free loan. “This is a huge success for Burdica and the university,” says Adrian Smith, program director of EPIS. “It shows that supporting innovation can have real results, with substantial financial consequences for Scottish companies and the economy.”

Source: EPIS

Crispin used data from U-Utah’s Financial and Business Services to estimate the economic role of research spending on jobs, earnings, gross state product, and tax revenue. The analysis, conducted during the fall of 2009, is based on research expenditures during the university’s 2008 fiscal year. Crispin estimates that every $1 million spent on sponsored research at the university supports 20 jobs in Utah, generates approximately $849,450 in earnings for Utah workers, contributes $1.4 million in GSP, and provides $86,135 in state and local tax revenue. “This new study makes it easy to translate the power of [research] funding, not only for students and research outcomes on campus but also on the economy of the entire state,” says Tom Parks, the university’s vice president for research.

Source: University of Utah News Center

“This licensing deal is just one example of the innovative ways that MRCT is now exploiting both its antibody humanization and drug discovery capabilities,” says Dave Tapolczay, PhD, CEO of MRCT. “We can collaborate with other technology transfer organizations, on a shared risk basis, to develop novel antibodies and targets with therapeutic potential. When the resulting clinical candidate is subsequently licensed, both parties will not only accomplish their translational research aims but also share in its commercial success going forward.” MRCT receives an exclusive worldwide license to the related IP rights of the universities. MRCT and both universities will receive downstream payments dependent on successful development and out-licensing of the antibody.

Source: Healthcare Industry Today

• “Shrink Wrap” Your University’s Technologies for Industry: Packaging Your Innovations to Minimize Corporate Risk and Extract Optimum Licensing Value - Wednesday, January 27, 2010
• Patent Prosecution: Best Practices for Reducing Costs While Improving Patent Quality - Tuesday, February 9, 2010
• Performing Market Research Studies: Testing the Waters to De-Risk Your IP Investments - Wednesday, February 24, 2010
• Tech Transfer Marketing on a Shoestring: Guerilla Tactics in a Budget-Cut World - Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Temporary tinnitus is caused by exposure to loud environments, such as listening to loud music or operating loud machinery. This noise can damage the sound receptor cells in the cochlea — the part of the ear that converts wave-vibrations into electric signals before sending these signals to the brain. When these receptor cells, or tiny hairs, are bent during exposure to loud noise, they continue to send signals to the brain even after exposure to the noise has ceased.

Restored Hearing offers web-based therapy based on sound and wave theory, using a low hum to stimulate the cochlear hairs of the ear that may have been damaged. The therapy helps the hairs return to an upright position. The online therapy, which takes one minute, simply requires a broadband connection and a pair of external earphones. Trials have shown a 99% success rate, and the company has received sales and interest in the U.K., Europe, and North America. Restored Hearing now is a client company of NovaUCD, the TTO of University College Dublin, and next plans to investigate the therapy’s effect on permanent tinnitus.

Source: The Irish Times and PRLog

In collaboration with TTO directors and experts in IP law, UAEM has composed a Pilot Survey for Technology Transfer Offices 2009 to gather input from TTOs on the successful implementation of policies and licensing provisions that ensure broad access to university-derived technologies. The pilot survey is focused on technologies that affect human health — particularly those classified as diagnostics, prophylactics, therapeutics, and medical devices. In the future, the Access Metrics Initiative survey will expand to include information regarding access policies and practices. The deadline to submit survey data is January 29, 2010.

Source: Universities Allied for Essential Medicines

• Angels bet on the jockey, not the horse. A qualified, coachable entrepreneur and management team are the first consideration. “A ‘B’ team is unlikely to be successful in commercializing an ‘A’ product, but an ‘A’ team will quickly upgrade a ‘C’ product into a viable business,” according to Payne.
• Angels invest in start-ups that can ramp revenues to US$25 million or more in five years. Rapid scalability is important. If one in 10 angel-funded start-ups must provide all of the portfolio’s ROI, angels must bet only on potential home runs.
• Angels fund ventures with customer-ready products or services. Investors want to talk to customers or potential customers to confirm that the product or service meets an important need. “Angels invest in painkillers, not vitamin pills,” Payne says.
• A competitive advantage - a patent, trade secret, or huge head start in the technology space - is important to angels. They don’t fund companies with products that can easily be duplicated by more mature companies with deep pockets.
• Angels seek companies with solid sales and marketing plans. They fund entrepreneurs who know that products or services don’t sell themselves and understand the channels they must use to reach customers.
• Angels prefer to invest in local companies so they can kick the tires before investing and then coach, mentor, and serve on boards of directors of portfolio companies. Most are part-time investors with multiple interests, and many are motivated to give back to their communities by investing locally.
• Angels tend to invest US$200,000 to US$1 million in the first outside round of funding for new ventures at a valuation of $1 to $2 million and hold equity stakes of 20% to 40% after the first round of financing. Angels are not lenders who expect to be paid back with interest, but equity investors who purchase ownership in start-up companies.
• Angels expect entrepreneurs to have an exit strategy that will enable both the entrepreneur and investors to sell the start-up within five to 10 years, providing shareholders with a substantial return.
  For all of their trouble and risk-taking, there is good evidence that patient angels can earn about a 25% internal rate of return when measured over a 10-year period.

Source: NZ Herald News

In his legal blog Patently-O, Dennis Crouch, associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Law, writes that Xenon’s argument is based on the law of concurrent patent ownership, which generally does not require a patent co-owner to share licensing revenue with other co-owners. The district court found that the contract between WARF and Xenon was controlling over the patent law default rule. The Seventh Circuit affirmed that ruling, making it clear that the “statutory default rule controls unless there is an agreement to the contrary.” The appellate panel went on to characterize the agreement between WARF and Xenon as an “agreement to the contrary.” The negotiated exchange between the parties provided that the Foundation would forego its right to separately license the patent in exchange for receiving a share of the profits from Xenon’s commercialization of the technology, either directly or via a sublicense to a third party. Xenon cannot avoid paying royalties or sublicense fees to the Foundation simply by labeling the Novartis transaction a “license” rather than a “sublicense.”

Sources: The New York Times and Patently-O

1. How to incorporate a “stage gate” process into your innovation launch procedures.
2. What analytical tools you should be using when evaluating an innovation … and which ones to avoid.
3. How to “shrink wrap” your technologies for a quick and profitable transfer.
4. A step-by-step process for creating compelling technology offering memorandums.
5. How to avoid the five “deal killers” when negotiating your technology licenses.
6. How to use technology “dovetailing” to optimize the value of your IP.

