Monthly news & updates                         April 1, 2024

Mid-South REACH
Product Development Grants
Request for Applications

• Open to faculty, staff, trainees, and students at universities and technical schools in the following midsouth states: Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia. No prior experience with NIH funding is required

• Applications must focus on the development of products/technologies that have the potential to improve patient care or enhance human health. There are no specific disease requirements, and all types of products (e.g., therapeutics, diagnostics, devices, tests, software) are eligible

• Products, technologies, and/or ideas should both
  

• Disclosure of projects/technologies to an applicant’s respective technology transfer office is not required to submit a pre-application; however, disclosure will be required prior to the submission of a Mid-SoutREACH full application (if invited)

• Multiple Principal Investigators are permitted, but all personnel (including faculty sponsors) who are listed on an application must agree to participate and submit the application

• Non-faculty applicants must identify a faculty member

Eight Vanderbilt Technologies Earn Patent Protection in April

Technology Spotlight:

Nanoporous Atomically Thin Graphene Membranes for Desalination & Nanofiltration

Monthly Interactions

• Executed an NDA with a healthcare consulting company to discuss a novel cytometry technology developed by Jason Valentine from the Department of Mechanical Engineering

• Executed a license agreement with a startup company formed by graduate student Noah Robinson from the Department of Psychological Sciences for commercialization of Vanderbilt’s rights in the virtual reality-based mental health wellness software platform

• Executed end-user license agreements with five educational institutions for the Latin American Public Opinion (LAPOP) data sets developed by Elizabeth Zechmeister and colleagues from the Department of Political Science

• Executed a license with a biotech company for the RSV vaccine developed by James Crowe from the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center

• Executed a renewal to a non-exclusive license with a research tool company for a cell line created by Robert Matusik and Marie Orgebin-Crist from the Department of Urology

• Executed an amendment to an existing license with a patient engagement software company to facilitate further commercialization of an invention created by Susan Douglas of Peabody College
  

• Met with David Weaver from the Department of Pharmacology to discuss potential licensing opportunity for an Ancora project

• Prepared and submitted Ancora Letter-of-Intent application for Larry Marnett from the Department of Biochemistry

• Prepared an Ancora Project Concept with Ann Richmond from the Department of Pharmacology

• Met with faculty from School of Medicine: Basic Sciences and advised on applications for the Pilot Innovation Ignition Fund Program

• Met with Scientific Collaboration Directors from Columbia University, Stanford University, and University of Michigan to discuss best practices for Ancora Innovation

• Met with Zhongyue (John) Yang and his research team from the Department of Chemistry to discuss the Mutexa software application developed by his lab and potential commercialization via a startup

• Met with Lisa Lancaster from the Department of Medicine and Kyle Ulses to discuss the AutoO2 technology and potential commercialization via startup Respiro

• Met with a large medical supplier to discuss commercialization of a medical device developed frpm the Department of Plastic Surgery

• Held discussions with a medical device company interested in licensing medical adhesives developed by Scott Guelcher from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

• Met with several Engineering Senior Design teams to discuss their Senior Design projects and to help determine what intellectual property protection might be necessary prior to Senior Design Day

• Met with the Brock Family Center and a local entrepreneur to discuss commercialization interest in Cornelius Hospital readmission prediction software technology developed by Daniel Byrne and colleagues

• Held a call with Maryland tech transfer representatives to discuss consolidation of IP rights for the commercialization of e4usa, a national initiative designed to introduce engineering design principles to a new generation of students

• Held discussions with Gossamer Capital and Nashville Entrepreneur Center (NEC)

• Discussed collaborative opportunities with Austin Evarts of Urban Future Labs

• Connected Silicon-Valley Executives with New Ventures and Brock Center projects

• Held patent strategy and update meetings with companies that have licensed neurotherapeutics developed by Craig Lindsley and the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery (WCNDD)

• Held a call with an AI drug discovery company interested in exploring partnerships with Vanderbilt faculty developing therapeutics

• Held a call with a vaccine company interested in licensing the vaccine manufacturing system developed by Matthew Wilson from the Department of Nephrology
  

• Met with a local investor interested in the neurotherapeutics developed by Craig Lindsley and the WCNDD

