CU-Boulder Technology of the Month:

Novel Organic Porous Materials Consisting of Shape-Persistent 3-D Molecular Cage Building Blocks

UC Denver Technology of the Month:

Non-invasive Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer using Semen or other Biological Samples

Taste Connections Licenses University of Colorado Low Protein Meat Supplement

TTO and Taste Connections, LLC, a California-based company, have completed a licensing agreement allowing Taste Connections to commercialize a CU technology for low-protein meat products. Protein is an essential element of our everyday diet, and is necessary for growth, repair and upkeep of the human body. However, some individuals are unable to completely break down dietary protein because they are missing a particular enzyme (due to a variety of inherited disorders), and a buildup of specific amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) occurs. A research group led by Laurie Bernstein, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the UC Denver School of Medicine, has developed a low-protein substitute for bacon, which is usually too high in protein for patients that are on amino acid restricted diets. Using the formula developed at CU, the protein composition of the bacon substitute can be reduced by up to 80% or more compared to the original meat product. These lower protein levels allow an individual to continue consuming low protein food options that add flavor and increase satiety, while still limiting the intake of the specific amino acids that cannot be broken down. (Read the full press release.)

CU/NREL Collaboration Displays Cleantech Innovations

Hybrid airplanes, the newly discovered graphene material and modular photovoltaic and thermal panels were a handful of technologies featured in May as part of the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute's efforts to fuel research and commercialization in the cleantech industry. The new institute - a collaboration CU and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory - was formed last June to tackle energy issues through research, discovery, education and technology commercialization. May marked an early milestone for the joint institute when RASEI officials unveiled the results of "market assessment programs" on seven technologies. (Learn more about the MAP program.)

Entrepreneurial Education and Proof of Concept Funding Will Improve Technology Transfer, Subcommittee Hears

In June, the House Committee on Science and Technology's Subcommittee on Research and Science Education held a hearing to review the process of transferring knowledge and technology from academic researchers to the private sector. Specifically, the Subcommittee examined the appropriate role of the National Science Foundation (NSF), beyond their support for basic research, including support for entrepreneurial education and proof of concept activities. To highlight the success of these programs, NSF Assistant Director Thomas W. Peterson discussed the success of a company started from NSF funding called ColorLink (a CU licensee) which was later acquired by RealD and developed the technology behind the 3D effects for the blockbuster hit Avatar. (Click here to view two white papers submitted by TTO in response to a request for information from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Economic Council, asking for input on how to support the commercialization of federally-funded research and Proof of Concept Centers.)

Omni Bio Announces FDA IND Clearance for Alpha-1 Antitrypsin (AAT) Type 1 Diabetes Clinical Trial

CU licensee Omni Bio Pharmaceutical, Inc. recently announced that CU's Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes has received IND regulatory clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to initiate a Phase I/II clinical trial evaluating Alpha-1 Antitrypsin ("AAT") in Type I diabetics. OMNI has licensed patent applications related to the method of use of AAT for the treatment of diabetes from the University of Colorado.

NIH Awards $537,000 SBIR to ImmuRx for Combination Therapies

CU licensee ImmuRx has received a $537,000 SBIR award from NIH to study the benefits of combining the ImmuRx adjuvant platform with anti-angiogenic agents and/or cytoreductive chemotherapy. This may expand the application of the ImmuRx platform to a variety of hard-to-treat tumor states.

Taiga Biotechnologies Receives SBIR Grant for Improved Cancer and Infectious Disease Vaccine

CU licensee Taiga Biotechnologies, Inc. received its third small business innovation research grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. The grant will be used to further develop the company's proprietary technology for improving vaccines for infectious disease and cancer with a new adjuvant product called TBI-4000 (abstract).

Viral Genetics HIV/AIDS Compound Researched By London Team

Biotech company (and CU licensee) Viral Genetics, Inc., has granted a renowned London research team the right to investigate its HIV/AIDS drug compound. Being explored for its potential to offer new therapies and new vaccines for the deadly HIV virus, the technology was discovered and developed by Viral Genetics' lead scientist Dr. M. Karen Newell, formerly of CU-Colorado Springs.

MedShape Solutions, Inc. Receives Industry Honors and Awards

Podcast: Dr. Mark Rentschler, CU-Boulder New Inventor of the Year

W3W3 radio spoke with Mark Rentschler (Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering) about his research focus on robotics-assisted surgery: "I had a lot of ideas and talking with the surgeons, we had a lot of concepts that we wanted to push forward and I understood, based on my past experience, how important Tech Transfer was. So within the first three months of my appointment here, I had started talking with them and trying to lay this groundwork - they're a great organization to work with and they make it very easy." Listen to the podcast or view an archive of all TTO podcasts.

CU Names Jerry Wartgow Interim Chancellor of UC Denver

In late May CU President Bruce D. Benson named Jerry Wartgow interim chancellor of the University of Colorado Denver. Wartgow officially starts Aug. 3. He replaces Dr. M. Roy Wilson, who will take on new duties for CU, working more directly with national organizations in support of higher education (read more).

