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Tech Corner
So what constitutes a 'good' invention? What about the topics of patentability and marketability? All three of these topics were recently addressed in the March 2009 Technology Transfer Tactics (Vol. 3, No. 3 pp 33-48).
According to David Gibbons, MBA, assistant director of physical science licensing at the University of California-San Diego, a 'good' invention must have the following criteria: (1) protectable, (2) targeted to a business need, (3) market pain is addressed, and (4) supported by the inventor.
According to Jaideep Goswami, MBA, licensing associate at North Dakota State University, "MARKETABILITY is by far the most important consideration in whether a TTO should patent". He emphasized that inventors should be utilized because they know the technology the best and they can provide detailed insight as to the market size, applicaitons and pre-existing companies.
Is the bottom line then to pursue only those patents that can be licensed?
And, how can we effectively assess the technology? "Is the ultimate solution a use of technology tools and software programs that outline the assessment process?"
~Summary by Dr. Amy L. Gryshuk, Associate Director of New Ventures
Adapted from March 2009 Technology Transfer Tactics. . |
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Work supported by the National Science Foundation
Cooperative Agreement No. PHY-0120999. |
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CBST
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Greetings!
 For the last few months we have been busy applying for grants to the NSF, NIH, DoD, UCOP and most recently to the Canada-California Strategic Innovation Partnerships (CCSIP). We're looking forward to hearing back from these funding agencies with the hope of garnering some of this funding as a means to further our on-going research and education programs in the field of Biophotonics and ultimately, to make our Center self-sustaining. In other exciting news, CBST will be hosting our NSF Site Review Committee on May 27-28, 2009 at UC Davis. CBST and our affiliates will have the opportunity to update the committee on our accomplishments from 2008-2009, as well as our most recent highlights from 2008-2009. In closing, we're currently organizing our CBST Annual Retreat (scheduled for July 2009) and have four confirmed invited speakers (Tuan Vo Dinh (Duke), Peter So (MIT), Ji-Xin Cheng (Purdue), and Jan Liphardt (UC Berkeley)). Please stay tuned for more exciting details.
~Dennis Matthews, Ph.D. CBST Director |
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World's First Hard X-Ray Laser
In April 2009, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) achieved "First Light" at the U.S. Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. "When fine tuning is complete, the LCLS will provide the world's brightest, shortest pulses of laser X-rays for scientific study". "Initial tests produced laser light with a wavelength of 1.5 Angstroms, or 0.15 nanometers-the shortest-wavelength, highest-energy X-rays ever created by any laser, which will give scientists an unprecedented tool for studying and understanding the arrangement of atoms in materials and biological molecules.".
To read more, please click on
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Meet the Researcher - Dr. John Spence and his laboratory
 Dr. John Spence is a Professor in the Department of Physics at Arizona State University. His areas of study include condensed matter physics and biophysics, based around the use of electron and X-ray beams for imaging, spectroscopy and diffraction - broadly diffraction physics.
Dr. Spence is an affiliate of CBST and his research project on protein structure determination using serial crystallography is partially funded by the Center. "Dr. Spence's serial crystallography method is being tested as a way of overcoming the notorious difficulties associated with the X-ray diffraction of proteins, in which the sample is difficult to prepare (both with respect to the protein crystallization and final preparation), and the radiation damage ultimately limits the resolution of the structure. "
To read more about Dr. Spence and his current research projects, please click on http://cbst.ucdavis.edu/research/diffraction-imaging/diffraction-imaging or
http://biophysics.asu.edu/CBP/person.php?ID=81.
Recent Publications:
Micron. 2009 Jun; 40(4):507-9. SEM imaging of liquid jets. DePonte DP, Doak RB, Hunter M, Liu Z, Weierstall U, Spence JC.
Ultramicroscopy. 2008 Nov; 108(12):1502-3. Diffract-and-destroy: can X-ray lasers "solve" the radiation damage problem? Spence JC, Hawkes PW.
Current group members: Rick Kirian, graduate student; Dan DePonte, research associate; Dmitri Starodub, research associate.
To read more, please click on
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| CBST Education Highlights |
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CBST Summer Internship Program for Undergraduate Students
Every summer CBST hosts an Internship Program for undergraduate students. For a period of 8 to 12 weeks the students will work with scientists, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers at either the UC Davis campus (Davis, CA), the UC Davis Medical Center (Sacramento, CA), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, CA) or Mills College (Oakland, CA) where they will be engaged in exciting, cutting-edge, interdisciplinary scientific research projects in areas such as Bioimaging, Molecular & Cellular Biophotonics, or Medical Biophotonics. The summer interns also have the opportunity to participate in a professional development program lead by Dr. Ana Corbacho, as well as attend the CBST Annual Retreat in July and present their research at the Annual Summer Internship Scientific Meeting at the end of the Program internship (program ends August 7th, 2009).