• Held a call with a vaccine company interested in licensing the antibodies for chikungunya developed James Crowe from the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center (VVC)
  

• Held a call with a biotech company that licensed therapeutic compounds developed by Craig Lindsley and the WCNDD regarding their interest in funding additional developments

• Continued license diligence with a biotech company interested in therapeutics for influenza developed by James Crowe from the VVC

• Continued license negotiations with a biotech company interested in antibodies against pox virus developed by James Crowe from the VVC

• Met with a Mass Spectrometry company to discuss a potential license to technology from Jeff Spraggins from the Department of Cell & Developmental Biology
  

• Attended Annual Center for Structural Biology Symposium

• Attended Vanderbilt Digestive Disease Research Center Annual Retreat

• Attended Vanderbilt Translational Research and Interventional Oncology Research Program Retreat

• Attended the Vanderbilt Faculty Biomedical Ideator Pitch Day

• Attended the Innovation Ambassador Program AUTM webinar where Alan Bentley and Phil Swaney presented an overview of the Vanderbilt Innovation Ambassador program

• Attended the Vanderbilt Summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats which brought together internationally recognized leaders and experts in the military and intelligence community to examine the subjects of cyber conflict, artificial intelligence, peer competition and emerging threats

• Attended the Council on Competitiveness summit at Vanderbilt which explored Tennessee’s journey toward becoming an innovation hub where research, development and deployment of new technologies is being coupled with advanced manufacturing, business and industry formation to create jobs and more inclusive prosperity

• Attended the Oracle Health Summit

• Attended the Greater Nashville Venture Capital Association’s Quarterly Board meeting

• Attended the Vanderbilt Alzheimer's Disease Research Day

• Attended the Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation’s Annual VI4 Research Symposium

• Attended the HeroWear second quarter board of directors meeting

• Attended Houston Portal Pours Event

• Attended Tech Coast Angels Tech Tuesdays Presentations

• Attended SENSE Theatre Business Plan Presentation with Owen Executive Education

• Attended the Partnerships in Industry and Education Center Tour & Discussions

• Attended Tech Coast Angel's Medical Mondays Presentations

• Attended The Wond'ry Faculty Ideator Presentations

• Attended Cumberland Emerging Technology Life Sciences Center Advisory Board Meeting

• Attended the SOM: Basic Sciences Board of Visitors meeting

• Attended the World Vaccine Conference
  

• Participated in Inaugural AACR Oncology Industry Partnering Event

• Facilitated Ancora Project Team Meetings and strategy discussions with PI’s and 3DC

• Moderated Lab-To-Table Discussion Biotech Entrepreneurship: Storied and Strategies featuring Elizabeth Ann Stringer, Chief Scientific Officer of Nashville Biosciences (NashBio), Karrie Dudek, CEO of Eupalinos Inc. and ASPIRE to Innovate Postdoctoral Fellow, and Shabnam Eghbali, co-founder of Theia, a nonprofit that empowers women to change health care, CTTC innovation ambassador, resident physician of internal medicine at VUMC

• Participated in strategic collaboration meetings with The Wond’ry

• Presented at the M-TRAIN workshop on the internal Vanderbilt innovation network

• Presented the role of the Industry Collaborations team within the innovation ecosystem at Vanderbilt to the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce

• In partnership with the Brock Family Center for Applied Innovation’s From Concept to Commercialization series, hosted a seminar with Paul Yock, a medical technology entrepreneur and founding director of the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign, dedicated to advanced training in medical technology innovation

• Hosted a structured innovation session with VUMC nursing innovator, Jessica Williams, and team to discuss potential solutions for better securing an internal jugular line

• Presented a seminar on Negotiations to the AUTM Mentorship Program cohort

• Presented a class/seminar on IP for undergraduate and graduate engineering students at the behest of Daniel Moyer

• Hosted a session of Innovation Grand Rounds featuring Tom Utley of the University of Colorado Anshutz campus (formerly a Licensing Manager at CTTC) to learn about the structure of the CU-Anshutz tech transfer office and several innovative programs they are piloting

• Hosted in-person interviews of candidates from CTTC’s open Licensing Officer position

• Hosted in-person meetings with 1870 Ventures, The Wond'ry, and the Brock Family Center for Applied Innovation
  

Technology Pipelines