This 90-minute audio program will bring you critical new insights into the corporate licencee’s decision-making process. For complete details and to register, CLICK HERE.

Also coming soon:

• Patent Prosecution: Best Practices for Reducing Costs While Improving Patent Quality - Tuesday, February 9, 2010
• Tech Transfer Marketing on a Shoestring: Guerilla Tactics in a Budget-Cut World - Tuesday, March 9, 2010

SLS is a patented music coding format using an MPEG-4 audio standard that is capable of compressing music files, such as CD tracks, for playback without any loss in fidelity. It also allows for fine-grain pre-encoding of music files at different bit-rates so they can subsequently be streamed or played back at different quality, depending on the device type or available channel bandwidth. The technology allows for uninterrupted music streaming, regardless of bandwidth or internet traffic volume. MPEG-4 SLS’s scalability also means that a single encoded file can be played back in different environments with bit-rate cap determined by the service provider. SLS is particularly suited for use in broadcast and music production environments where its lossless performance allows multiple phases of the recording and editing process to be managed without signal loss. SLS also can ensure that the final production delivers a faithful and complete rendering of the uncompressed source material. The scalability of SLS gives users the ability to maximize sound quality during distribution, by matching the bit-rate to the available bandwidth.

Source: EurekAlert!

“If you look at how chemosensory input occurs in both our brain and that of a fish, you’ll see that smell input is to the forebrain whereas taste input is to the back — the highly reflexive part of the brain,” Caprio explains. “The take-home message from this is simple: fish learn and associate particular scents as food, but taste is an actual reflex for them. The taste of particular natural chemicals triggers a feeding response.” In other words, if a fish is exposed to certain taste stimuli, it cannot control its urge to bite. Obviously, this has huge implications for the fishing industry, but the technology doesn’t stop there. LSU’s Office of Intellectual Property worked closely with Caprio to forge a licensing agreement with Mystic (CT) Tackleworks, a company that develops scientific fishing lure systems. After licensing Caprio’s technology, Mystic brought in other fish sensory specialists to complete its Biopulse Lure System, which relies on decades of scientific studies on fish sensory systems. While other companies have developed lures that appeal primarily to a single sensory system of a fish, BioPulse is the only one based on providing the appropriate stimuli for each of the critical sensory systems used by the fish naturally in the capture of prey. “We are literally light years ahead of what’s out there right now,” says Greg Mitchell, the company’s founder, chair, and chief science officer.

Source: PhysOrg.com

The sensor works by measuring the electrical conductivity of the nanotubes in the paper. Before the nanotubes are impregnated in the paper, they are mixed with antibodies for MC-LR. When the paper strips come in contact with water contaminated with MC-LR, those antibodies squeeze in between the nanotubes to bond with the toxin. This spreading apart of the nanotubes changes their electrical conductivity, which is measured by an external monitor. The whole device is about the size of a home pregnancy test, and results appear in fewer than 12 minutes, Kotov says.

The biosensor provides a quick, cheap, portable, and sensitive test that could allow water treatment plants and individuals to verify the safety of water on a regular basis. “The safety of drinking water is a vital issue in many developing countries and in many parts of the United States,” Kotov points out. “We’ve developed a simple and inexpensive technology to detect multiple toxins.” A paper about the technique appeared online in Nano Letters. The university is pursuing patent protection for the IP and is seeking commercialization partners to help bring the technology to market.

Source: Science Daily

“Our lab is focused on uncovering new components of the cellular stress response and understanding their role in the pathology of human diseases,” says Ron, who has joined the company’s Scientific Advisory Board. “The UPR pathway is implicated in a broad range of diseases, including diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and retinal degeneration. Proteostasis Therapeutics’ novel drug discovery platform, which integrates multiple PN pathways, provides an advantage in rapidly developing UPR modulators identified by our lab into potential therapeutics for these diseases.”

Source: The Medical News

The big problem with crude glycerin waste is that the cost of disposal eats away at the profitability of biofuel operations. GlycosBio’s approach is to integrate bioconversion into individual refinery operations. Instead of a liability, the waste glycerin can be made into a profit center, yielding high-value chemicals that can be used to make fabrics, insulation, and food products as well as additional fuels. GlycosBio designed its operations to integrate with existing refinery processes, which makes implementation relatively easy. In addition to crude glycerin, the conversion process can work on a variety of biofuel feedstocks — perhaps including algae.

Source: CleanTechnica

Agriculture, forestry, and food/health come under one umbrella because they draw upon biological resources that offer untapped potential for an array of high-value products, according to a statement by Art Froehlich, partner and strategic advisor in Calgary-based ag communications and marketing agency AdFarm and chair of the biosolutions agency’s board. “Common building blocks such as cellulose and starch provide opportunities to mix and match the incredible wealth of natural resources in Alberta without taking away from traditional commodity uses for food, feed, and fuel,” Froehlich says. The province expects research bodies to work more closely together under the new structure, and collaborative relationships and programs are expected to speed the process of translating research to results and attracting innovators, scientists, and researchers from around the world. Encouraging commercialization of new technologies in this way also is expected to attract angel investors, professional VCs, foundations, corporations, and others who use private capital to promote the transition to a sustainable future.

Source: Country Guide

Source: The Jerusalem Post

“We try to emphasize in the legislature that the state needs to find creative ways to encourage financing for companies if university-based technologies are going to have a chance in start-up development and the job creation associated with that,” he says. “Many elected officials are unaware of the hurdles and the financing history of ideas from the discovery stage to the application stage.” Mulcahy tries to convince lawmakers that the state could play a supporting role in tech transfer by having mechanisms to fund start-up opportunities, policies to encourage angel investment, and matching grant programs to help companies accelerate early-stage research. Elected officials often fail to grasp the potential benefits to a state, however, when university technologies are licensed to companies elsewhere, Mulcahy adds. In a weak economy, TTOs face enormous pressure to license technologies to in-state companies. “We try to do that every chance we get,” he says. “But you go with the companies that can best ensure translation from idea to product.” A detailed article on pushing for political change to support tech transfer efforts appears in the December 2009 issue of Technology Transfer Tactics. To get the complete article and become a subscriber, including access to the entire archive of back issues, CLICK HERE.

