News and Events > NewsLetters > Monthly Newsletter: September 2006

Today at the TTO

The University of Colorado Technology Transfer Office requests proposals for the State of Colorado Bioscience Discovery Evaluation Grant Program.

Proposal submission deadline: September 27, 2006

The CU Technology Transfer Office (TTO) has $2.06M available for grants directed to development-oriented research to accelerate commercialization by reducing CU bioscience-related inventions to practice and validating their ability to address significant therapeutic, diagnostic and medical device market applications.  The funds for this program are available from a State appropriation and matching funds provided by the CU Foundation and the CU TTO.   To be eligible for this funding, investigators must have submitted an invention disclosure to the TTO, followed by a research proposal before Wednesday, September 27, 2006.  The minimum funding is $50,000 and the maximum is $200,000, inclusive of an 8% overhead rate.

For additional information access the following three documents:  

• Program Overview, Eligibility Criteria and Selection Process
• Proposal Submission Form
• CU Invention Disclosure Form

Massively Parallel Technologies and the University of Colorado Enter Into Cooperative Relationship for Large-Scale Proteomics Development
Massively Parallel Technologies, Inc. (Massively), a provider of on-demand high-performance computing (HPC), announces it has entered into a cooperative agreement with the University of Colorado for the development and commercialization of an innovative breakthrough in proteomics analysis. Working with Mark Duncan, Ph.D., professor at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center (UCDHSC), departments of pediatrics, medicine and cellular and departmental biology and director of Proteomics Shared Resources, and his team, the two groups will apply Massively’s patented parallel processing software technology to a protein identification software application developed by UCDHSC. The novel analysis software is used to identify proteins from tandem mass spectrometry. UCDHSC’s unique approach will enable faster and more accurate results than what is currently possible but requires tremendous compute power to process the massive amounts of data in a practical timeframe. The compute scaling efficiencies and increase in performance in time-to-answer made possible by Massively’s technology will take the UCDHSC application to the next level of performance and usability, required to break through existing data analysis bottlenecks in the field of proteomics.

The CSLR Corpora are available for standard one-time fees.  There have been 12 licenses for CSLR’s corpora since they became available in 2001.

Archemix and Nuvelo Expand Collaboration and Nominate New Clinical Compound
Archemix Corp. and Nuvelo, Inc. announced that they have expanded their collaboration agreement. Under the new agreement, which replaces the existing 50/50 collaboration, Archemix will be responsible for the discovery of short-acting aptamers targeting the coagulation cascade for use in acute cardiovascular procedures, and Nuvelo will be responsible for the development and worldwide commercialization of these aptamers. In addition, Nuvelo has designated NU172 (ARC2172), a short-acting, direct thrombin inhibiting aptamer, as a development candidate.

TTO signs an option agreement with start-up ApopLogic Pharmaceuticals for CU cancer drug
TTO recently signed an option agreement with ApopLogic Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical start-up.  ApopLogic is focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutic products that target unique apoptotic cell death pathways in tumor cells and proliferating immune cells (lymphocytes).  This technology (Fas ligand) represents a new and promising approach for treating cancers that are resistant to conventional therapies such as radiation and chemotherapy.  ApopLogic received a $100,000 investment in the spring 2006 round of TTO’s Proof of Concept investment (POCi) program and received a $10,000 first place award as the winning company at the BioWest Venture Showcase held in August at the Denver Convention Center.  The Venture Showcase award was sponsored by the law firm of Faegre & Benson, and ApopLogic was selected by a panel of venture capitalists who heard presentations by eight Rocky Mountain biotech start-ups.  The optioned patent rights are based on inventions by Professors Richard Duke and Donald Bellgrau from the Departments of Medicine and Immunology, respectively, at CU’s Health Sciences Center campus.  Drs. Duke and Bellgrau are also Founding Scientists of GlobeImmune, Inc., another CU start-up company. (See Duke story, below.)

Endocyte Executes Exclusive Option for Monoclonal Antibody
Endocyte, Inc., a company based in West Lafayette, IN executed an exclusive option with CU for a monoclonal antibody against alpha folate receptor developed in the laboratory of Wilbur Franklin, Professor, Department of Pathology and Fred Kolhouse, Professor, Department of Hematology, UCDHSC.  If converted to an exclusive license Endocyte will use the monoclonal antibody to develop and validate a diagnostic test

Zenwa Executes Exclusive Option for Polymer Waveguide Technology
Zenwa, Inc. of Massachusetts recently executed an option to exclusively license a patent pending polymer waveguide array technology, developed by Robert McLeod in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at CU Boulder.  The eventual license will be in a field of use that includes Zenwa’s newest product, a personal eyeglass-mounted display as well as for generic endoscope applications.  The polymer waveguide array technology will be used for writing waveguides into the photopolymer eyeglass lenses of the user and for a monolithic optical multi-waveguide relay conductor connecting the eyeglasses to the electro/optical processor that is worn on the belt or body. 

