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Turning Ideas into Opportunities

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Monthly news & updates February 5, 2023

Innovation Catalyst Fund:
Applications Now Open!

Ignite your innovative potential through the Vanderbilt Innovation Catalyst Fund.

The Innovation Catalyst Fund provides translational research support for Vanderbilt innovations that require proof of concept to attain commercial relevance, nascent projects that have strong innovation potential, and research projects with civic and social relevance.

The program is run by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Innovation in consultation with Division of Finance, VUMC Office of Research, and academic leadership in Vanderbilt schools and colleges, with management provided through the Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization (CTTC).

All full-time faculty employed by either Vanderbilt University or VUMC are eligible to apply across all disciplines from Arts & Humanities, Engineering & Physical Sciences, Social Sciences, and Bioscience & Healthcare. Part-time faculty, students, or staff are not eligible.

Key Features:

Through this fund, Vanderbilt is supporting the advancement of basic research programs with commercial potential toward productization through support for a variety of translational and commercially-oriented development efforts. This program is intended to provide:

Expert Evaluation – peer-reviewed assessment by a committee of Vanderbilt faculty
Accelerated Decision-Making – prompt feedback and timely decision
Focused Translational Research – commercial potential and social impact prioritized
Tranche-Based Funding – project funds distributed based on milestone completion

Learn More and Apply!

In FY23, CTTC experienced record growth across many key commercial metrics, as CTTC continued to seek out new ways to bring services and support to our researchers, and to the Vanderbilt community broadly.

In this summary report for FY23, we have highlighted several key statistics that have had a measurable impact for the Vanderbilt community and our innovators over the past twelve months.

FY23 Highlights

Potential schizophrenia treatment, discovered at Vanderbilt and being developed by Neumora Therapeutics, entering Phase 1 clinical trial

A potential schizophrenia treatment discovered through the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in phase 1 clinical trials—the third WCNDD therapeutic to reach that benchmark.

The drug is an allosteric modulator that works through a mechanism that has been clinically validated in the treatment of disorders like schizophrenia. Developed in the labs of WCNDD Director  Craig Lindsley  and Director Emeritus  P. Jeffrey Conn, NMRA-266 has received Investigational New Drug clearance from the FDA.

“Vanderbilt is proud that a discovery by our researchers at the Warren Center is now a significant step closer to helping improve the lives of people with schizophrenia,” Chancellor Daniel Diermeier said. “Our work with Neumora is the very definition of translational research and the work we aim to do every day, which is applying innovation and discovery to help address the world’s most complex challenges.”

Vanderbilt launches the GNVCA

In November of 2023, Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management and CTTC helped set the stage for a startup renaissance in Middle Tennessee by hosting the emerging Greater Nashville Venture Capital Association’s inaugural event.

The Greater Nashville Venture Capital Association, GNVCA, is a membership-based organization dedicated to establishing Middle Tennessee as a premier destination for launching, nurturing, and investing in companies. GNVCA members include various Nashville investors from pre-seed to growth equity, like venture capitalists, angel investors, private capital offices, and corporate venture partners.

Patent #	TITLE
11,856,955	Binary Compositions as Disruptors of Orco-Mediated Odorant Sensing
11,865,723	A Control Method for a Robotic System
11,872,398	Patient-Customized Electrode Arrays Based on Patient-Specific Cochlear Information, and Designing/Selecting Methods and Applications of Same
11,874,353	Multi-Shot Echo Planar Imaging Using Reordered Segments and Recursive Radio Frequency Pulse Design Giving Matched Slice Profiles Across Segments
11,883,304	Prosthetic Knee with Swing Assist
11,883,821	Fluidic Device for the Detection, Capture, or Removal of a Disease Material
11,884,676	7-(Piperidin-1-YL)-4H-Pyrimido[1,2-B]Pyridazin-4-One Derivatives as Positive Allosteric Modulators of the Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptor M4

Technology Spotlight:

A Simple and Highly Portable Flow Phantom for Doppler Ultrasound Quality Measurements

A new flow phantom has been designed in which Doppler ultrasound measurements can be conducted for quality assurance purposes. The phantom is highly portable and allows for simple and reproducible measurements of Doppler ultrasound function. This combination of advantages allows for realistic monthly, weekly, even daily Doppler QA measurements.

Technology and IP Status:

A patent application has been filed.

Learn More

Monthly Interactions

Below is a sampling of the interactions that have taken place in our office and with our staff over the last month.

