University of Colorado
Technology Transfer Office
Monthly Newsletter
November 2008 - Vol 5, Issue 5
What's Inside
Spotlight
CU Technology in the News
People
Upcoming Events
Innovation in the News
External Resources
Parting Quote
Links
 
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Spotlight On

CU-Boulder Technology of the Month:

 

CU1983B - Error Detecting/Correcting Barcodes for Simultaneous Characterization of Many Samples

 

UC Denver Technology of the Month:

 

CU1954H - Single-scan MR Angiography and Venography

TTO's Learning Laboratory: The Student Connection
TTO Welcomes New Marketing Student Assistant
Chelsey Stackhouse joined the TTO team in November 2008 as a student assistant in the marketing group, where she will draft press releases and marketing materials, as well as conducting market research for technologies developed at CU. A one-time Journalism major at the University of Missouri, Chelsey will graduate from the Leeds School of Business at CU-Boulder in May 2010 as a Business Major with an emphasis in Marketing.
TTO LogoCU logo
Today at the TTO

Update: Strong Pipeline of Proposals for TTO Funding
TTO is currently processing proposals for three proof-of-concept programs: the Colorado Bioscience Discovery Evaluation Grant (BDEG), the TTO-EILC renewable energy proof-of-concept grant (POCre), and TTO's proof-of-concept investment (POCi). For the Bioscience Discovery Evaluation Grant, 29 total proposals were received from all campuses in the fields of therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices and biofuels. TTO received 8 CU-Boulder applications for renewable energy POC grants, and 11 companies founded on CU technologies submitted POCi proposals. 

 
CU Renewable Energy Symposium Highlights Colorado Research and Collaboration
On November 17 the CU-Boulder Energy Initiative, in partnership with regional federal labs, hosted an Energy Research Symposium featuring over 140 posters in which faculty, research associates, graduate students and scientists displayed their novel ideas for new research tackling energy and related climate change or sustainability issues. Researchers from several federal laboratories including NREL, NOAA, NCAR and NIST participated, with topics ranging from new energy materials to nanotechnology to biofuel production to carbon capture.
 

TTO Hosts Faculty 'Patent Savvy' Panel Discussion

On December 5, as part of the CU New Venture Challenge, TTO will host a panel discussion with top patent-savvy faculty on their role in successful patent applications and licenses. Featuring Alan Weimer (Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering; Founder, Copernican Energy Inc.) and Ryan Gill (Associate Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering; Founder, OPX Biotechnologies, Inc.). CU faculty are invited to attend and find out how the inventor makes the difference between a patent that issues and generates income vs. a patent application that is rejected by the U.S. patent office.

 

TTO Releases Annual Technology Pipeline

The TTO has released its 2008 technology pipeline update. To learn more about CU technologies in all stages of development, please visit our newly updated technology pipelines online. A print version of this document will be available by request in early December.

 

The 8th Continent Aerospace Business Incubator, which opened in late November at the Colorado School of Mines, serves as a virtual home for entrepreneurial companies that turn innovations from the Space Program and defense industries into profitable businesses and investment opportunities. The Boulder innovation Center (BIC), a TTO commercialization partner, will provide incubator management and advisory services, and is currently seeking a program manager to support this new alliance.

 
Reminder: Deadline for State Matching Funds for Early Stage Bioscience Companies
The Early-Stage Bioscience Company Grant Program is one of the funding initiatives in the HB 1001 legislation, and is intended to accelerate the commercialization by Colorado start-up companies of bioscience technologies developed at research institutions in Colorado. The program provides for a 1:1 match of eligible company funds, up to a total grant amount of $250,000. To be eligible for a grant, a company must be an Early-Stage Bioscience Company as defined in the OEDIT Program Rules, have a license to commercialize bioscience technology from a Colorado research institution, and have secured at least a 1:1 match of the grant amount requested, sourced from other grants or third party investors. More information is available online, including a link to the Rules and Application and accompanying forms. The deadline for this application round is Sunday, November 30.
 

Save the Date: TTO Annual Awards Event

The seventh annual TTO awards dinner will be held on January 12, 2008 at the historic Tivoli Turnhalle in Denver. This event celebrates people and companies that are illustrative of the outstanding year experienced by technology transfer at CU. Invitations will be sent via email soon; for information about purchasing a table, please contact Lynn Pae at lynn.pae@cu.edu or 303-735-0550.
CU Technology and Licensee Companies in the News
UC Denver Research Offers New Hope For Spinal Cord Injuries
"It's a quantum leap in terms of repair of the nervous system." UC Denver researcher Stephen Davies has developed a way to "program" stem cells to promote nerve regeneration, a discovery with amazing promise for people with spinal cord injuries, Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinsons, and ALS.