The Tuschl I patent consists of 19 claims broadly covering RNAi methods, including methods of reducing the expression of a gene — including those of mammalian or viral origin — with double-stranded RNA (dsRNAs) between 21 and 23 nucleotides in length. The patent also includes claims covering methods of examining the function of a gene, as well as the use of both unmodified and chemically modified dsRNAs. “The issuance of this patent is an important step in securing the pathway to the clinic for siRNA-based therapeutics,” says Terence R. Flotte, MD, dean, provost, and executive deputy chancellor of UMMS. “Appropriate patent protection will encourage future investment in innovative siRNA therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, infectious diseases, and other conditions for which current therapies are inadequate.”

Source: PharmaLive

• Shark angels. The ultimate bad guy gets involved in early-stage investing only to take advantage of an entrepreneur’s lack of financial and deal-making experience. “If the term sheet process turns to pure torture, it may be time to respectfully bow out,” Zwilling says.
• Litigious angels. These investors look for almost any excuse to take entrepreneurs to court, seeking to make money by intimidation, threats, and lawsuits. They know start-ups won’t have the resources to fight and count on them “caving.” Keep your attorney close by your side, Zwilling advises.
• Superior angels. A number of successful business people believe they possess clear superiority over others, and some of these become angels. Usually, they are overbearing, negative people who are hypercritical of an entrepreneur’s every decision. Don’t be intimidated into bad decisions.
• Control freak angels. These angels start out looking like a start-up’s new best friend. Once the venture is funded, however, they wait until it hits the first pothole and then point out “gotcha” clauses in the agreement that give them more control — ultimately seeking to step in and run the company. Only a board can save a start-up in this situation.
• Tutorial angels. This type of investor is not after control but wants to hold your hand on every issue. The mentoring offer sounds good up front. But once they write the check, the desire to be helpful 24 hours a day becomes a nuisance that eventually wears you down. “Keeping your distance is the best solution,” Zwilling writes.
• Has-been angels. These high-flyers have a liquidity problem. They’re still at the country club every day but running up a tab. They’ll meet with you and ask a thousand questions but never get around to closing the deal. Avoid them by learning to ask the closing questions.
• Dumb angels. Wealth is not synonymous with business savvy, Zwilling points out. When angels ask superficial questions or don’t understand business, a successful long-term relationship is not likely. But don’t forget that people with wealth usually have some savvy friends.
• Brokers posing as angels. Some individuals, often posing as lawyers and accountants, have no intent to invest in your company but eventually solicit you to sign a fee agreement to pay them to introduce you to actual investors. Brokers are often worth the fee, but don’t be misled into thinking they are actually angels.

Source: Startup Professionals Musings

The patent infringement case between Convolve and Seagate dates to 2000, when Convolve and MIT sued Seagate and Compaq Computer seeking $800 million over technology that reduced the noise and vibration generated by hard-disk drives. MIT researchers had developed techniques to reduce the noise of a hard drive without significantly impairing its performance. Convolve was formed to help market and sell this and related technology. According to court and regulatory filings, representatives from Convolve and Seagate met in 1998 and 1999 to discuss some of Convolve’s work, subject to an agreement that Seagate would not make improper use of what it learned in those discussions. In 2000, Convolve sued Seagate and one of its customers, Compaq, claiming that the “sound barrier” technology Seagate introduced in 2000 relied on Convolve’s sound reduction innovations. In the nine ensuing years, Convolve and Seagate have exchanged hundreds of documents under court-ordered discovery and filed myriad legal motions against each other.

The affidavit detailing Galloway’s allegations was quietly filed last month. The motion, filed by an attorney representing MIT and Convolve, says Galloway disclosed that Seagate’s engineers zeroed in on improving the company’s sound reduction features only after seeing Convolve’s technology. However, these engineers were not aware that Seagate had a nondisclosure agreement in place that should have protected Convolve’s innovations. “I was deceived by my management’s failure to tell me that the Convolve technology discussed within Seagate was NDA protected,” Galloway states in one section of the affidavit. According to the filing, Galloway also alleges that Seagate appears to have intentionally destroyed some software blueprints linked to products using the sound reduction technology. According to court documents, Galloway previously was a witness for Seagate in the protracted litigation. Convolve has also sued Dell, Hitachi, and Western Digital in regard to similar technology. That case is pending in a federal district court in Marshall, TX.

Source: The New York Times

And don’t miss these upcoming events - click on the titles for more information:

• Successful Outsourcing for Tech Transfer Organizations - TOMORROW, January 6.
• “Shrink Wrap” Your University’s Technologies for Industry: Packaging Your Innovations to Minimize Corporate Risk and Extract Optimum Licensing Value - Wednesday, January 27
• Patent Prosecution: Best Practices for Reducing Costs While Improving Patent Quality - Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MIT is home to the MIT Clean Energy Prize, which has helped launch several energy ventures, including FloDesign, FastCap Systems, Levant Power, Husk Insulation, and Covalent Solar. In addition, the MIT Energy Initiative, launched in September 2006, is an institute-wide initiative to help meet the energy needs of the future by improving existing systems. Notable MIT cleantech spinouts include A123 Systems, FastCap Systems, Levant Power, Trophos Energy, Promethean Power, 1366 Technologies, Sun Catalytix, and Agrivida.

University of California at Berkeley. Berkeley is home to several partnerships with big industry players. The Energy and Biosciences Institute is a partnership of UC Berkeley, Berkeley Lab, and the University of Illinois that is receiving $500 million from BP over 10 years. The Bio Energy Institute is a partnership of three national labs and three research universities in the San Francisco Bay area that is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) with $125 million over five years. And Berkeley’s proximity to Silicon Valley and the East Bay Cleantech Corridor provides visibility with the entrepreneurs, VCs, and consulting companies driving the growth of new energy. Notable cleantech spinoffs include Amyris Biotechnologies, Adura Technologies, Seeo, Aurora Biofuels, and Progressive Cooling Solutions.

The University of Texas in Austin. A historical leader in energy innovation, R&D, and teaching, UT-Austin has abundant oil and gas on its own lands and deep connections to the energy industry. UT is using its leadership in conventional energy as a launch pad for leadership in cleantech. The inventor of the lithium-ion battery, John Goodenough, is a professor of mechanical engineering at UT, and the university is a leader in algae-based biofuels. UT is a part of a multimillion dollar DARPA-sponsored project to produce jet fuels from algae. The DOE also awarded UT-Austin $35 million for research on carbon sequestration. Its notable cleantech spinouts include ActaCell, Advanced Hydro, Graphene Energy, Organic Fuels, and Inspired Solar.