This year 150 applications came in for the Summer Program with 29 students being accepted to participate. Students from a variety of colleges will participate - 10 students from Northern California Community Colleges, 8 from UC Davis, 2 from California State University, Sacramento, as well as others from Stanford University, California Poly and Rice University.
We're looking forward to seeing all the new summer interns on June 15th, 2009!
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CBST Participated in DVC's California Association of Chemistry Teachers Event
 Dr. Amy L. Gryshuk along with the CBST Education Team (Jodie Galosy, Associate Director for Teacher Professional Development & Evaluation; Ana Corbacho, PhD, Assistant Director for Higher Education; and Michelle McCombs, Evaluation & Curriculum Coordinator) participated in the California Association of Chemistry Teachers (CACT) event held on Saturday, May 2nd, 2009 from 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM at Diablo Valley College (DVC) in Pleasant Hill, CA. Dr. Gryshuk coordinated with the Chair of the Chemistry Department at DVC, Professor Patricia Young, to organize the CACT Event focused around the topic of 'light chemistry'. The agenda consisted of an introduction to the "Basics of Biophotonics", 2 research talks: (1) Re-engineering phytochromes by Dr. Susan Spiller from Mills College and (2) Synthesis of porphyrin-based compounds for cancer treatment by Dr. Amy L. Gryshuk from CBST, a session on 'singing chemistry' with Dr. Karen Long from DVC, as well as hands-on demonstrations of 'light chemistry' with the CBST Education Team. This was a wonderful opportunity for CBST to introduce the topic of biophotonics to non-research entities, to promote our CBST Internship programs for undergraduate and community college students, as well as disseminate information on our Oak Park research facilities & capabilities.
To read more about CACT, please click on
To read more about DVC, please click on http://www.dvc.edu/. |
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Biophotonics '09 - 4th International Graduate Summer School - June 6-13, 2009
The 4th International Graduate summer school - Biophotonics '09 will be held in Ven, Sweden from June 6-13th, 2009. The purpose of the international summer school is to "promote an exchange of scientific ideas relating to optical methods and instruments in the field of biophotonics".
The 4th International Graduate summer school Biophotonics '09 covers the following main areas:
- Lasers and their application in medicine
- Tissue optics
- Photodynamic therapy
- Optical tweezers and their applications in biophotonics
- Optical biosensors
- Molecular imaging based on optical methods
- Optical coherence tomography and coherence domain optical methods in biomedicine
To read more about Biophotonics '09, please click on
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| CBST Knowledge Transfer Highlights |
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Dr. Paul Henderson Presented at this month's CBST Entrepreneur Brown Bag Discussion Series
Paul Henderson PhD, an Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the UC Davis Medical Center just started a company, Accelerated Medical Diagnostics, LLC, for the purpose of commercializing assays to predict which cancer patients will respond to chemotherapy. Dr. Henderson presented an example of a Venture Capitalist pitch followed by a discussion of business plan development and fund-raising at this month's Entrepreneur Brown Bag Discussion Series, which was held on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009. The informal discussion (bring your own lunch) is open to all UCD employees and is designed for those entrepreneurs at heart or for those that may be interested in learning about the business-side of science or start-up company formation.
The discussion series is held every other month in the CBST Seminar Room (Oak Park Bldg, 2700 Stockton Blvd., Suite 1400, Sacramento, CA).
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CBST Annual Retreat scheduled for July 2009
CBST is currently organizing their Annual Retreat, which is scheduled to be held at The Resort at Squaw Creek in Lake Tahoe, CA this July 2009. The retreat will be by invitation only, open to CBST faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and affiliates. The invited speakers include Tuan Vo Dinh (Duke), Peter So (MIT), Ji-Xin Cheng (Purdue), and Jan Liphardt (UC Berkeley). Daily symposia and poster sessions have been arranged for participants, as well as free time for informal discussion and networking. We're looking forward to another successful retreat!
Please stay tuned for more updates. |
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UCSF Scientist, Professor John Sedat, Elected to the National Academy of Sciences
On April 28th, 2009, the National Academy of Sciences announced the 72 new members to be elected to the Academy in "recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in scientific research" (http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=04282009). Of those 72, five UCSF faculty scientists, including John Sedat, Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics were recently elected. "Professor Sedat and his team have developed several innovative microscopic techniques specially tailored for three-dimensional structures including a device known as the Optical Microscope eXperimental (OMX), which is one of the world's highest-resolution wide-field light microscopes". Sedat and researchers at CBST worked with an industrial partner (Applied Precision, API) to develop the first commercial OMX system, which is now located at CBST's Oak Park Research Building in Sacramento, CA.