Ultrafast Lasers Give CU Researchers Snapshot of Electrons in Action
In the quest to slow down and ultimately understand chemistry at the level of atoms and electrons, CU-Boulder and Canadian scientists have found a new way to peer into a molecule that allows them to see how its electrons rearrange as the molecule changes shape, which could lead to breakthroughs in materials research and in fields like catalysis and alternative energy, according to CU-Boulder physics professors and JILA fellows Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn (founders of CU licensee KMLabs) who led the research efforts. (See also: Air Force Missile Defense Could Benefit from CU Laser Research.)
 

Archemix Goes Public with NitroMed Merger

CU licensee Archemix Corp. wasn't able to pull off an IPO this year, but they've found their way to the public market nevertheless. In a deal announced in late November, Archemix will merge with the publicly traded NitroMed, which recently sold off the assets of its only commercial product. (See also: Archemix Signs Aptamer Therapeutics Agreement with Lilly.)


Cardiovascular Systems Signs Merger Agreement with Replidyne
In early November Cardiovascular Systems Inc. (CSI) announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement under which CSI will merge with Louisville-based Replidyne, Inc., a publicly traded company based in part on CU technology.

Ophthotech Begins Phase I Complement Inhibitor Trial for Macular Degeneration
In late October Ophthotech Corp., a biopharma company focused on developing ophthalmic therapies for back-of-the-eye diseases, announced the enrollment of its first patient in a complement inhibition trial for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This Phase I trial will assess the safety and tolerability of ARC1905, an anti-C5 complement factor aptamer the company licensed from CU licensee Archemix Corp in 2007, in combination with an anti-VEGF agent.

Avigen Reduces Staff, Shops Drugs in Restructuring
Avigen is cutting 70% of its work force and is looking to downsize its office space as it comes to terms with last month's failure of a new drug (AV650) for multiple sclerosis. The company will concentrate on either selling or partnering AV411 for pain (and related applications licensed from CU) and AV513 to prevent blood clotting.
People

Sierra Neuropharma Among CBSA 2008 Award Recipients
Sierra Neuropharmaceuticals, Inc., a company founded on technology developed by CU's Dan Abrams, is among those who were honored by the Colorado BioScience Association at the 208 Biowest conference in mid-November. The CBSA awards recognize those individuals and companies making a significant difference to Colorado's vibrant bioscience industry this year.

Alumni and Entrepreneurs Donate to CU Bioscience Initiative
In October, the University of Colorado Foundation announced two gifts supporting the Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology (CIMB), which pursue breakthroughs at the intersection of engineering, science, and medicine. Former Myogen CEO and local entrepreneur Bill Freytag and his wife, Janet recently made a $5M endowed gift, and in mid-October CU alumni Jack and Jeannie Thompson of Boulder pledged $2M  to fund CIMB's new Vaccine Development Laboratory, slated for groundbreaking in 2009. These gifts follow a kick-off $20M gift in 2007 from CU-Boulder Distinguished Professor Marvin Caruthers

Interview: CU Energy Initiative Leadership Council
Paul Nelson (Special Projects, Energy Initiative Leadership Council, EILC) and TTO's Kate Tallman discuss the goals of the newly-formed EILC, and how they will help support the Colorado energy sector and Colorado's position as the epicenter of the clean tech energy scene.

UC Denver Med School's Associate Dean Garners National Research Award
E. Chester Ridgway, a senior associate dean and professor at the School of Medicine, has won the 2008 John B. Stanbury Thyroid Pathophysiology Medal from the American Thyroid Association, recognizing outstanding research contributions to the understanding of thyroid physiology and pathophysiology.

UC Denver Vice Chancellor Selected as 2008 AHA Distinguished Scientist
Richard J. Traystman, professor and vice chancellor for research at the University of Colorado Denver, has been selected by the American Heart Association (AHA) as one of the Distinguished Scientists for 2008, a distinction bestowed upon prominent AHA members whose work has advanced the understanding and management of cardiovascular disease and stroke.