Stanford University. Stanford has developed a long-range, $250-million initiative to reduce its energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The university also established a $100 million research institute, the Precourt Institute for Energy, to focus on energy issues. In fact, the university spends more than $30 million annually on energy research. In addition, Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), the entrepreneurship center at Stanford’s School of Engineering, is dedicated to accelerating high-tech entrepreneurship education and creating scholarly research on technology-based firms. Notable cleantech spinouts include Amprius, Nanostellar, Rolith, D.light Design, Driptech, and Veranda Solar.

University of Michigan. Driven by the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies in the Business School, the Center for Entrepreneurship in the College of Engineering, and the student organization MPowered, U-M students are highly engaged in cleantech entrepreneurship. The student-led Wolverine Venture Fund and the Frankel Commercialization Fund have invested in Environmental Operating Systems and Accio Energy, and the Universities TechArb program is poised to leverage U-M’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and stake out a leadership position in the green economy. Notable cleantech spinouts include T/J Technologies (acquired), Sensicore (acquired), Sakti3, and Flexsys Wind Energy.

University of Colorado at Boulder. Viewed as being at the forefront of the sustainability and cleantech revolution, CU-Boulder has created a joint energy institute with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI) partners leading researchers from CU-Boulder and NREL on cross-disciplinary research. Currently, 19 major corporations sit on the RASEI leadership council, including Xcel Energy, ConocoPhilips, Toyota, SAIC, Good Energies, Wells Fargo, and Vestas. In addition, the university leads the Rocky Mountain region in funded research, which exceeds $350 million annually. Notable cleantech spinouts include Ion Engineering and OPX Biotechnologies.

University of Wisconsin at Madison. UW’s Solar Energy Lab, founded in 1954, is the oldest of its kind. More recently, the university has become a focal point for research in bio-energy. To coordinate energy-related research and education, a group of professors came together in 2006 to create the Energy Institute, which is focused on sustainability opportunities through “real world” design and engineering practices. Since then, U-W has become home to one of three DOE-funded Bioenergy Research Centers — the only one based at an academic institution. In 2009, U-W’s College of Engineering entered into a long-term partnership with Vestas, and last May, the university snagged 10 of 71 DOE funding awards for advanced nuclear research, totaling more than $5 million. Notable cleantech spinouts include Virent Energy Systems and AquaMost.

Cornell University. With world-class research in the physical sciences, engineering, and nanotechnology, Cornell is leading New York State’s task force to promote high-tech development through industry-higher education partnerships. Its campus-wide Center for a Sustainable Future fosters multidisciplinary research into new energy sources, environmental and biodiversity initiatives, and economic development projects to implement these programs globally. Notable cleantech spinouts include Novomer and iFyber.

Georgia Institute of Technology. Georgia Tech boasts more than $500 million in sponsored research, and its Advanced Technology Development Center is a nationally recognized science and technology incubator that helps Georgia entrepreneurs launch and build successful companies. Its VentureLab program also helps to move innovations out of university labs and into the marketplace by assessing their commercial potential and assisting in the development of new companies. VentureLab is currently advising a number of cleantech startup companies. Notable cleantech spinouts include Suniva, RideCell, and CoolClouds.

Washington State University. With its legacy in agriculture, power, and applied engineering, WSU’s Clean Technology program is growing rapidly in the ecology-minded Pacific Northwest. Plant science is the engine behind the opening of the Bioproducts Science and Engineering Laboratory, Battelle’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, and the recently funded Washington State Algae Alliance. One of WSU’s main objectives is the commercialization of aviation biofuels with partner Boeing Commercial Airlines. Notable cleantech spinouts include GoNano, Ajuga Biosciences, BioGasol, Schweitzer Engineering Labs, and Integrated Engineering Solutions.

Source: Cleantech Group

Advancement of the technology is expected to benefit basic medical research and further the field of personalized medicine. The company’s first generation of nanopore sequencing, using its proprietary BASE technology, is poised to be the first label-free DNA sequencing system. BASE sequencing combines a biological nanopore with a processive enzyme arrayed on a silicon chip. Future generations of nanopore sequencing technologies may use solid-state nanopores or may analyze single stranded nucleic acids. Avoiding the use of chemical labels and optical equipment to provide a direct electrical readout that identifies DNA bases is expected to offer a dramatic improvement in sequencing speed while reducing cost. “A label-free approach to DNA sequencing would facilitate a transformation in genomics that could be likened to the broadband revolution,” says Dr. Gordon Sanghera, the company’s CEO.

In the second nano-related development, Johns Hopkins University researchers created biodegradable nano-sized particles that can easily slip through the body’s sticky and viscous mucus secretions to deliver a sustained-release medication cargo. The researchers say these nanoparticles, which degrade over time into harmless components, could one day carry life-saving drugs to patients suffering from dozens of health conditions, including diseases of the eye, lung, gut, or female reproductive tract. The mucus-penetrating biodegradable nanoparticles were developed by an interdisciplinary team led by Justin Hanes, PhD, formerly a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering in JHU’s Whiting School of Engineering and now a professor in the department of ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The biodegradable particles comprise two parts made of molecules routinely used in existing medications. An inner core, composed largely of polysebacic acid, or PSA, traps therapeutic agents inside. A particularly dense outer coating of polyethylene glycol, or PEG, molecules, which are linked to PSA, allows a particle to move through mucus nearly as easily as if it were moving through water and also permits the drug to remain in contact with affected tissues for an extended period of time.

The nanoparticles could be an ideal means of delivering drugs to people with cystic fibrosis, a disease that kills children and adults by altering the mucus barriers in the lung and gut, according to the researchers. The nanoparticles also could be used to help treat disorders such as lung and cervical cancer and inflammation of the sinuses, eyes, lungs, and gastrointestinal tract. In proof-of-concept experiments, previous research teams led by Hanes demonstrated that latex particles coated with polyethylene glycol could slip past mucus coatings. In a new study, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers describe how they took an important step forward in developing particles that biodegrade into harmless components while delivering their drug payload over time. The technology is protected by patents managed by the Johns Hopkins Technology Transfer Office and is licensed exclusively by Kala Pharmaceuticals, a start-up company in which Justin Hanes is a paid consultant and board member.

