|
News and Events > Newsletters > Monthly Newsletter: October 2005
University of Colorado Technology Transfer Office
Monthly Newsletter
Volume 2 ~ Issue 3 ~ October 2005
Today at the TTO
TTO Releases 2005 Annual Report
The University of Colorado Office of Technology Transfer has released its 2005 Annual Report. It will soon be available in HTML format on our website. To download it now, follow these links: 2005 TTO Annual Report or the 2005 Startup Company Chart.
John Hall, CU and NIST Physicist, is 2005 Nobel Prize Co-winner in Physics
John Hall, a Fellow and Senior Research Associate at JILA, a joint institute of CU-Boulder and the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), is co-winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Fall 2005 POC Grant (POCg) Round is Underway
The inaugural POCg Fall 2005 grant round is underway and applications may be submitted beginning yesterday, October 17, 2005 through Wednesday, November 23, 2005. The POCg provides grants to enable the further development and validation of promising CU technologies that are, or will become, suitable for commercialization. POCg awards can be either $10,000 or $25,000, and the technologies are selected by a competitive application process. Applications for POCg awards are submitted to the TTO, which reviews the proposals, makes the final selections, and manages the awards. Submission of an Invention Disclosure Form for the subject technology is a pre- or co-requisite for application. For more information about the POCg selection criteria and application requirements, visit our POC Application Page or contact Ken Porter, Director of Licensing, at ken.porter@cu.edu or 303.735.0621.
MedShape Solutions Signs Option Agreement
TTO and MedShape Solutions, Inc., a new CU start-up company, have entered into an option agreement for an exclusive license to CU technology relating to the use of shape memory polymer in orthopedic fixation devices. The technology was developed at CU-Boulder and theHealth Sciences Center by inventors Dr. Kenneth Gall, Dr. Reed Bartz, Jeff Tyber and Christopher Yakacki. MedShape Solutions will initially focus on a device for postoperative fixation in repairing ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injuries, an increasingly common occurrence affecting 1 in 3,000 Americans. The device, built using shape memory polymer, fixes the graft in place when activated by body temperature. It will offer superior fixation strength, reduced graft damage, and less invasive insertion than current methods. The company is also developing bioabsorbable shape memory polymers and shape memory alloys for fixation and fracture repairs.
CU Licenses Software for Oil Exploration to Earth Decision Sciences (EDS)
The BP Center for Visualization was established in October 2000 as a new research center at the University of Colorado as part of both the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the College of Arts and Sciences. The Center is developing an extensive program of research and development initially focusing on the energy industry, aerospace, and medical visualization. Key among the Center's technologies is the Immersive Drilling Planner (IDP), which is a fully integrated immersive visualization tool for planning and updating well paths and platforms in relation to 3D geophysical and geological data. Earth Decision Sciences, with headquarters in Houston, TX, had previously licensed the IDP, and has now licensed newly developed enhancements to IDP - Sidetracks and Proactive/Reactive Well Path Planning. The new enhancements add functionality to IDP to support optimized planning of sidetracks to reach new targets from existing wells, to provide the ability to plan for uncertainties in the geology, and to support real-time planning of the optimum path to target as the well is being drilled. EDS will incorporate the BP Center technology into its Drilling Planner Suite, which is designed for planning and editing stand-alone wells, drilling platforms, and sidetrack wells. Users of the Suite can quickly define a drilling template with default parameters that can change to define the drilling targets and then plan wells, platforms, and sidetracks.
Four New Non-Exclusive Licenses Executed by TTO
Sigma Aldrich Research Biochemicals, Inc., based in Massachusetts, recently executed a non-exclusive license for B-9430 peptide developed and produced in Dr. John Stewart's lab. Stressgen Bioreagents (Victoria, Canada) acquired the rights to develop and commercialize monoclonal antibody for detection of Human NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase (NQ01) receptor, developed by Dr. David Ross and Dr. David Siegel. Additionally, Chemicon, based in California, licensed worldwide rights to Phosphorylated Serine 162 human progesterone receptor (Ser 162), developed by Dr. Dean Edwards and Dr. Nancy Weigel, as well as rights to Steroid Receptor Coactivator -1 (SRC-1), developed by Dr. Dean Edwards. If you have any questions regarding Biological Materials licensing please contact Susana Read at Susana.read@uchsc.edu or Elizabeth Towner at Elizabeth.towner@uchsc.edu. Ph: 303-724-0184
Fall Proof of Concept Investment Round Closes
TTO's fall 2005 Proof of Concept investment (POCi) round closed on October 7th. Ten applications were received for a range of technologies from the CU Health Sciences Center and CU-Boulder campuses. The next step will be presentations by the finalists to a selection panel comprised of venture capitalists.