UC Denver Cancer Researcher  Wins First Lung Cancer Research Foundation Merit Award
Rachel Linger, a postdoctoral cancer researcher at UC Denver, has received the inaugural Lung Cancer Research Foundation Merit Award for her novel work on two receptor tyrosine kinases in lung cancer which play important roles in tumor development and progression. She will also receive a $50,000, one-year grant from the foundation to support her work.

CSU President Makes Abrupt Exit
Larry E. Penley, Colorado State University's president since 2003, resigned suddenly in early November, surprising many on the Fort Collins campus and around the state. Penley earned praise for CSU's full-court press on environmental initiatives, including a giant wind farm and a pledge to be carbon-neutral by 2020. The university also drew attention for its creative approach to technology transfer.

Do you know of a recent award, new position or transition of interest to the CU tech community? Please send information to TTOnews@cu.edu.

Upcoming Events

Entrepreneurs Unplugged
November 19, CU- Boulder
Ongoing networking event hosted by CU's Silicon Flatirons Center, providing faculty, students and community members with technical backgrounds the opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship through the experiences of a successful local entrepreneur.

CPIA Annual Meeting and Photonics Research Review
November 19, CU-Boulder
The Colorado Photonics Industry Association (
CPIA) presents its annual meeting and research review, featuring poster sessions, reports from Colorado research institutions, and annual photonics research awards. Details and RSVP online.

Angel Capital Summit
November 21, Marriott City Center, Denver
Hosted by the
Rockies Venture Club, the Angel Capital Summit provides the best forum between San Francisco and Chicago for investors and entrepreneurs to find each other. Forty entrepreneurs will present their businesses to hundreds of investors over the course of the day.

Boulder/Denver New Technology Meetup Group
December 2, CU- Boulder

This ongoing event provides a forum for technologists and entrepreneurs to showcase the new (especially web-based) technology developing in Boulder/Denver tech community. Five companies have five minutes each to demonstrate their new technology, followed by five minutes for Q&A from the audience.

CU New Venture Challenge Crash Course: IP Protection
December 3, CU-Boulder

As part of its initiative to further information technology related-innovation and galvanize entrepreneurship in the region, the Silicon Flatirons Center is offering a Crash Course Series for Entrepreneurs to the outside community and students and faculty. This series provides focused discussion on legal and business topics that entrepreneurs will confront when launching new ventures (part of the CU New Venture Challenge.)

TTO Panel Discussion: Patent Savvy
December 5, CU-Boulder
Get the facts on how the Technology Transfer Office patents and licenses your invention (part of the
CU New Venture Challenge). Panel discussion featuring Alan Weimer (Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering; Founder, Copernican Energy Inc.) and Ryan Gill (Associate Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering; Founder, OPX Biotechnologies, Inc.). This event is free and open to CU faculty from all campuses. Lunch will be provided - please RSVP by email.

Colorado Green Tech Meetup
December 11, CU-Boulder
An ongoing event to support eco-entrepreneurs and others people involved and/or interested in green tech: energy generation, transportation, construction, and efficiency technologies. Businesses and researchers present new technologies, and attendees may announce business news, job openings, fundings, etc.

To have your event featured here, please send an email to
TTOnews@cu.edu.

Innovation in the News

TTO Commentary: Douglas Prasher and GFP
Many have already heard the story of Dr. Douglas Prasher and how his discovery of one of the most powerful molecular biology research tools, Green Florescent Protein (GFP), resulted in the award of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Dr. Prasher's former collaborators. Dr. Prasher provided his materials freely and without condition, to all comers, but his contributions to the field were not acknowledged when the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2008 Nobel in Chemistry, nor by federal granting agencies in the United States. Having enabled the field of fluorescent protein analysis, Dr. Prasher is out of money and out of science, with no attribution for his major contributions to the field of molecular and cellular biology.

Dr. Prasher should have provided his materials, openly and free of charge, to all academic collaborators under a Uniform Biological Material Transfer Agreement (UBMTA) to encourage the advancement of science, while codifying his contributions to his collaborators, and the field, through guaranteed attribution, authorship, or citation. He should also have filed a patent with his technology transfer office, so that companies making money from his discovery would pay a royalty that could support further scientific research in his laboratory. The simple use of common practices of technology transfer practices would have ensured that Dr. Prasher:

-received due scientific credit for his work

-benefitted from any commercial exploitation of GFP, and possibly derivative proteins

-gained substantial financial support for his science, commensurate with his contributions to science

Commercialization and collaboration are not mutually exclusive outcomes, and technology transfer best practices can help innovators like Dr. Prasher benefit from both. For more information about protecting your contributions to your field, please see TTO's Bulletins page and our Invention Submission Form.

