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Monthly news & updates September 5, 2023

CTTC Announces the Awardees of the 2023 Master Innovator Recognition Program

Each year, the Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization (CTTC) recognizes excellence in innovation through its Master Innovator Recognition Program.

The yearly recognition program acknowledges Vanderbilt’s top innovators and entrepreneurs for their contributions to the creation, development, and commercialization of intellectual property. Awardees have demonstrated excellence in a select number of key commercialization categories, including new inventions disclosed, patent applications filed and issues, new companies formed, technology licenses executed, commercialization revenue generated, and products on the market - all based on the candidate’s innovations created at Vanderbilt. Awardees are memorialized as a member of the CTTC Innovators’ Hall of Fame.

This year we are recognizing Richard Caprioli, C. David Weaver, Susan Eagle, and Franz Baudenbacher as Master Innovators at Vanderbilt.

Richard Caprioli

C. David Weaver

Susan Eagle

Franz Baudenbacher

Learn More about the Master Innovator Recognition Program

Vanderbilt engineering professor’s company makes successful first-in-human clinical study using novel device for endoscopic surgery

A medical device company co-founded by a Vanderbilt engineering professor recently announced the completion of a successful first-in-human clinical study using its innovative technology that radically improves minimally invasive endoscopic surgery.

Robert J. Webster III, Richard A. Schroeder Professor of Mechanical Engineering and associate professor of medicine and urology at Vanderbilt University, is co-founder and president of EndoTheia, Inc. Earlier this year the company received a breakthrough device designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Webster said the new technology answers the FDA’s call to transition to duodenoscopes with innovative designs to enhance safety, particularly in the treatment of biliary disease, which affects about 700,000 patients domestically each year.

The Vanderbilt Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization raked in $96 million in licensing revenue in the 2023 fiscal year, exceeding last year’s record income totals (as measured on a cash basis). That revenue total is the largest amount generated through technology licensing in any year since CTTC’s establishment in 1991.

The achievement comes on the heels of 2022 being a record-setting fiscal year according to the Association of University Technology Managers, which publishes the premier source of academic tech transfer data in the country. The AUTM FY22 Licensing Survey reports that Vanderbilt ranked sixth nationally for adjusted gross income from technology licensing, totaling $86.7 million. This figure is the best showing in the university’s history and suggests that the FY23 $96 million licensing revenue total is expected to rank Vanderbilt in the top 10 for a second year in a row.

These numbers reflect the growth of output and activity being completed by the CTTC. In support of research within the university and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in FY23 CTTC completed more than 1,100 material transfer agreements; reviewed more than 160 industry funding and clinical trials agreements; completed nearly 100 confidentiality agreements; evaluated 183 invention disclosures; filed more than 300 U.S. patent applications; and facilitated the launch of eight new ventures—tying its highest recorded total. The quantity of invention disclosures is more than 10 percent higher than in FY22. As part of the university’s compliance obligation under its federal funding agreements, CTTC reported nearly 150 new inventions to the government and completed nearly 2,000 compliance reports to government agencies.

“While generating knowledge is as vital as it has ever been, a research university in the 21st century needs to translate that knowledge into applicable solutions for society’s most urgent problems,” Chancellor Daniel Diermeier said. “By continuing to break records for licensing revenue, Vanderbilt has once more demonstrated our growing capacity for making a difference in the world.”

llumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN), a global leader in DNA sequencing and array-based technologies, in collaboration with Nashville Biosciences, LLC, a leading clinical and genomic data company and wholly owned subsidiary of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), today announced the five founding members of the Alliance for Genomic Discovery (AGD). The multiyear agreement aims to accelerate development of therapeutics through large-scale genomics and the establishment of a preeminent clinical genomic resource. Member organizations AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, and Merck will co-fund the whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of 250,000 samples and have access to the resulting data for use in drug discovery and therapeutic development.

"We are thrilled to welcome these esteemed companies as the founding cohort in the Alliance for Genomic Discovery," said Joydeep Goswami, chief financial officer and chief strategy and corporate development officer of Illumina. "Together, we aim to advance genomics and multiomics-based methods for finding therapeutic targets that are more actionable in the treatment and curing of diseases, while also improving the speed, probability of success, and efficiency of the discovery and development process."

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Technology Spotlight:

New Optical Tweezers for Rapid Control of Nanoscale Objects

Vanderbilt researchers have developed a novel technology for trapping and dynamically manipulating nanoscale objects. Control over miniature objects like proteins can aid in applications such as biological sensing, single molecule analysis, and size-based sorting of nanoscale objects.

Technology and IP Status:

A prototype of the device has been fabricated and experimentally tested. A patent application has been filed.