EXECUTED

Executed a license agreement with a startup company from the laboratories of Jamey Young in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, to utilize the INCA software platform for commercial service

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

Executed agreements with four agencies for the multi-site implementation of STAT™ (Screening Tool for Autism in Toddlers & Young Children) developed at Peabody College by Wendy Stone and colleagues

Executed an exclusive option agreement with spectral sensing company for technology developed by Richard Caprioli and Jeremy Norris from the School of Medicine

Executed an exclusive license agreement with a pharmaceutical company for technology developed by James Crowe and Robert Carnahan from the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center

Executed a non-exclusive material license with a biotechnology company for a mouse strain developed by Jennifer Kearney and Mark Magnuson from the School of Medicine

Executed a non-exclusive material license with a biotechnology research company for a mouse strain developed by Eric Neilson, formerly in the Department of Medicine

MARKETED

Held a call with a European manometry company regarding potential collaboration for the development of a high-resolution manometry technique developed by David Kent from the Department of Otolaryngology and Daniel Fabbri from the Department of Biomedical Informatics

Met with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Tech Transfer office to discuss their interest in launching an Innovation Ambassador program, modeled after the Vanderbilt program

Met with a medical device company to discuss a surgical technology being developed by Kyle Gabrick and Brian Drolet in the Department of Plastic Surgery

Met with an optics company to discuss their interest in a technology being developed in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Met with a major medical device manufacturer to initiate discussions for the commercialization of a biophotonics technology

Met with a patent monetization firm regarding a surgical device portfolio

Drafted letter of support for a Phase II STTR grant for a Vanderbilt startup company that is working to develop peptide therapeutics developed by Colleen Brophy, MD and Joyce Cheung-Flynn, Ph.D., from the VUMC Department of Vascular Surgery

Drafted an IP strategy statement and letter of support for an NIH grant related to deep brain stimulation in early Parkinson’s Disease for David Charles, MD and Mallory Hacker, Ph.D. from the VUMC Department of Neurology

Drafted letter of support for an SBIR grant for a medical robotics company interested in licensing cochlear implant insertion techniques developed by Benoit Dawant and Jack Noble from the VUSE Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Met with Audrey Bowden from the Department of Biomedical Engineering to discuss IP commercialization through a startup company for an imaging technology

Met with Zhongyue (John) Yang of the Department of Chemistry to discuss the EnzyHTP software application developed by his lab

Met with Colin Hewitt for Fractional COO Discussion

Met with VUMC faculty inventors to help prepare ARPA-H proposals

Met with Alex Bick from the Center for Precision Medicine and Brent Ferrell from the Institute for Infection, Immunology, and Inflammation for updates on their sponsored research project

Discussed with a health-tech startup a license to technology made by Ed Chekmenev formerly from the Department of Radiology

Met with a venture studio startup to discuss the potential for creating startup companies based on technology developed at Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Met with an analytical and laboratory products company interested in technology developed at Vanderbilt University

Held calls to discuss license terms with a startup company and a pharmaceutical company interested in a therapy for neurological diseases developed by Craig Lindsley from the Department of Pharmacology and the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery

Discussed with a biochemical reagent company nanobody technology invented by Brian Wadzinski and Ben Spiller from the Department of Pharmacology

Marketed antibody discovery technology invented by Ivelin Georgiev from the Program of Computational Microbiology and Immunology to a healthcare investment group

Met with Roadrunner Venture Studios to discuss opportunities for co-founding startups around Vanderbilt technologies

ATTENDED

Attended the Wond’ry’s Special Innovation Open Mic for the final presentations for the undergraduate engineering course Nanoscale Innovation and Making

Attended the GAME Change IP sub-committee meeting to determine how intellectual property will be managed under the NSF Engines program

Attended the Midwest Research University Network’s ScoutCamp event for Energy and Industrial Technologies. Several members of CTTC attended the 6-hour event, meeting 16 venture capital firms and other investors in this space

Attended the VISE Symposium to showcase the commercialization services available at CTTC to the VISE researchers and trainees

Attended the HeroWear first quarter board of directors meeting

Attended pre-seed investor strategy sessions with Nashville Entrepreneur Center

Attended December Greater Nashville Venture Capital (GNVCA) Board Meeting

Attended initial client meeting with Brilliance, a startup working with a group of Owen School student

Attended Health Tech Hang networking event

Attended STEM Day on the Hill

Attended NIH Reach Annual Conference

Attended Young American Leaders-Nashville Forum

Attended Advisory Committee Meeting for Catherine Leasure, an ASPIRE to Innovate Fellow

Attended a discussion on Product concepts and Tech Transfer/IP considerations for ARPA-H projects

Attended initial client meeting with SENSE Theatre, a potential startup working with a group of Owen School students

Attend Angel investor event at the Richland Country Club

PARTICIPATED

Hosted monthly Entrepreneur-In-Residence meeting

Hosted an Angel Investor meeting representing our startup portfolio

Hosted an executive coaching call for a VUMC startup

Hosted a Venture Studio discussion with Respiro, a Vanderbilt startup

Participated in a guest lecture for Vanderbilt’s Innovation Realization course

Presented at the Life Science Tennessee Breakfast discussion on CREST workforce initiative

Hosted Innovation Catalyst Council (ICC) kick-off Meeting

Presented the commercialization pipeline of technologies from the School of Medicine: Basic Sciences to the SOM:BS Board of Visitors

Led a quarterly working group meeting with leaders from Duke University, the University of Michigan, the University of Arizona, and Baylor College of Medicine to discuss strategies to launch programs at their own institutions patterned after the Vanderbilt Innovation Ambassadors Program