TTO Helps Launch New BioBusiness Incubator
The University of Colorado is a leading biomedical research university, ranking among the top ten public research universities in annual National Institute of Health expenditures garnered by faculty to generate new research discoveries. Several of these discoveries have formed the basis for new companies to commercialize biomedical inventions from the University. In recent years, CU has become a leading generator of bioscience start-ups, ventures requiring significant investment of time, money, and expertise to meet the goal of commercializing technology by bridging the gap between academia and business. (more)
CU Technology and Licensee Companies in the News
AlphaSniffer Scientific Advisory Board Includes 2005 Nobel Physics Prize Co-winners
John Hall and Ted Hansch, the physicists sharing this year's Nobel Prize, both serve as scientific advisors to Boulder-based AlphaSniffer, LLC. AlphaSniffer was founded in 2003 based on inventions from UCB Physics and Mechanical Engineering laboratories. Misha Plam, AlphaSniffer CEO, says the start-up company relied on John Hall's electronics innovations in developing its Holographic Interferometer. Advances made by Ted Hansch, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Physics in Germany, may impact additional technical improvements in the product. AlphaSniffer recently completed a Phase I SBIR/NASA grant and has proposed a Phase II project.
Sievers Targets Measles: CU Professor Wants Needle-free Vaccine to Have Impact
University of Colorado biotechnology professor Bob Sievers returned this week from India, where more people die of measles than in any other country. His goal: to help wipe out the childhood disease - and others - with a needle-free vaccine. Sievers, who invented technology designed to allow vaccines to be inhaled rather than injected, formed an agreement with the Serum Institute of India during his two-week trip there. (more)
Pearson Knowledge Technologies Honored with 2005 U.S. Army Small Business Innovation Research Quality Award
Pearson Knowledge Technologies, developer of products and services using automated text analysis for education and other markets, announced today that it received a 2005 U.S. Army Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Quality Award for its innovative developments in online collaborative learning. The company was one of seven out of 240 eligible companies to earn this honor. (more)
Very High-Peak-Power Lasers: Cryogenic Cooling Multiplies Output of Ti:Sapphire Laser
The broad laser bandwidth and excellent material properties of titanium-doped sapphire (Ti:sapphire) have proved ideal for small- and large-scale ultrafast lasers and systems. Incorporating cryogenic cooling into an ultrafast Ti:sapphire laser amplifier can reduce thermal-lens-induced aberrations by more than two orders of magnitude, resulting in additional performance improvements. Although not common in lasers, cryogenic cooling makes ultrafast systems more versatile and is also surprisingly cost-effective for a variety of applications. (more)
Dollars Flowing to Colorado's Biotech Players: Replidyne, GlobeImmune Net $96M in Only One Month
In the last month, Colorado biotech companies have raised more than $200 million, a big investment in the state's relatively small industry. Biotech executives long have complained about the challenge of attracting investors and venture capital here. But they say the recent financings may signal that Colorado has turned a corner: not only have Colorado biotech companies made significant clinical progress, but investors also are willing to spend their money here. (more)
GlobeImmune to Relocate to Louisville
GlobeImmune, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company that develops therapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases, is moving to Louisville. The company's move is part of a trend that has biotech companies moving to and expanding in the Boulder Valley, according to a study by The Staubach Company, a Denver-based tenant representation firm. (more)
Dharmacon in RNAi Alliance
Lafayette-based Dharmacon, Inc., a division of Hampton, N.H.-based Fisher Scientific International, Inc. (NYSE: FSH, $59.89), announced Thursday that it and 10 other research institutes established the Genome-Wide RNAi Global Initiative. The alliance's goal is to accelerate the scientific and medical discoveries made possible by short-interfacing ribonucleic acids (siRNA) that target genes in an individual's complete genetic material, Dharmacon said in a statement. (more)
Displaytech Named as One of the State's Fast 50
The tech gods have been good to Boulder and Broomfield county businesses for the past five years. Nearly one-third of the state's fastest-growing tech companies call this area home, with a Longmont company topping the annual ranking of revenue growth among tech firms. (more)
Authority, Incubator Boost Colorado Biotech
Colorado's bioscience industry is getting a boost from the first investment from the new Colorado Venture Capital Authority and from a new bioscience incubator. Both initiatives are designed to address two of Colorado's chief challenges in growing the biotech industry here: funding and growing early-stage companies. (more)
Melissa Mahoney Named as One of the Top 35 Young Innovators by Technology Review
Melissa Mahoney is an assistant professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Dr. Mahoney focuses her research on the development of polymer-based protein and cell delivery systems to enhance the success of transplanted neural tissue. (more)
TTO's Learning Laboratory: The Student Connection
Legal Services Available to Boulder-area Entrepreneurs Through CU Legal Clinic
The Entrepreneurial Law Clinic ("ELC"), part of the University of Colorado School of Law, provides legal services in connection with the formation, founding and/or development of small entities. Staffed by 16 second-and third-year law students, the ELC assists with the legal needs of young entities, such as formation, financing, and employment agreements. (more)
TTO Continues Internship Program to Leverage Business School Expertise
The Technology Transfer Office has recruited intern Jason Downing, a first-year student at the Leeds School of Business, to perform marketability assessments on disclosures with the potential of becoming new companies. Before starting business school, Jason worked a researcher and production supervisor for Dharmacon, a start-up company based on CU technology. He worked for Sigma-Prologic in a similar capacity. Jason's industry knowledge and first-hand perspective on the technology transfer start-up process uniquely positions him to add value to his projects.