2010 Wood Prize Awarded to Professors Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn

CU professors Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn, founders of CU licensee KMLabs, were recently awarded the prestigious Wood Prize, which recognizes an outstanding discovery, scientific or technical achievement, or invention in the field of optics. Murnane and Kapteyn were recognized for their critical advances in the science and technology of high harmonic generation, with particular relevance to sub-femtosecond pulse generation and related attosecond-scale physics.

Entrepreneurs Unplugged: Executives Leading the Front Range's Resurgence of Telecom and Internet Infrastructure

June 22, CU-Boulder

Join us for a special summer edition of Entrepreneurs Unplugged as six of Colorado's leading executives discuss telecom-oriented entrepreneurship and industry insights. These leaders will consider opportunities amid exploding broadband usage and disruptive innovation.

Cleantech Thought Leaders

June 24, Daniels College of Business, Denver

The organizers of the Clean Tech Open invite you to join a thought provoking discussion about an important cleantech topic for the Rocky Mountain region. Led by Tim Reeser, COO of Cenergy (CSU's Clean Energy Supercluster), the presentation and discussion will focus on a critical issue - "What do states in the Rocky Mountain region need to do to better support cleantech initiatives so more get funded and implemented?

Boulder/Denver New Technology Meetup Group

July 6, 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.

Colorado Green Tech Meetup

July 8, 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.

NSF Engineering Research Centers

Governor's Orders to Aid Colorado Bioscience

In late May, Gov. Bill Ritter signed an executive order designed to help foster bioscience business in Colorado. The order calls for the formation of a quarterly Roundtable on Venture Capital meeting designed to support the state's efforts to foster investment in Colorado companies and engage the venture capital community.

Colorado Clean-tech Association Receives Grant for Road Map

The Colorado Cleantech Industry Association (CCIA) has received an $80,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce's  Economic Development Administration to develop a clean-tech road map for Colorado.  This will allow for the identification of Colorado's competitive advantages compared to other regions and countries and lead to actionable plans to maintain the state's leadership.

The Global Innovation Paradox

It's commonly thought that even though globalization was shifting manufacturing jobs from America to lower-cost, more efficient, offshore competitors, the U.S. retained a vast lead in high-end innovation. But are the powerful forces of globalization now leading to the offshoring of America's innovation and R&D? New statistics from the National Science Foundation certainly point in that direction.

Universities Work to Push Cleantech Discoveries Out of the Lab, Into the Market

There has always been a gap between university lab breakthroughs and marketplace reality. But whereas that gap has largely been closed in the biological sciences by technology transfer programs, scientists researching the chemical and physical sciences related to cleantech still struggle to commercialize their discoveries. Slowly, though, change is afoot. 

New Financial Exchange Offers Alternative for IP Monetization

Chicago-based Intellectual Property Exchange International (IPXI), which bills itself as "the world's first financial exchange focused on intellectual property," is laying the groundwork for what it anticipates will be a formal launch later this year. The exchange will allow owners of IP to monetize their assets much as firms do now on the major stock exchanges, while giving investors access to trading, investment, and arbitrage opportunities.

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

U.S. Innovation Legislation Clears the House with Bipartisan Support

In May, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5116, America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010. The bill, which has over 100 cosponsors and more than 750 endorsers, makes investments in science, innovation, and education to support employers today while strengthening the U.S. scientific and economic leadership to grow new industries of tomorrow, and the jobs that come with them. The bill was received in the Senate on June 9.

G.M. Forms $100M Technology Venture Firm

General Motors said in early June that it was committing $100M to form its own venture capital firm as it seeks new technologies that can provide an advantage over competitors. The subsidiary, known as General Motors Ventures, plans to invest in start-up companies working in a variety of fields, including renewable fuels, information and entertainment systems and advanced materials.

Maryland Governor Proposes $100M for Startup Companies
Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley recently announced a new effort to direct $100M to public and private venture capital investors. The InvestMaryland program would offer insurance companies tax credits to generate the funds; Governor O'Malley's current proposal would provide $50M to the Maryland Venture Fund and the other $50M to venture capital firms.

Lack of Venture Capital Stymies Colorado Startups

Lack of funding for startup ventures is stunting the growth of Colorado's biosciences sector, industry leaders and entrepreneurs said. The problem is national, even global, in scope. But it's being felt acutely in Colorado's biosciences community of mostly small companies served by a dwindling handful of local venture-capital firms.

SBIR Phase I Awards, Proposals by State - FY09
Compiling SBIR Phase I awards and proposal statistics by state for FY09, SSTI finds the 10 states with the most awards in FY09 were California (853), Massachusetts (526), Virginia (239), New York (213), Maryland (209), Colorado (198), Texas (172), Ohio (168), Pennsylvania (154), and Florida (109). FY09 tables available here.

Can Denver Land a Regional U.S. Patent Office?

A group that has worked for years to persuade the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to open a satellite location in Denver sees fresh hope from a new administration, and believes that a decision may be only weeks away. Colorado leaders are eager to position the state as the ideal location for such an office, which could bring hundreds of well-paid patent examiner jobs to Colorado, as well as several hundred more administrative and support jobs.

The Aging of Science

"The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it's the same problem you had last year."

John Foster Dulles, U.S. Secretary of State, 1953 to 1959