TTO Hires Marketing Associate
In early September, the Technology Transfer Office welcomed Lindsay Polak as our new marketing associate. She will assist the licensing team in generating information packages on new technologies, as well as developing leads in the business community. She will split her time between the Boulder office and the HSC office in Aurora.  Lindsay will compile and edit the TTO’s monthly newsletter, and will also handle system-wide marketing efforts to increase the TTO’s visibility within the community.

Lindsay has previously worked both in marketing and in the health care field; she also completed an internship at a public policy organization specializing in tech policy. She is excited to apply her marketing skills in a high-growth environment such as tech transfer. She graduated from Scripps College in 2001 with a BA in Philosophy, and afterward attended CU’s School of Law. Outside of working hours, Lindsay spends time outdoors, enjoys reading, and plays in a rock band.

Boulder TTO New Home
As of September 1st, 2006, TTO moved to the first floor of the CU Foundation's Boulder office building. (MAP) Our phone and fax numbers will remain the same. Our new address will be:
CU Technology Transfer Office
4740 Walnut Street
Suite 100
Boulder, CO 80309
Campus Box 589

Openings Remain for Proof of Concept Investment (POCi), Non-Bioscience Proof of Concept Grant (POCg)
The application deadline for the upcoming fall TTO Proof of Concept investment (POCi) round is Friday, October 6, 2006.  The POCi program provides early stage “seed” investments to enable the further development and validation of promising CU technologies that are, or will become, the platform for a CU start-up company.  Information about the POCi program, selection criteria, application requirements, and the application form are available at www.cu.edu/techtransfer/poc/poci_overview.html.  For questions about the POCi program, contact Tom Smerdon, Director, New Business Development, at tom.smerdon@cu.edu or 303-735-0621.

For the TTO fall 2006 Proof of Concept grant program, proposals will be separated into bioscience and non-bioscience fields.  The Non-Bioscience POCg fall 2006 grant round is underway and applications may be submitted to the TTO through Friday, October 20, 2006.  The Non-Bioscience POCg provides grants to enable the further development and validation of promising Non-Bioscience CU technologies that are, or will become, suitable for commercialization.  For more information about the POCg, selection criteria, and application requirements, visit http://www.cu.edu/techtransfer/poc/pocg_overview.html or contact Ken Porter, Director of Licensing, at ken.porter@cu.edu or 303.735.1109.

Bioscience proposals will be processed through the State of Colorado Bioscience Discovery Evaluation Grant program (see accompanying announcement). 

CU Technology and Licensee Companies in the News

CU-Boulder Receives DARPA Grant To Establish Nanotechnology Research Center
A new research center focused on the controlled synthesis of nanostructures and their reliable integration into micro- and nano-electromechanical systems has been established at the University of Colorado at Boulder with a grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Entrepreneurial Scientist Pushes Second Company
Entrepreneur Richard Duke is back pitching investors on a biotech startup that, if successful, could offer new hope for lung cancer patients. Duke, a founder and former CEO of GlobeImmune, presented his new company, ApopLogic Pharmaceuticals, to venture capitalists during the BioWest Venture Showcase, held in conjunction with the annual biotech conference.

CU Start-Ups recognized by Colorado BioScience Association
The Colorado BioScience Association (CBSA) has released winners of its 2006 Awards Program honoring the best of Colorado's bioscience industry. The announcement is made by Denise Brown, CBSA Executive Director, who says the CBSA awards program honors those individuals and companies making a significant difference to Colorado's vibrant bioscience industry in 2006. Two CU start-up companies were honored: Myogen, founded in 1999, was named 2006 Company of the Year, and Taligen Therapeutics, founded in 2004, received one of two Rising Star Awards.

Activ-Dry receives $850,000 NIH grant to help smokers quit
Boulder-based Aktiv-Dry LLC, a biotechnology company pursuing inhalable aerosol vaccines, said Thursday it has received an $850,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Drug Abuse. With the grant, Aktiv-Dry will develop an inhalable nicotine vaccine to help smokers permanently quit smoking.