Spotlight On:
| CU Boulder's Technology of the Month |
CU HSC's Technology of the Month |
CU's Company of the Month |
| CU1134B - Nonlinear Adaptive Resource-Distribution Controller |
CU1425H - Combating Alcoholism - Analogues of Peptide Anti-Immune Agents |
Phiar Corporation |
| The Nonlinear, Adaptive, Resource-Distribution Controller is a technology for modeling normal resource allocation in computer systems. It can be used to respond to abnormal resource requests, such as distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on computer networks. The method is very different from all current approaches in that it will address the effects (the reservoir overflowing) instead of the causes (a flood coming in). Because of this, the technology can achieve what no other DDoS protection mechanism can: detecting and automatically blocking an attack, whether traditional or shrewish. Other DDoS protection technologies cannot detect attacks that proceed at a slow rate but still manage to bring down IT systems. The nonlinear adaptive resource-distribution control algorithms are simple enough to run effectively on any current or future technology without significant overhead. |
The need for an effective medicinal treatment for alcoholism is clearly defined by the destructive nature and wide scope of the problem itself. While more than 80% of adult Americans consume alcoholic beverages, as much as 15% of the total population report drinking problems. Developing new and more effective medications to treat alcoholism remains a high priority for researchers.
Dr. Thomas Beresford, a full-time researcher for the VA and a professor of psychiatry at UCDHCS, has been exploring the use of a new class of drugs that may be used to treat alcoholism. After observing that individuals who have undergone a liver transplant have remarkably high abstinence rates, Dr. Beresford proved that the abstinence is caused by the immunosuppressants themselves as opposed to other psychological or physiological factors involved with such an invasive surgical procedure. Dr. Beresford's current work is focused on identifying similar compounds that, while decreasing the desire to consume alcohol, do not exhibit the immunosuppressing effects. |
Boulder-based Phiar Corporation has signed a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with Motorola, a leader in communications technology, for the continuing development of its high frequency (THz) metal-insulator technology for next generation electronic devices. High speed circuits based on Phiar's technology originally created by Garret Moddel and Blake Eliasson of UCB School of Engineering and Applied Technology have the potential to significantly boost data rates for wireless communications and provide higher resolution for radar and imaging applications. Additionally, Phiar has hired a new President & CEO, Bob Goodman, and closed an A-3 round of funding for $6.3 million from Menlo Ventures, a Top-tier venture capital firm inNorthern California. Phiar has also successfully completed two contracts from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and is in the process of reviewing a new Phase II DARPA project. www.phiar.com |
Search our database for licenseable CU Technologies
Upcoming Events
Save the Date - 4th Annual Technology Transfer Awards
January 10, 2006 - The Fourth Annual CU Technology Transfer Awards will be held on Tuesday, January 10th, 2006 at the Turnhalle in the Historic Tivoli Brewery, UCD campus, 900 Auraria Parkway, Denver, CO 80204. Please return to our webpage for updated information as it becomes available.