To read more, please click on http://news.ucsf.edu/releases/five-ucsf-scientists-elected-to-national-academy-of-sciences/. |
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Mr. Rui Liu from CBST Receives a 2009 SPIE Scholarship in Optical Science & Engineering
 SPIE was founded in 1955 as a means to serve the community of "scientists, engineers and companies interested in advancing light-based research". SPIE continues to attract an international audience focused on "utilizing some aspect of optics and photonics" and in 2009 will be awarding "$292,000.00 in scholarships to students interested in SPIE's Scholarship program". Criteria for eligibility includes the following: (1) Member of SPIE; (2) Enrolled in a full-year optics, photonics, imaging or optoelectronics program or related discipline; and (3) be in high school or secondary school, first/second year of undergraduate or graduate school. To read more about SPIE, please click on http://spie.org/x1733.xml.
CONGRATULATIONS are in order for Mr. Rui Liu, a graduate student at CBST! In August 2009, Rui will receive his "2009 SPIE Scholarship in Optical Science & Engineering" award at SPIE's Optices & Photonics conference in San Diego, CA, which can be used to help with his education expenses. This award recognizes students for their long-range potential in contributing to the optics field and other relevant disciplines. To read more about the upcoming conference in August 2009, please click on
Rui works under the supervision of Drs. Dennis L. Matthews and James W. Chan. He is developing Raman spectroscopy combined with optical tweezers as well as microfluidics into a potential new method for flow cytometry. The aim of his dissertation project is to enable researchers to characterize and identify cell types without the need for external contrast agents or imaging probes. |
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May 27 - CBST Annual NSF Site Review at UC Davis
Location: UC Davis
Time: 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Eligibility: Invite only - CBST participants and affiliates
May 28 - TECHCOIRE's "Positioning Your Product/Service in the
New Economy"
Location: Sacramento Marriott - 11211 Point East Drive, Rancho Cordova, CA
Time: 6-7 PM networking & reception; 7-8:30 PM panel discussion
Instructor: Paul Wiefels (Co-Founder & Managing Director, Chasm Group)
Cost: Members free; $50 guests before 5/23; $60 after or at door
June 1-10 - International Summer School on
Neurophotonics - CRULRG in Quebec City
An international summer school on advanced imaging techniques. Limited registration available. To read more, please click on www.neurophotonics.ca.
June 9 - Medical Device Breakfast Series - Design for
Manufacturing When: 8:00am - 10:00am
Where: Cooley Godward Kronish LLP, 3175 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA
Attire: Business Attire Suggested
Cost: BayBio Members - $10.00; Non-Members - $20.00 (early bird rate)
To read more, please click on http://www.baybio.org/wt/home/Manufacturing_Design.
June 20 - SARTA's Leadership Series Presents: "Venture Funding
and Corporate Governance" When: Wednesday, June 20, 2009
Time: 8:30 am - 11:30 am
Location: TBD
June 28 - July 2 - Advances in Optics for Biotechnology,
Medicine and Surgery XI - Clinical
Challenges and Research Solutions Burlington, Vermont, USA. Poster Presentation Abstract Submission Deadline: March 31. For more information - info@engconfintl.org.
To read more, please click on www.engconfintl.org/9ap.html. |
| Grants and Funding Opportunities |
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Grants of Interest & UCD Limited Submissions
Deadlines for grants of interest to the CBST community are listed at the Grants Calendar link below. For additional information, please contact Gabriela Lee at gabriela.lee@cbst.ucdavis.edu.
To read more, please click here for a Grants Calendar
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| Thank You - Please Pass Along |
We'll be sending out our CBST Newsletters once/month. You can also access our archived newsletters by clicking on http://cbst.ucdavis.edu/about/newsletter.
Please send your comments and suggestions to amy.gryshuk@cbst.ucdavis.edu. We look forward to staying in touch and welcome news/highlights from your organization for inclusion in future newsletters.
Please forward our CBST Newsletter along by CLICKING on the FORWARD EMAIL hyperlink at the bottom of this newsletter. |
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Sincerely,
Associate Director of New Ventures / UC Discovery Fellow
NSF Center for Biophotonics Science & Technology (CBST)
2700 Stockton Blvd., Suite 1400, Sacramento, CA 95817
TEL (916)734-0785; FAX (916)703-5012
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