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| Recently at the TTO | |
miRagen Therapeutics Signs Research and Licensing Agreements with CU for microRNA Profiling of Human Heart Failure Study
miRagen Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on improving patients' lives by developing innovative microRNA (miRNA)-based therapeutics for cardiovascular and muscle disease, and the University of Colorado (CU) announced in late October that they have entered into sponsored research and licensing agreements to collaborate on miRNA therapeutics discovery and development. The sponsored research agreement will support the analysis of miRNA and gene expression changes from a study conducted at the University of Colorado Cardiovascular Institute at the UC Denver School of Medicine, "Beta Blocker Effects on Remodeling and Gene Expression (BORG)," while the licensing agreement will enable the company to commercialize intellectual property associated with discoveries made during the research project. (Read the full release.)
CU Licensees Receive Therapeutic Discovery Project Grants
Several CU licensees recently received grants through the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project Program, a program established by last year's healthcare reform bill. The program is intended to benefit small companies developing technologies that are expected to significantly lower the cost and increase the quality of medical care. Colorado-based CU licensees who received grants: ApopLogic Pharmaceuticals, $108,345; ARCA biopharma, $488,958; BioAMPS International, $83,913; EndoShape, $400,872; GlobeImmune, $733,438; Hiberna Corp., $97,142; ICVrx, $244,479; Inviragen; $488,958; miRagen Therapeutics, $244,479; ProFoldRx (BaroFold), $244,479; Quest Product Development, $244,479; SomaLogic, $1,171,054; and ValveXchange, $244,479. Figures reflect grants for both 2009 and 2010; some (but not all) projects involve CU technologies. (See also: Area Bioscience Firms Cash In on Federal Grants.)
Job Opportunity: Life Sciences Licensing Associate
TTO is seeking a Licensing Associate for its Boulder office, with a background in Chemistry (including Biochemistry), Biology or a related discipline. The Licensing Associate manages a portfolio of intellectual property, which involves identifying, soliciting, and evaluating invention disclosures for patent and market potential, prioritizing investments in the portfolio, and negotiating and administering option and license agreements. Please review the full requirements - to apply, visit www.jobsatcu.com (posting #811942). |
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CU Technology and Licensee Companies in the News
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Taiga Biotechnologies Awarded Three New NIH SBIR Grants
CU licensee Taiga Biotechnologies announced that the company has received three new Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants from the National Institutes of Health, totaling $1.7M million. Taiga's key platform technologies are related to a novel approach for developing fully human monoclonal antibodies to difficult protein antigens.
OPX Recognized By NREL
Boulder-based OPX Biotechnologies, a CU licensee developing renewable biochemicals and biofuels, said that it has been recognized with an Outstanding Venture Award by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), at NREL's 23rd Industry Growth Forum. (See also: OPX Ramping Up to Work on Petroleum Alternatives.)
Stem Cell Transplants in Mice Produce Lifelong Enhancement of Muscle Mass
A CU-Boulder study shows that specific types of stem cells transplanted into the leg muscles of mice prevented the loss of muscle function and mass that normally occurs with aging, a finding with potential uses in treating humans with chronic, degenerative muscle diseases. The experiments showed that when young host mice with limb muscle injuries were injected with muscle stem cells from young donor mice, the cells not only repaired the injury within days, they caused the treated muscle to double in mass and sustain itself through the lifetime of the transplanted mice. "This was a very exciting and unexpected result," said Bradley Olwin of CU-Boulder's molecular, cellular and developmental biology department, the study's corresponding author. (See information about licensing this technology from CU.)
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| People | |
White House Names CU-Boulder Professor One of Top Young 100 Scientists in 2010
University of Colorado at Boulder faculty member Ivan Smalyukh is one of only 100 men and women in the United States to be awarded a coveted 2010 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, or PECASE. Smalyukh, an assistant professor in CU-Boulder's physics department and a member of the university's Liquid Crystals Materials Research Center, and his students are studying the organization of nanoparticle andmolecular self-assembly related to precisely controlled structures in liquid crystals.
Two CU-Boulder Faculty Members Win National Science Foundation Career Awards
Two University of Colorado faculty members have received prestigious National Science Foundation Early Career Development, or CAREER awards. Assistant Professor Nils Halverson, who holds faculty appointments in both the astrophysical and planetary sciences department and the physics department, was awarded $875,415 over five years from NSF to support detector development and data analysis for cosmic microwave background studies with the South Pole Telescope. Assistant Professor Amy Palmer of the chemistry and biochemistry department received $831,720 from the NSF over five years to support her research to provide a powerful new approach to illuminate disease-causing bacteria like salmonella that invade host organisms and can produce harmful and sometimes lethal effects.
CU-Boulder Chemical Engineering Professor Honored
Richard D. Noble, the Alfred T. and Betty Look Professor of Chemical Engineering at UCB, received the Institute Award for Excellence in Industrial Gases Technology at the annual meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in Salt Lake City
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
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Upcoming Events | |
CCIA All Member Meeting
November 30, Xcel Building, Denver
Hosted by the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association (CCIA) - join us for an early evening event of networking with the CCIA Membership.
Colorado Life Science Industry Night
December 2, Bioscience Park Building, Aurora
First, at the Colorado New Biotech Meetup, several emerging life science startups and local life science leaders will give rapid fire presentations on their latest efforts and ventures. Then, enjoy networking, elbow-rubbing, meeting and greeting; and have a beer on the house courtesy of Upslope Brewery during BioBeers.
ReTool: Session IV - Energy Efficiency
December 3, CU-Boulder
An intensive, four-day certificate program offered by the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship at CU-Boulder that provides an in-depth look at renewable energy technologies and policies. Participants may take all four courses to earn a RETool Renewable Energy Certificate, or may take courses individually.