Meet Your Collaborator: CU - NIST Fall Symposium
November 14, 2005 - The inaugural Fall Symposium, hosted by the University of Colorado (CU) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will be held on Monday, November 14, 2005, in the Glenn Miller Ballroom of the University Memorial Center on the Boulder campus. The goal of the Symposium is to bring together CU faculty and NIST scientists in the many areas of research related, but not limited to biotechnology and nanotechnology. We subsequently anticipate offering up to 10 seed grants of $50,000 each, jointly funded by NIST and CU, to foster new collaborations. Eligibility for the seed grants requires presentation of a poster at the Symposium that focuses on the prospective applicant's research interests and areas for which collaboration is sought. (more)
Biowest 2005
November 8-9, 2005 - The only conference and trade show dedicated to the Bioscience Industry in the Rocky Mountain Region. BioWest 2005 is the place where the biotech and medical device ecosystems in the Rocky Mountain West collide. Everything happens here. Join us at BioWest 2005 to discover the companies, discoveries, technologies, services, venture capital opportunities and players in the bioscience industry in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico. (more)
Law School Hosts Conference on Telecommunications Start-Up Companies
November 7, 2005 - 3:00 p.m. - The Silicon Flatirons Telecommunications Program will hold an event at the Colorado School of Law entitled The Commercial Opportunities at the Technological Frontier: Building a Company Around New Internet Technologies. This conference will explore the technological dynamics of how the Internet is enabling a new class of services to take root. In particular, what some are calling "Internet-enabled services" promises an array of information products and communication services that will transform our economy and society. Increasingly, consumers will use the Internet for delivering information without even necessarily realizing that they are accessing the Internet. The technologies and products that will make an Internet-centric environment part of our daily lives are just being built and, in many cases, start-up companies like Vonage and Webroot Software are taking the lead. In addition to discussing the emerging technological environment and business opportunities, conference speakers will evaluate how startups need to position themselves, protect against legal and business risks, and relate to established companies. (more)
Esprit Forum Features CU Technologies
October 25, 2005 - Esprit Entrepreneur, a series of events celebrating entrepreneurism in Boulder Valley and presented by the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, will include a special "Breakfast Technology Forum" on October 25th, 8:00 a.m. at the St. Julien Hotel. The Forum will showcase eight CU start-up companies that are in different stages of business development. Entrepreneurs involved with each company will give a brief presentation on the market opportunities, product technology, product status and what they need for the next steps. The presentations will take place from 8-10:00 a.m. Breakout groups with each company will take place at 10:00 a.m. for those interested in more information or to volunteer their expertise with the start-up company. The Breakfast Technology Forum is being presented in conjunction with the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, the Boulder Innovation Center, and the TTO. Cost for the breakfast and presentation is $15 per person. (more)
2005 Coleman Institute Conference
October 24, 2005 - The Coleman Institute will be hosting the annual Coleman Institute Conference entitled "Pioneering Cognitive Technologies" including presentations by outstanding scientists, disability leaders, government officials, and business executives, an overview of cognitive technologies research at CU and other major universities, and a CU system-wide faculty research poster session. To register or find more information, visit the 2005 Coleman Institute Conference site.
2005 DEMOGALA Will Feature CU Technologies
October 20, 2005 - The Colorado Software and Internet Association (CSIA) will showcase 28 of Colorado's most innovative technology companies on October 20, 2005. Featured companies and concepts include several based on CU technology: ALD NanoSolutions, OncoLight, RxKinetix, Touch of Life, and the CU-Digital Animation Center. (more)
Innovation in the News
WHO Official Suggests Working Around AIDS Drug Patents
The World Health Organization's representative for AIDS in the Western Pacific region suggested developing countries consider using domestic or international trade rules to sidestep patent laws in order to produce their own generic versions of antiretroviral drugs to combat AIDS. Dr. Bernard Fabre-Teste said the shortage of low-cost AIDS drugs was "a key problem" for many developing nations.
Alleged Misuse of NIH Grants Warrants Greater Scrutiny, Committee Leaders Say
House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders have asked the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) inspector general to examine the alleged misuse of millions of taxpayer dollars at some of America's top universities. In the past 17 months, the Justice Department has reached large settlements with Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, the Mayo Clinic and others over claims that they misspent federal grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Governor Kulongoski Announces Oregon Innovation Council and Launch of New University Venture Fund
Governor Ted Kulongoski was recently joined by members of the legislature and leaders in Oregon's technology and other trades sector industries to celebrate the signing of Senate Bills 838 and 853, and to announce the appointments to the new Oregon Innovation Council. "My vision for Oregon is to be the Innovation State and the bills I'm signing today mark a new commitment and strengthened relationship between the state and private partners to move us forward in achieving that goal," Governor Ted Kulongoski said.
Private Companies Own Human Gene Patents
Nearly one fifth of all human genes have been patented - the majority by private biotechnology companies, according to a survey of patent records published today. The extent to which companies claim ownership of human genes has raised alarm among researchers and led to warnings that by asserting commercial rights over crucial genes, companies risk stifling research into diseases such as breast cancer, diabetes and obesity. Legal cases triggered by disputes over who owns specific genes and how access to working on them is restricted are also likely in future, the scientists warn.
AUTM President Mark Crowell Responds to Fortune Article
Recently the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) responded to a Fortune article about the "unintended consequences" of the Bayh-Dole Act. Read AUTM President Crowell's comments here.
Cancer Researcher Sues University
The director of the Cancer Research Institute at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe is suing the school and some of its senior administrators, claiming he was removed as director in retaliation for blowing the whistle on university officials for mishandling licensing contracts and patent applications for anti-cancer drugs.
|