Microchip Flu Test Speeds Diagnosis, Pinpoints Origin
U.S. government and academic researchers have come up with a new method to identify influenza viruses that will speed the identification process and allow more labs to determine where viruses come from and how dangerous they are. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) August 28 announced the new test, developed in partnership with scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder. The FluChip, a microchip-based test, distinguished among 72 influenza strains – including the H5N1 avian influenza strain – in fewer than 12 hours, according to a CDC press release.

The American Lung Association and Myogen Announce Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Educational Partnership
The American Lung Association and Myogen, Inc. announced that they will collaborate on a new public awareness initiative to educate the public about pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a progressive and life-threatening disease that affects an estimated 200,000 patients worldwide. The multi-year educational partnership will be launched this fall and will include a variety of outreach activities, all designed to better inform the public about signs and symptoms as well as treatment options for PAH. There is no known cure for PAH, but early diagnosis and treatment can reduce symptoms, improve quality of life, slow the progression of the disease and extend patients' lives.

TTO's Learning Laboratory: The Student Connection

Summer Intern Projects 2006
Devon Cox's Tech Transfer internship in the Boulder office dealt with a number of IT-related technologies.  His projects included a middleware for wireless devices, a task assistance kiosk for the elderly, a medical information survey tool, and a natural language processing software for entity mention detection. In the course of his internship, Devon worked with the Boulder Innovation Center on a weekly basis to get input on his projects. Devon is entering his third year at the Leeds School of Business.

Summer marketing intern to stay on at TTO
Whitney Browne, TTO Boulder’s marketing intern, will continue at the TTO starting in the fall semester. Over the summer she coordinated community events and played an important role in creating the TTO’s annual report. For fall, she will continue to help out with marketing needs and assist with publications. Whitney is in her third year at the Leeds School of Business, working towards a degree in marketing and an International Business Certificate.  When not in the office or in class, Whitney is also the fundraising/marketing chair for BizChicks, a student group devoted to promoting the success of women in business.

Spotlight On:

CU Boulder Technology of the Month:
CU1642B- New Type of High Through-put Desalination Membrane based on Cross-linked Bicontinous Cubic Lyotropic Liquid Phases

CU HSC Technology of the Month:
2001.019H – B12 and Acid-Reducing Agents

CU Company of the Month:
ARCA Discovery, Inc., a company founded by Michael Bristow, Professor of Cardiology at UCHSC, is focused on developing and commercializing genetically-targeted therapies for heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases.  The company’s first product is Bucindolol, a small-molecule therapeutic for advanced heart failure and other indications, which promises to be the first genetically-targeted cardiovascular drug.  In October, the company signed an exclusive license agreement with the University for technology from Dr. Bristow’s laboratory, including the genetic markers that will be used as the basis for prescribing Bucindolol.  In February, the Company closed a $15 million venture capital financing, led by Atlas Venture of Boston and Boulder Ventures, of Colorado.  The company’s corporate headquarters are in Denver, and its laboratory facilities are at the Fitzsimmons Biomedical Research Park. 

Upcoming Events

Bard Center for Entrepreneurship Open House
September 18th, Denver, CO at the UCD-Health Sciences Center
Please join the Bard Center for an open house September 18th, an opportunity to meet other students and faculty interested in technology entrepreneurship. Bard Center director Sandy Bracken and faculty member Dr. Arlen Meyers will present. The Bard Center for Entrepreneurship is part of the Business School at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. It was established in 1996 to create an entrepreneurial focus within the CU-Denver Business School for both new business start-ups and large companies.  

Please RSVP at 303-620-4050 or bard.center@cudenver.edu

Colorado Tech Week to Celebrate and Showcase Statewide Innovation
September 18th – 22nd, Various Locations
Colorado Tech Week, a week-long series of conferences, programs and events that will take place September 18-22, 2006. The venue brings together business, academic and government communities in demonstrating and celebrating Colorado’s technology economy over five days at a variety of sites around the state. Bulletin: the new website is now up, announcing scheduled events and speakers.

CSIA DEMOgala Technology Showcase
September 21, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Denver
The Colorado Software and Internet Association (CSIA) presents its 2006 DEMOgala, which will feature exciting, interactive demonstrations and exhibits by 45 of the state’s most innovative technology companies. Companies chosen for DEMOgala Technology Showcase represent many sectors of technology including aerospace/satellite, biotechnology, data storage, information technology, GPS, software, forensics, RFID, medical/healthcare, and nanotechnology. The DEMOgala event will be the largest event during Colorado Tech Week (see above).

Invention to Venture: Denver Workshop
September 22, St. Cajetan’s Church, Auraria Campus
Invention to Venture is a nationwide series of conferences and workshops providing an introduction to the process and practice of technology entrepreneurship. Workshops are targeted at tech-oriented undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and alumni. This is the first Invention to Venture workshop hosted by the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center.