Angel Capital Summit
December 6-7, Denver
The Summit will feature the best and brightest financing strategies for the Rocky Mountain Region, with an anticipated audience of between 400-700 entrepreneurs, private investors and service professionals. Hosted by the Rockies Venture Club.
Boulder/Denver New Technology Meetup Group
December 7, 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
December 9, 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.
Save the Date: TTO Annual Awards Banquet
January 18, Tivoli Turnhalle, Denver
The 9th annual TTO awards dinner will be held on January 18, 2011 at the historic Tivoli Turnhalle in Denver. This event celebrates people and companies that exemplify the outstanding year experienced by technology transfer at CU. For information about purchasing a table, please contact Lynn Pae at lynn.pae@cu.edu or 303-735-0550.
To have your event featured here, please send an email to TTOnews@cu.edu.
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TTO's Learning Laboratory: The Student Connection
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TTO Seeks MBA Student for Renewable Energy Internship
TTO and the CU-Boulder Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI) need qualified interns with an interest in emerging renewable energy technologies, marketing, and intellectual property. This position is ideal for a student who wants to get into the fields of high-tech marketing or business development, particularly in the renewable energy industry. Job duties will include interviewing renewable energy investigators at the University of Colorado at Boulder and summarizing their research programs or technologies in the context of the overall industry and technology environment in one or more renewable energy sectors: wind, solar, biofuels, efficiency, storage. Candidates should be enrolled in an academic program at CU-Boulder; MBA students are preferred. A technical undergraduate degree is strongly preferred, and a focus on Entrepreneurship is preferred. To apply, please visit the CU-Boulder MBA Job Board (listing #156). |
| CU Resources | |
The Colorado Association for Manufacturing and Technology (CAMT), a CU-Boulder hosted program, is introducing a Technology Acceleration Program (TAP) to streamline the transition between technology transfer and market penetration. TAP will provide technical assistance and consulting for accelerated product development, supply chain creation, and scaled-up manufacturing. As part of TAP, CAMT recently entered into a Space Act Agreement with NASA designed to help Colorado companies access NASA technologies and bring potential new products to market quickly and competitively. For more information go to http://camt.com/index.php?page=CMSPage&id=107 or contact Aleta Sherman (Regional Director). |
Innovation in the News | |
"U-Launch" Grant Opportunity Now Accepting Applications to Help Accelerate Clean Tech Start-Ups
An alliance of leading clean technology organizations kicked off Clean Energy Week by announcing the creation of "U-Launch," a grant opportunity that will fund commercialization assistance for early-stage start-ups and university-originated clean energy technologies.
DOJ Reverses Stance on Gene Patents
The U.S. Justice Department dropped a bombshell on the biotech industry in late October, saying that unmodified DNA should not be patentable. Federal attorneys outlined the policy shift in a friend-of-the-court brief filed in a closely watched lawsuit featuring a challenge to Myriad Genetics' patents on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.
Supreme Court to Hear Case on Universities' Rights to Own Faculty Inventions
The U.S. Supreme Court, siding with Stanford University and a host of other research universities, has agreed to hear a case that could solidify the legal grounds for universities to claim ownership of faculty inventions derived from federally sponsored research. The universities and several academic groups had urged the high court to take the case and clarify that the intellectual-property rights granted to universities under the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act supersede any "side agreements between individuals and third parties."
National Academics Report Suggests Changes to U.S. S&T Strategy
The U.S. will need to shift from a national science and technology strategy predicated on the 1950s paradigm of "control and isolation" to a global innovation environment focused on "engagement and partnerships," according to a new National Academies report.
Roundup: University, Community, State, National and International Initiatives
Innovation in China: Patents, Yes; Ideas, Maybe
No patent law existed in China until 1985, and the country has a deserved reputation for trampling on intellectual-property rights. But that could be changing. Anxious to promote domestic innovation, the Chinese government has created an ecosystem of incentives for its people to file patents.
Canadian Government Launches $50M Entrepreneurship Initiative
Recent graduates and grad students will have access to new resources aimed at helping them
launch high-tech businesses and commercialize new technologies under the Government of
Canada's new Scientists and Engineers in Business Initiative. The program will award $50 million
over four years to nonprofit organizations, including postsecondary institutions, to provide
business skills development to entrepreneurs pursuing science, technology, engineering and
mathematics endeavors.
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| External Resources | |
University Research for Industry Soars
Businesses are increasingly relying on universities to help them with science and technology research. University research contracted by businesses increased five fold between 1999 and 2008, to $1.97B, reported Janet Walden, vice-president of research partnerships for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council in early November.
Bioentrepreneur: Around The Block
One of the most unpleasant surprises for any entrepreneur at a startup company is learning that a blocking patent threatens the commercial viability of their lead product. This could seriously jeopardize the company's ability to raise financing, its attractiveness to strategic partners and ultimately its overall viability as a business.
Angels' Decreased Appetite for Seed and Startup Investing
Angels' seed and start-up stage investing declined to its lowest level in several years, according to the Angel Market Analysis for the first and second quarters of 2010 released by the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire. This trend could impact new ventures and job creation. Read the full analysis: "The Angel Investor Market in Q1Q2 2010: Where Have All the Seed Investors Gone?"
Patents Issued per 100,000 Employees by State, FY 2004-2009
U.S. patent activity increased in 2009 after two years of reduced activity, according to statistics from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). U.S. applicants were awarded 95,037 patents in 2009, up from 92,001 in 2008. Last year marked a return to the patenting levels of the early part of the decade, though in 2006 the country had hit an anomalous all-time high with 102,267 patents. |
| Parting Quote | |
"The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers, but it takes a very creative mind to spot wrong questions."
Anthony Jay, English writer.
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