Sources: Nanotechwire.com and The JHU Gazette

Nanocel is eco-friendly, he adds, in that it could save vast amounts of energy over current air-based cooling methods. Two of the biggest problems in the computer industry are keeping large server farms from overheating and extending battery life in laptops and other portable electronics. “We are currently using over 3% of the nation’s energy on cooling the Internet,” Miller says. Industry calculations say that fluid-based cooling could cut that energy use in half. “That’s a staggering number,” he points out. Potential partners and customers mainly include computer chip manufacturers and designers, but the inventors also are talking with companies that make gaming consoles, servers, and hardware. “There are tons of shelf-ready products that can’t go to market because they’re too hot,” Rossi says. Fans aren’t powerful enough to cool them down, and liquid technologies are too pricey. On an individual scale, a cooling technology that uses less energy will lead to longer battery life, reducing energy usage and keeping more batteries out of landfills. “This can have a real impact, not only at the country level but also at the consumer level,” Miller says. Nanocel is working out a licensing deal with UW’s TTO. “We’re excited about this technology,” says Jim Roberts, UW TechTransfer’s business development officer. “We think it has many applications. They’ve got all the right ingredients to be a successful company.”

Source: Xconomy

Source: University of Michigan News Service

In FACTT, a capture antibody binds to an antigen of interest in a sample. A biotinylated detection antibody then binds to a non-overlapping epitope on the antigen, and streptavidin is used to link this detection antibody to a biotinylated, double-stranded DNA molecule that serves as the amplification module. Next, the amplification module is transcribed by T7 RNA polymerase, producing multiple copies of RNA from the DNA template and amplifying the signal in a linear fashion. Finally, a fluorescent dye is used to detect the amount of RNA, which is directly proportional to the amount of antigen in the original sample. Martell is billing FACTT as a more sensitive version of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, which still represent the gold standard of immunoassay-based clinical testing but are limited to nanomolar concentrations of antigen, according to the company. FACTT can detect sub-femtomolar concentrations of antigen — about 100,000 times as sensitive as ELISA, Messina says. Consequently, the technique can be used to detect exceedingly small amounts of protein in a sample and serve as the basis for noninvasive blood tests for various diseases.

“We’re starting with the HER-2 biomarker [for breast cancer], which is measured on the surface of the tumor cell but is also present in very small amounts in the blood,” Messina says. The company believes that noninvasive diagnostic tests based on FACTT will dramatically enhance the ability to detect tumors early, when treatment can be most effective. Because the presence of HER-2 is indicative of tumors that may respond to treatment with Herceptin, early and accurate detection of the biomarker could help identify HER-2-positive tumors earlier than mammography, reduce the need for invasive biopsies, improve selection of patients for Herceptin therapy, and help monitor therapeutic response to the treatment, according to Messina.

UPenn owns one published patent and several patent applications surrounding FACTT. Once the licensing deal is finalized, Martell hopes to begin developing and validating the breast cancer test, with the ultimate goal of obtaining reference lab certification from Minnesota and 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Messina says. Martell’s license with UPenn also is expected to cover veterinary applications, “so that’s a possibility,” Messina adds. “But right now we are focused on breast cancer with ovarian cancer to come next.”

Source: GenomeWeb

The ability to image dead and dying cells could allow oncologists to rapidly monitor tumor response to a specific therapy, Zhao points out. Another potential application is for rapid diagnosis of myocardial infarction, since patients who come to the ER complaining of chest pain often require an expensive overnight hospital stay so they can be monitored while their lab results are being processed. The new compound could allow clinicians to image the heart noninvasively and determine within a few hours if the patient had a heart attack or something else. Zhao’s research was supported by a proof-of-concept grant administered by the Medical College’s Office of Technology Development (OTD), which has filed several patent applications on the technology. “Working with the market leader in medical imaging allows this technology to be quickly moved from the research laboratory into patient care,” says Dennis Devitt, director of marketing and licensing for the OTD.

Source: EurekAlert!

Source: The Gazette

University TTOs around the U.K. report that their commercialization efforts have been affected by the financial crisis. Tom Hockaday, managing director of ISIS Innovation — Oxford University’s technology transfer arm — says only three new companies were formed this year, and two — Zyoxel and Oxford Yasa Motors — had to tap investors from overseas. “There’s no shortage of money in the world,” Hockaday says. “It’s just a reflection of things locally.” Tony Raven, director of research & enterprise services at Southampton University, confirms the trend. Southampton, which normally would fund two to five start-ups each year, did not fund any new companies this year. Nevertheless, “in good times and bad times the good companies will get funding,” Raven says. “The quality threshold has gone up.”

Source: The Telegraph

Both the technology that is the subject of the impending deal, and a second collaboration with Pfizer, Inc., are based on life sciences tools that can help pharma companies find flaws in their drug targets earlier so they can minimize the number of dollars spent on a candidate that will ultimately fail. Partnering with a pharmaceutical company is attractive for academic and nonprofit researchers, Larson and others say, because those drug makers have deep enough pockets and a mature enough infrastructure to keep promising technologies from being left on the research shelf. “If this drug gets approved, we will get a percentage of sales in the low-single digits. If it’s a billion-dollar drug, that gets very interesting,” says Todd Keiller, director of technology commercialization at the University of Vermont. Keller is referring to the school’s licensing deal with Seattle-based Cell Therapeutics for a drug target that has completed clinical trials and is awaiting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Jon Soderstrom, the head of the TTO at Yale University, says a big uptick in pharma collaborations is just around the corner. “We actually had a surge of interest two years ago, because a lot of the later-stage drug targets out there in industry had just gotten so expensive for pharma and they were looking for cheaper alternatives.” When the market crashed and biotech companies’ valuations took a nosedive, pharma went hunting for bargains in the marketplace instead. Soderstrom thinks the big drugmakers have picked through the available later-stage assets and will seek more partnerships with academia. One phenomenon that has made academic labs increasingly attractive is that universities are reclaiming “distressed assets” — drug targets formerly licensed to small biotechs that were dropped to conserve cash. “These drug candidates often have large investments already from venture capital firms, so they are somewhat de-risked,” Soderstrom says. Yale has received calls from big drugmakers inquiring about those valuable returned products, he adds.

Source: Mass High Tech Business News

In collaboration with the Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Center at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC, Sachs’ team tested the effect of GsMTx4 on mice with MD. Results showed that the drug increased muscle strength and caused no mortality, morbidity, or toxicity. Rose Pharmaceuticals now is developing methods to administer the drug. The peptide and its mirror image are covered by U.S. patents obtained by UB’s Office of Science, Technology Transfer, and Economic Outreach (STOR) and licensed to the start-up. No other drugs are known to act specifically on mechanosensitive ion channels — the target of GsMTx4, according to Sachs.