Energy Initiative Research Symposium
October 3rd, Boulder, CO at the University Memorial Center on Boulder Campus
The main activity for the Symposium will be a poster session in which individual faculty and scientists, together with members of their research groups, can display their ongoing and proposed research projects related to R&SE and, more importantly, find out what other types of research interests and expertise exist at NREL and on the CU Campuses.  For more information, see the Energy Initiative website. Registration deadline is September 22.

Successfully Navigating Through Intellectual Property
October 19, 2006, Dorsey & Whitney Law Firm, Denver
The Colorado Software and Internet Association (CSIA) brings together industry experts, lawyers and others to discuss current issues concerning the ownership and control of intellectual property. Topics include patent, patent litigation, trademark and copyright issues, with discussion of legislation, court decisions and current policies concerning intellectual property.

CU Resources

CU Energy Initiative’s new TEAM
CU’s new Renewable and Sustainable Energy Initiative is committed to enhancing research on clean energy. As part of this effort, the Leeds School of Business’ Deming Center for Entrepreneurship is heading up the TEAM, or Transforming Energy and Markets, project within the EI. TEAM’s role is to facilitate collaborations between researchers and the private sector to streamline the path to market for new technologies.

TEAM is working closely with researchers at CU and NREL, the Technology Transfer Office, and the private sector to identify opportunities for early engagement between researchers and businesses interested in energy research.  TEAM held a preliminary meeting with a cross-section of corporations, entrepreneurs, and investment community leaders on September 8 to gain feedback on their interests and how CU researchers can tap into their energy research needs as well as their business expertise.  A larger business meeting will be held in conjunction with the CU/NREL Energy Research Symposium on October 3.

Researchers interested in learning more about possible collaborations with the private sector should contact Alison Peters at the Deming Center: alison.peters@colorado.edu or 303-666-7627.

CU lands $6 million gift for stem cell research
The University of Colorado has scored a $6 million gift from Denver's Gates family and gained a top Texas researcher, two major steps toward transforming CU into one of the country's premier stem cell research centers, medical school officials said Wednesday. CU officials announced the Gates donation - the largest research gift in the School of Medicine's history - Wednesday afternoon at the university's Fitzsimons campus. They also introduced Dennis Roop, the Baylor University biologist who will lead the effort to find cures for diseases through the new Charles C. Gates Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Biology Program.

"We will be a national leader. We are not now, but we will be," said CU Chancellor M. Roy Wilson. "That's our goal."

Fitzsimons Bioscience development deal nears
Forest City Enterprises is on the verge of inking a deal as the developer of a $2 billion bioscience park at Fitzsimons. The deal is a crucial step that ultimately is expected to create 10,000 high-paying jobs in Aurora and put the former Army hospital on the map as a place for cutting edge medical research and treatment. The 160-acre Fitzsimons Bioscience Campus is expected to house 3.5 million square feet of labs and research and development facilities over the next 25 years. It is by far the largest undertaking for the $7.8 billion Forest City, based in Cleveland.

Innovation in the News

Forbes’ names Colorado one of its top places for business, future growth
Last week’s E-News covered Entrepreneur Magazine’s list of best places for business. It’s Forbes’ turn this week, as its latest issue contains its first ever listing of the best states for business. Virginia was a clear winner in the Forbes rankings, which include thirty measures in six main categories: business costs, economic climate, growth prospects, labor, quality of life, and regulatory environment. Virginia took the crown because it performed well in all of these categories. It scored in the top ten in every category---no other state hit in the top ten in more than three categories. Other top performers (in rank order) included Texas, North Carolina, Utah and Colorado. In terms of future growth prospects, Colorado, Texas and Florida ranked at the top.

Michigan Tobacco Settlement Money Directed to $100M in High-Tech Grants and Loans, with Half for Life Sciences
The winners of $100 million in startup capital from a state investment fund are largely life science companies, although advanced automotive manufacturing also got a large share. Sixty-one companies were chosen Wednesday to share in the $100 million, with 55 getting full funding and six getting funding of roughly 90 percent. The fund was signed into law last year and is aimed at encouraging the development of four cutting-edge technologies in Michigan: life sciences, alternative energy, advanced automotive manufacturing and materials and homeland security and defense. About half the applicants that won Wednesday are in the life sciences, while nearly 30 percent are in advanced automotive manufacturing and materials. The remaining projects are in alternative energy and in homeland security and defense. The state will use $400 million from the sale of the state's future tobacco settlement and $75 million a year from the settlement as that money comes in over the next eight years to raise the $1 billion to be spent on the fund over the next decade. The state also plans to take money paid by winning businesses to expand the fund during that time.