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Five Vanderbilt Technologies Earn Patent Protection in August

Patent #	TITLE
11,723,738	Surgical Device Tip with Deflectable Joint
11,725,247	Methods of Treating Cancer
11,726,386	Plasmon Coupling Materials, Methods of Making Plasmon Coupling Materials, Methods of Using Plasmon Coupling Materials and Systems and Devices that include Plasmon Coupling Materials
11,738,004	Indomethacin Analogs for the Treatment of Castrate-Resistant Prostate Cancer
11,738,212	Rigid Phantom for End-to-End Verification of Adaptive Radiotherapy System

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 CDA with a contract manufacturing company to discuss the ability to scale up the anti-cancer compound developed by Brian Bachmann from the Department of Chemistry and Michael Savona from the Department of Hematology and Oncology

Executed a CDA with a biotech company to explore collaboration with the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery

Executed an agreement with a university system 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 end user license agreements with an educational institution for the Latin American Public Opinion (LAPOP) data sets developed by Elizabeth Zechmeister and colleagues in the Department of Political Sciences

Executed a non-exclusive license with a Nashville startup company for surgical planning software developed by Benoit Dawant and colleagues from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering

Executed a non-disclosure agreement with a major pharmaceutical company interested in technologies from the laboratories of John Wikswo from the Vanderbilt Institute for Integrative Biosystem Research and Education (VIIBRE)
Executed a material license agreement with a food biotechnology startup company for a technology developed Carl Johnson and colleagues in the Department of Biological Sciences
Executed an end user license agreement with a biotech company for the INCA software developed by Jamey Young of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

MARKETED

Evaluated a potential app-related technology for an Emeritus faculty member from the Department of Religious Studies

Held a call with a biotechnology company interested multiple anti-cancer compound programs developed by Stephen Fesik from the Department of Biochemistry

Held a call with a Japanese pharmaceutical company regarding the ability to commercialize the anti-cancer compound developed by Brian Bachmann from the Department of Chemistry and Michael Savona from the Department of Hematology and Oncology

Marketed imaging software created by Gregor Neuert from the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics

Held partnering discussions with a pharmaceutical company interested in the C. diff treatment developed by the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR) and the Advancing Drug Discovering and Repurposing Incubator (ADDRI)

Held a call with a pharmaceutical company interested multiple anti-cancer compound programs developed by Stephen Fesik from the Department of Biochemistry

Held negotiations with a pharmaceutical company regarding the compounds for neurological disorders developed by Craig Lindsley at the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery

Met with the Scipreneur and Smart Mobility Challenge group to discuss the program and identify potential technologies for the program

Met with Shihong Lin from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering to discuss starting a company and what resources are available for faculty entrepreneurs

Held discussions with colleagues at University of Nebraska regarding operational and strategic benefits of VUEInnovations portal

Held discussions with a large medical device company interested in licensing a mechanical ultrasound arm developed by Rajnish Gupta from the Department of Anesthesiology

Assisted in the drafting and submission of Greater Nashville Regional Council’s grant proposal to the EDA Regional Tech Hubs funding opportunity

Met with global communications company regarding collaboration opportunities around 5G technology

Held initial meetings regarding a transportation sponsored research study involving the I-24 MOTION testbed

ATTENDED

Attended organizational meetings for the ACCESS BioFoundry collaboration in preparation for grant submission to create a BioFoundry for enabling access to infrastructure and resources for advancing modern biology and biotechnology

Attended the planning meeting for the establishment of a therapeutics development program for the School of Medicine: Basic Sciences

Attended an executive connection event hosted by Oracle

Attended the Tennessee Tech Transfer and Cluster Economic Development Council quarterly meeting

Attended the VU Legislative Reception in Washington, D.C.

Attended the Vanderbilt School of Engineering Town Hall with Dean Roy

PARTICIPATED

Hosted the Vanderbilt Life Science Showcase event on July 19th

Hosted a table at the New Faculty Resource Fair

Hosted a visit by a patent monetization firm who is analyzing a select set of issued but unlicensed US patents using a proprietary review process to find potential commercialization partners

Hosted a visit by Analog Devices to discuss efficient processing of clinical trial agreements as to explore potential collaboration projects with Jim Weimer from the Department of Computer Science

Presented on IP Evaluation and Commercialization with Dave Kent from the Department of Otolaryngology at their annual Resident Bootcamp

Served as a judge for the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE) Master of Engineering design pitch presentation

Interviewed candidates for CTTC’s open positions for (1) Licensing Analyst, and (2) Executive Director of New Ventures

Served on a VICTR grant review panel to assist Dr. Lisa Lancaster with her SBIR application aimed at commercializing her oxygen management technology
Participated in discussions with BioTN regarding the upcoming Scipreneur challenge