Source: UB News Center

Source: Clinical Lab Products

Translating the concept of a two-direction gateway into reality took a giant leap forward in July 2008 when the university launched OEIP as the dedicated core of its entrepreneurial, tech transfer, and business development strategy. Previously, the university’s tech transfer capabilities were embedded in the UD Research Office. The creation of OEIP put these activities “into a business culture,” says Weir. Two central components of OEIP are the IP Center and the IP Asset Development Group. The IP Center manages all UD-developed IP, driving invention disclosures, patent application filing, and patent procurement. The IP Asset Development Group’s primary role is to “extract value” from the university’s IP portfolio, says Weir, including commercialization of the portfolio through licensing, marketing, and start-up activities. A detailed article on the UD gateway approach appears in the December 2009 issue of Technology Transfer Tactics. To get access to this complete article and become a subscriber, including access to the entire archive of back issues, CLICK HERE.

Over the accelerator’s first few years of operation, additional space will be built to house 10 to 15 companies, according to Caspermeyer. The funds now being raised will be supplemented in the future, with a goal of $25 million for infrastructure improvements and technical support. The accelerator will fund and nurture companies deemed capable of capitalizing on the institute’s innovations in personalized medicine, diagnostic systems and devices, cancer research, vaccine platforms, alternative energy solutions, bioremediation technologies, and national security initiatives.

Source: GenomeWeb

Also coming soon:

• January 27, 2010: “Shrink Wrap” Your University’s Technologies for Industry: Packaging Your Innovations to Minimize Corporate Risk and Extract Optimum Licensing Value.
• February 9, 2010: Patent Prosecution: Best Practices for Reducing Costs While Improving Patent Quality
• March 9, 2010: Tech Transfer Marketing on a Shoestring: Guerilla Tactics in a Budget-Cut World

The hubs are part of a broad-based clean energy research strategy that includes three complementary initiatives:

• The Energy Frontier Research Centers launched by the DOE’s Office of Science will support multi-year, multi-investigator scientific collaborations focused on overcoming hurdles in basic science that block transformational discoveries.
• The department’s recently formed Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (”ARPA-E”) will use an entrepreneurial funding model to explore potentially transformative technologies.
• The Energy Innovation Hubs will establish larger, highly integrated teams to conduct high-risk, high-reward research and seek to solve priority technology challenges from basic research to engineering development to commercialization readiness.

The three DOE Energy Innovation Hubs will focus on:

• production of fuels directly from sunlight;
• improvement of energy-efficient building systems design; and
• computer modeling and simulation for the development of advanced nuclear reactors.

The DOE will provide $22 million in the first year to establish each hub and up to $25 million per year for the following four years to support operations. Information on the DOE’s hub implementation plan can be found at http://hubs.energy.gov.

Source: Ethanol Producer Magazine

Source: TD Ameritrade

The core of the technology is a security protocol that enables strong cryptographic keys to be created with the least possible work. “The protocol prevents anyone from doing any searching to break into the transaction,” Roscoe explains. When using the system, a payer would check whether a short numeric code (4-8 digits for most applications) generated within his or her phone is the same as the one generated by the payee. Since the number is random, it does not have to be secured. The process ensures that the customer’s mobile is correctly connected to the store or individual mobile receiving the payment, which can be made through electronic cash or credit stored on a mobile phone, authorization of a credit card payment, or instruction to a bank to pay a merchant or individual a specified amount. Payment occurs without the exchange of sensitive information such as credit card numbers or PINs, and the phones do not need hardware modifications. “The technology puts the payer in charge of the connection and lets him or her have direct control over how much is paid and to whom — very much like a check,” Roscoe says. Isis Innovation, U-Oxford’s tech transfer company, is working with Roscoe and seeking partners to commercialize the technology.

Source: PhysOrg.com

Source: Newswise

• Competitive Analysis Valuation (CAV) software provides a straightforward method for determining IP value. Created by nationally recognized IP law expert Ted Hagelin, the CAV Software yields clear and logical valuation results through a single program platform for negotiation, planning and reporting purposes. CLICK HERE for details.
• ktMINE provides hands-on access to an incredibly rich source of royalty rate data in more than 6,000 searchable full-text license agreements and detailed agreement summaries. This online, interactive IP database allows you to quickly find true market comparables and benchmarks. CLICK HERE for details.
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Source: PR Newswire

Prieto Battery is the first start-up produced by Cenergy. Prieto, who also serves as chief scientific officer for the new company, expects to demonstrate the first prototype of the battery by early next year. In February 2009, CSU’s TTO applied for a patent that encompasses all Prieto Battery technology. The patent has been exclusively licensed to the start-up. Bohemian Asset Management in Fort Collins, a privately held division of the Bohemian Cos., supplied the first round of funding for the company.

Source: Green Car Congress

And don’t miss these outstanding audioprograms coming in January:

• Successful Outsourcing for Tech Transfer Organizations, January 6, 2010
• “Shrink Wrap” Your University’s Technologies for Industry: Packaging Your Innovations to Minimize Corporate Risk and Extract Optimum Licensing Value, January 27, 2010

Cascade ProDrug is developing targeted therapeutics against hyperproliferative diseases. The company’s initial focus is on anti-cancer medicines activated by tumor hypoxia. The platform technology acquired from UO enables the company to reformulate existing chemotherapy agents with the potential to make them safer and more effective in treating solid tumors. The body of work completed by Novacea and UO provides Cascade ProDrug a head start on a series of lead compounds, and Cascade ProDrug intends to contract research for final stages of preclinical trials and push toward the filing of an investigational new drug with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Source: Newswise

Source: Nanowerk

Some in the patent industry worry that transactions on the exchange will generate ripples of litigation as it pursues profits from its accumulated portfolio. “Whenever anybody aggregates patents, there’s always that suspicion,” says Patrick Thomas, principal at 1790 Capital, a hedge fund that invests in companies based on their IP. However, Ocean Tomo’s current business based on valuing companies’ patent assets lends credence to the new venture, Thomas adds. And the exchange could provide insight into the often murky world of patent valuation. “Any time that you are in a bilateral agreement with another party you never know whether you got a great deal,” Pannekoek says. “An exchange will offer that price transparency to the market and ultimately establish the real value of a patent.” The exchange may be most useful for small companies or universities without the means to promote or enforce patents on their own. “It’s really a very interesting and creative model,” says Ron Laurie, managing director of Inflexion Point, an IP-oriented investment bank in Palo Alto, CA.

Source: CNN Money

Centralize IP agreement search and analysis. This data repository houses over 6,000 public documents and contains license agreements, services contracts, referral agreements, and more. Users can run unlimited searches and see unlimited results, including all royalty rates and full text agreements.