Continuing Free Fall: Industry Share of Academic R&D by State, 2004
In each of the last five years, the percentage of U.S. academic R&D supported by industry has declined. Real dollar expenditures also have declined to only $2.107 billion. NSF wrote in an April 2006 Issue Brief, "The industrial sector is the first source of academic R&D funding to show a multiyear decline since the survey began, in FY 1953... Industry's share of academic R&D support in FY 2004 equaled its share in FY 1983, at 4.9 percent."

The NIH Budget and the Future of Biomedical Research
As the National Institutes of Health experiences severe budget limitations, the New England Journal of Medicine analyzes the effects of the crunch on biomedical research, and suggests alternative methods of providing federal research funding.

“Whatever mechanisms are ultimately chosen, it seems clear that new methods of support must be developed if biomedical research is to continue to thrive in the United States. The goal of a durable, steady stream of support for research in the life sciences has never been more pressing, since the research derived from that support has never promised greater benefits. The fate of life-sciences research should not be consigned to the political winds of Washington.”

FDA to regulate gene and protein diagnostic tests
The Food and Drug Administration took a step yesterday toward regulating a new category of complex diagnostic tests that are expected to play a growing role in tailoring medical treatments to specific patients. Requiring approval before such tests can be marketed, the F.D.A. said, could better ensure that the tests are valid. But some experts said the requirement could also discourage the development of diagnostics by raising the costs of introducing them.

The Inequality of Science
In 2004, close to one in five extramural NIH dollars went to only 10 of the 3,000 institutions that received grants. Five US states get almost half of all funding. What about everyone else?

External Resources

Generous Schools Generate More Licensing Revenues
While money is often downplayed as a motivator for academic researchers, it turns out they are more like the rest of us than some thought, according to a new study from the London School of Economics and Political Science. The more a university shares its royalties with faculty researchers, the more overall licensing income that university earns, the study suggests.

New Blog Focuses on Colorado Life Science Landscape
Adam Rubenstein, the Assistant Director of the Fitzsimons BioBusiness Incubator (FBBi) and a former research associate in CU Boulder's Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and TTO intern, has a blog focused on biotech business deals and developments in the Rocky Mountain region, with a special emphasis on early stage companies.  Adam's blog can be checked out at http://rnaventures.blogspot.com/.

Keystone Symposia
A non-profit organization dedicated to connecting the scientific community for the benefit of society. Conducts scientific conferences on biomedical and life science topics in relaxing environments that catalyze information exchange and networking.

Capital Formation Institute AudioBlog
Website discusses the issues and works-in-progress that promote seed and early stage investing and enterprise development. In “Angel Market Trends: Sophistication and Organization" (5 minutes) Dr. Jeffrey Sohl, UNH Center for Venture Research, discusses recent trends in the angel investor market: growing sophistication in doing deals, taking investments to liquidity without going to the VC markets and partnering with venture capital firms, and increased participation in organized investor groups. He highlights fundamental differences in practice between angel investors and VC managed funds, and underscores the significance of angel investment for the seed and early stage market and the nation’s entrepreneurs.

Reaching for the Stars: Who Pays for Talent in Innovative Industries?
This paper argues that there is a connection between talent and firms in markets with risky product innovations. The authors show that software firms that operate in product markets with highly skewed returns to innovation, or high variance payoffs, are more likely to attract and pay for star workers. Thus, firms in high variance product markets pay more up-front in starting salaries to attract and motivate star employees, because if these star workers produce highly-successful innovations, the firm’s returns will be huge.

Science and Industry: Tracing the Flow of Basic Research through Manufacturing and Trade
This paper describes flows of basic research through the U.S. economy and explores their implications for scientific output at the industry and field level. The authors find that the academic spillover effect significantly exceeds that of industrial spillovers or industry basic research. Within-field effects exceed between field effects, while the within- and between industry effects are equal. Therefore, scientific fields limit basic research flows more than industries.

Schooling Externalities, Technology and Productivity: Theory and Evidence from US States
This paper proposes a simple model to explain why the positive external effects of average education are hardly found at all, while positive externalities are often found for the share of college graduates. The authors' model predicts that high school graduates are indifferent between traditional and advanced technologies, while more educated workers adopt the advanced technologies and benefit from the larger private and social returns associated to them. Only shifts in education above high school graduation are, therefore, associated with positive social returns stemming from more efficient technologies.

Parting Quotes

 "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
-Arthur C. Clarke