Tech Seed Funds Recognized for Economic Role
In October, the State Science & Technology Institute (SSTI) recognized several seed funding programs for its 2008 Excellence in Technology-Based Economic Development Award, two of which we wanted to share with you. Pennsylvania's Innovation Works Seed Fund and the Maryland Technology Transfer Fundare similar to the CU TTO's own Proof-of-Concept Investment program (POCi), and although CU's program has only been operating since 2004, our results, in terms of capital leverage and licensing success, are also similar. We believe that the CU POCi program is positioned to become as powerful in the Colorado tech economy as these programs are in their own regions - please see our POCi page for more information.

Moving On: Scientific Founders
As a company grows, the founding scientist sometimes discovers (and investors often hint) that it's time to leave the CEO spot and hand it to someone with more business experience. To ease the possible shock of the process, consider this transition from day one.

Good News for Biotech: New Regulation Opens a New Path to Profitability
The financial markets are working against biotech, no doubt. But the regulatory system is tilting in biotech's direction.

Federal Innovation Funding and Programs Could Expand Under Obama Administration
Though nothing is certain at this point, throughout his campaign, President-elect Obama has reiterated his support for TBED-related initiatives and plans to increase funding for research and innovation. His Plan for Science and Innovation (PDF), released in September, makes a wide range of commitments, touching on clean energy investment, STEM education, entrepreneurship and basic research.

Roundup: University, Community, State, National and International Initiatives

Gates Foundation to Fund Novel Medical Research with $100M
World's largest private philanthropy is handing out $100M fund to 104 research projects that explore novel ways to solve some of the world's most pressing medical problems. The grants mark the first round of funding from the Gates Foundation's new Grand Challenges Explorations program.

EU Promises $1.28B for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Initiative
A new initiative from the European Union (EU) promises to inject a considerable pool of money during the downturn to accelerate the development of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.

UC San Diego and UBC Strike Deal to Study Green IT
The University of California at San Diego and the University of British Columbia have signed a memorandum of understanding that says they will work together on "green cyberinfrastructure" - computing techniques that will improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

Brooklyn Lab Is Part of NYC's Biotech Effort
In a cavernous warehouse built as a military supply depot during WWI, medical scientists will soon be searching for a vaccine to fight the spread of AIDS. Their laboratory will be the first tenant of a section of the Brooklyn Army Terminal that the city has reserved for bioscience companies and organizations - the newest frontier in the city's long-running campaign to make itself a capital for the biotech industry.


External Resources

Colorado VC Gains Hold Steady
Venture capital funding dropped off 7 percent nationwide during the third quarter, but a burgeoning "clean-tech" industry helped Colorado buck the national trend during the past three months, according to two reports released in mid-October.

From Bureaucratic Tech Transfer to Entrepreneurial Tech Commercialization
This new study presents an overview of current success of the University of Utah tech transfer program, supported by theory and evidence from other successful programs that will give the audience critical 'lessons learned' and a deeper understanding of how other institutions can deploy this constellation of entrepreneurial mechanisms.

Study: Cleantech Funding Hit Record $1.6B in Third Quarter
Capital investments in U.S. cleantech companies reached a record $1.6B in the third quarter, according to an Ernst & Young LLP analysis based on data from Dow Jones VentureSource. A total of $3.3B was invested in the first three quarters of 2008, surpassing the figure for the same period last year by 71%.

NIH Increases by State, 2002-2006
Via SSTI, this table shows the yearly total amount from NIH grants directed to each state from 2002 to 2006, the percent change over that period, and the rank of that change. Colorado ranked 38th over that period with an overall increase of 2.5%, from $294M in 2002 to $301M in 2006.

Parting Quote
 

"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit."

-Harry S Truman, 33rd President of the United States


University of Colorado's Office of Technology Transfer Mission Statement

The mission of the CU Technology Transfer Office is to aggressively pursue, protect, package,
and license to business the intellectual property generated from the research enterprise,
and to serve faculty, staff, and students seeking to create such intellectual property.

(303) 735-3711
ttocontact@cu.edu

http://www.cu.edu/techtransfer