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Source: PhysOrg.com

Such a product also could have far-reaching implications for older adults in nursing homes who don’t have good access to dental care and for those at increased risk of heart disease. A Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) patent application has been filed on the technology through UNeMed, the technology transfer arm of UNMC. Wang and colleagues are seeking funds to support a clinical trial and a cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practice) facility to manufacture the formulation.

Source: Health News Digest

Source: MATR News

Tapping into this new terrain for licensing deals requires an entirely different approach than what’s used in the U.S. or Europe. Even in India, Matner explains, the licensing environment is not much different than the norm, but not so in China and other Asian countries. India, he says, “is more like the U.S. in terms of commercial thinking. We’ve found that companies in India are full of ex-patriots. They have a really good handle on the FDA process there. But because of that, you don’t get as good a deal as you might in China.”

Making the right connections is the key to securing international licensing deals, he adds, and in China personal contact and relationship-building is perhaps even more critical than anywhere else on the planet. One connected individual on the ground can be more effective than hundreds of calls, e-mails, and other marketing efforts. “Our contact essentially makes all the [subsequent] contacts for us in China, which gives us a quick [path to licensees]. Essentially, then we could go directly into China and meet with the right people immediately. It’s not like Europe; in China, it’s all about a personal relationship. That’s the way they do business. A contract on paper is one thing, but it’s more important to have a personal relationship and face-to-face meetings.” A detailed article on tapping into Asian licensing markets appears in the November issue of Technology Transfer Tactics. For subscription information, CLICK HERE.

Cui previously created nanomaterial energy storage devices using plastics. His research shows that a paper battery is more durable because the ink adheres better to paper. Crumpling or folding the paper battery — even soaking it in acidic or basic solutions — does not degrade its performance, allowing for many clever applications. “This technology has the potential to be commercialized within a short time,” says Peidong Yang, professor of chemistry at the University of California-Berkeley. “I don’t think it will be limited to just energy storage devices.” Cui’s work was reported online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Source: Science Daily

At the heart of improving electronics is the ability to make devices that can switch electricity from high voltage to high current while minimizing power loss, according to Eastman. “Power has to go from A to B in a machine with a high voltage transmission line to minimize power loss,” he says. “Before now, there were no electronic devices that could handle both high current and the high voltage, but our device can do it.” The transistors might one day power everything from hybrid electric vehicles to Navy destroyers. In fact, the U.S. Navy first funded Cornell’s research into gallium nitride transistors more than 10 years ago and is a major funder of Eastman’s research today. Shi and Eastman have a provisional patent on their device. The New Jersey-based company Velox and Motorola spinoff Freescale helped fund the research with the hope of producing the devices on an industrial scale.

Source: Innovations Report

The rear opti-sight notch looks like an incomplete triangle sitting atop the gun barrel. When a shooter peers through the notch, the brain tells the eye where the missing triangle apex should appear, and that apex is the precise point of aim, Kraft explains. “This triangular shape that I’ve created allows the brain to visualize concentric triangles whose imaginary apexes focus the shooter’s attention on the exact target bulls-eye,” he says. “Opti-sight makes shooting intuitive by allowing gunsight alignment to become subconscious.” Kraft worked with members of the U.S. Olympic pistol team to test the Opti-sight design.

Source: Newswise

Also, join us on January 6 for Successful Outsourcing for Tech Transfer Organizations. Our expert faculty will focus on how to implement an effective outsourcing strategy to reduce your backlog of invention files, get more deals done, and boost faculty relations. A detailed case study of Texas Tech University’s outsourcing experience will provide valuable takeaways and lessons learned. CLICK HERE for full details.

1. Making poor hires early and not firing fast enough. Avoid the “C-level hire” with an incredible Fortune 500 resume but zero start-up or emerging growth experience. “Never hire someone solely on the basis that listing their former employer on your pitch slides looks great,” McDemus writes. In addition, beware the hire who claims to bring strategic assets that can only be realized after joining the company. If someone professes to have the contacts to help you raise $3M or land the 10 largest clients in your target market, condition his or her compensation on delivering that promise. If you do hire someone who isn’t working out, move on quickly. “It may cost you, but not as much as it would in the long run,” McDemus says.
2. Failing to assemble the correct management team. Invest in the jockey over the horse. “Investors don’t want you learning on their nickel,” McDemus points out. Demonstrate that you have talent that knows the space and can make lemonade out of lemons, if necessary.
3. Promising equity to individuals up front. Never strike a deal for a lead employee to work “for 10% of the company.” Instead, ask hard questions: What kind of stock does the employee think he or she is getting? When and how is the 10% measured? Is the number of shares represented by the 10% calculated on a fully diluted basis or not? And get the deal in writing.
4. Failing to properly structure founder shares. If a founder receives all of his or her shares up front and fully vested, there’s no incentive to stick around and help build the company. Vest founder shares gradually and issue them as restrictive stock grants — for example, 400,000 shares of common stock, vesting annually/monthly/quarterly over four years. If the founder stays four years, he or she keeps all of shares. If the founder leaves early, he or she keeps some and the company buys back the remainder at the same price the founder paid.
5. Selecting the wrong type of business entity and structuring early ownership 50/50. If you plan to seek outside investors, go with a corporate structure, McDemus advises. “You avoid the issue of VC funds requiring blocking entities — a result of some of their limited partners being non-profit companies — and the possible need to convert your limited liability company to a corporation at a later date.” In ventures with two founders, “find some difference between yourselves to rationalize one person taking 51% of the ownership,” he adds. Absent complicated provisions to break a deadlock, 50/50 deals result in a standoff the minute the founders disagree.
6. Failing to consult experienced advisors at the beginning. Avoid many novice mistakes simply by hiring experienced start-up and emerging growth attorneys and accountants from the get-go. You’ll save time and money in the long run because you’ll eliminate an expensive clean up down the road.
7. Not having a clear business plan. Focus, focus, focus. If you try to become all things to all people, you’ll end up being nothing to nobody.
8. Raising too much or too little money. Too much money buys complacency — along with many of the mistakes cited here. Too little money cuts short your runway before you can launch your product. “Look into the future as best you can and consider how much money you will need to reach the next fundraising stage,” McDemus says.
9. Failing to properly document early agreements. Hire experienced counsel to help you prepare shareholders’ agreements between the founders; founder share agreements and possible 83(b) elections; non-competition, non-solicitation, confidentiality, and invention assignment agreements for employees; and appropriate equity compensation, or stock option, plans. Seek guidance on external agreements such as customer contracts, service agreements, licensing agreements, and office leases to ensure they contain appropriate protections.
10. Raising early money without complying with securities laws. No matter how you slice or dice it, if you sell a stake in your company — from the issuance of founder shares to the issuance of stock to VC funds — you must comply with federal and state (blue sky) securities laws. Poorly structured transactions can derail future fundraising or cost the company tens of thousands of dollars to rectify.
11. Poor cash management and spending money on the wrong things. California Historic Landmark No. 976 — the modest “garage” where Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard started Hewlett-Packard in 1939 — epitomizes boot-strapping. Think about every dollar that goes out the door and what you receive in return. Show investors you have the discipline to manage your cash to reach positive cash flow.
12. Failing to identify a market for the product or service. Don’t invest time and money into building a product or service before you’ve considered who will buy it, and don’t focus on product capabilities without considering whether potential customers need them.
13. Failing to re-invent on the go. “Improvise, adapt, and overcome” is the perfect mantra for an early stage start-up, McDemus says. Have the ability to turn the ship on a dime and take a different tack on a problem.
14. Getting stuck on valuation rather then getting committed funds. Place a higher negotiating priority on liquidation preference and dilution than on valuation. Don’t let hang-ups over valuation stifle your chance of closing on committed funds. “Without funds, there is no business,” McDemus points out.
15. Failing to build a sustainable business around the IP. The only way to monetize IP is to build a sustainable business around it. This is the gap university TTOs try to overcome on a daily basis by partnering with entrepreneurs who can license the IP and take it to market.

Source: VC Deal Lawyer

Source: Corridor, Inc.

The all-in-one particles are based on nanoshells — particles Halas invented in the 1990s that are currently in human clinical trials for cancer treatment. Nanoshells harvest laser light that would normally pass harmlessly through the body and convert it into tumor-killing heat. To design the new particle, Halas partnered with Amit Joshi, PhD, assistant professor in BCM’s Division of Molecular Imaging, to modify nanoshells by adding a fluorescent dye that glows when struck by near-infrared (NIR) light. NIR light is invisible and harmless, so NIR imaging could provide doctors with a means of diagnosing diseases without surgery. Graduate student Rizia Bardhan found that dye molecules emitted 40 to 50 times more light if a tiny gap was left between them and the surface of the nanoshell. In the gap — just a few nanometers wide — Bardhan inserted a layer of iron oxide that would be detectable with MRI. The researchers also attached an antibody that lets the particles bind to the surface of breast and ovarian cancer cells.

So far, tests involve laboratory cell cultures, but the researchers say MRI tracking will be particularly advantageous as they move toward tests in animals and people. The next step is to destroy whole tumors in live animals, Joshi says, estimating that human clinical trials are at least two years away. The research was published online in Advanced Functional Materials.

Source: Bioscience Technology

Lerner offers some quick bullets “straight from the proverbial horses’ mouth” that may help TTOs position university technologies favorably.

VC’s like to see:

• Platform technologies
• Great faculty “stars,” great scientists, and great science
• Rich entrepreneurial culture and community throughout the university
• A “go-to person” at the TTO who has entrepreneurial experience
• A TTO that’s “all about throughput” and getting deals done quickly
• Deal terms that are flexible, recognizing that “business models change over time”

VC’s do not like to see:

• Slow-moving offices that take too long to complete a deal
• “Mismatches” in the respective legal counsel in terms of the turnaround time, skill, and expertise
• “Greedy” TTOs with onerous deal terms
• “Big egos” at the TTO that obstruct deals
• Business plans. “VCs prefer to have a short summary and decide for themselves,” Lerner says.

Source: David B. Lerner

Under the agreement, AstraZeneca will make an up-front payment of $200 million to Targacept when the drug’s effectiveness is demonstrated. Additional payments of up to $540 million would be made upon completion of specified development, regulatory, and first commercial sale milestones. Targacept also would be eligible to receive up to $500 million if specified sales-related milestones are achieved. As the patent holder, USF will receive a cut of the funds at each stage of development.

TC-5214 is the invention of USF researchers Paul Sanberg, PhD, distinguished university professor and director of the Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair, and Douglas Shytle, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral medicine; retired USF psychiatry professor Archie Silver; and former student Mary Newman, PhD, now a research scientist and associate professor at Rush University Medical Center. While searching for an effective treatment for children with Tourette syndrome, the researchers discovered a nearly forgotten blood pressure medicine that helped children whose Tourette syndrome also included depression. Eventually, they created a unique version of the medicine, which was patented in the U.S. and abroad.

Sources: Tampa Bay Business Journal and St. Petersburg Times

The company will develop products based on current knowledge of brain functioning and continually validate their efficacy in different populations, according to Donald Stuss, PhD, senior scientist at Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute, who will provide scientific leadership in product development. The exercise and training interventions will target “strategic” cognitive functions that matter most in people’s lives, including planning and organizing, staying focused on a task, and ignoring irrelevant information. Cogniciti is using an interactive research model for product testing to identify the best cognitive training platforms for customer needs and enable fast-tracking of products from science lab to market.

Source: The Medical News

Source: India PRwire

Source: Alabama Live

The technology doesn’t require users to type anything or to connect to a server and ring up a big phone bill from abroad. The voice recognition, language translation, and speech synthesis capabilities are built into the cell phone. “That means you can use it in the remotest village or on a plane or in the military without the enemy detecting where you are,” says Waibel, who intends for Jibbigo to target health care workers in developing nations and government installations overseas. To use the app, the user speaks a sentence, such as, “Where is the nearest hospital?” into the iPhone. Within three seconds, the device repeats the sentence in the opposite language. To erase and rephrase the sentence, the user just shakes the iPhone. “So far, it’s English to Spanish and Spanish to English,” Waibel says. “But in the next six months, we hope to have four more languages.” A laptop version already handles seven languages.

Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

A decade ago, the intensive, one-day workshop and networking event was launched to promote the school’s Hinman CEOs, an experimental initiative that placed entrepreneurially minded undergraduates from all academic disciplines in a dorm together, where they could learn how to launch new ventures in a 24/7 environment that oozed entrepreneurial spirit. The Hinman CEOs community has grown and spawned numerous companies and entrepreneurs, but that original boot camp has also evolved into a premier event for UM, promoted now not only to undergraduates but also to faculty, staff and regional businesses. “When we first launched the boot camp, we had the country’s first living/learning experience for students in a high-tech dormitory,” Chang said. “The boot camp was a way of kicking off the year. But over the years, the boot camp has become a preeminent event for the entire start-up community.” A detailed article on the start-up boot camp appears in the November issue of Technology Transfer Tactics. For subscription information, CLICK HERE.