CU Announces January 20, 2010
8th Annual Technology Transfer Awards Gala

DENVER (Jan. 9, 2009) –  The University of Colorado Technology Transfer Office benefits both the University and the people of Colorado—for example, in the last 15 years, 83 companies have been formed based on CU technology, and of  those, 67 have operations in Colorado, five have become publicly traded companies, and 10 have been acquired by public companies. On Monday, Jan. 12 the University of Colorado Technology Transfer Office will present its annual awards to researchers working in areas ranging from cancer treatments to vascular imaging to fuel cells, and to companies and business advisors supporting innovation. Following a panel discussion among several leaders in the Colorado entrepreneurial community, awards will be given to:

Distinguished Interdepartmental Inventors – Dr. Theodore W. Randolph(Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at CU-Boulder and Co-Director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology) AND Dr. John F. Carpenter(Professor of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at UC Denver and Co-Director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology). Research collaboration generating improved techniques for stabilizing vaccines during freeze-drying and storage, of particular significance in third-world countries lacking medical storage facilities.

Inventor of the Year, CU-Boulder – Dr. Richard D. Noble (Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering). Research interests include the use of ionic liquids and zeolite membranes for gas separations, and the development of liquid crystal membranes for nano-filtration and fuel cell applications. INTERVIEW

Inventors of the Year, UC Denver – Dr. John D. Carroll (Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology) AND Dr. Shiuh-Yung (James) Chen (Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology). Research collaboration focused on improving diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in cardiac catheterization labs by developing advanced vascular imaging techniques. INTERVIEW

New Inventors of the Year (UC Denver) – Dr. Heide L. Ford (Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Joint Appointment in Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics,) AND Dr. Rui Zhao (Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics). Research examining how genes involved in normal development may later be “hijacked” in tumor formation, leading to novel methods of detecting and treating tumors. w3w3® Interview 3/23/09...

New Inventor of the Year, CU-Boulder – Dr. Hang (Hubert) Yin (Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry). Research group utilizes cutting-edge techniques to identify potential drugs to prevent and treat opoid drug dependence, as well as some cancers and cardiovascular diseases.

New Inventor of the Year, Colorado Springs – Dr. Sara Honn Qualls (Professor and Chair of Psychology). Research interests focus on family development in later life and clinical interventions; development of neurological wellness and assessment tools for elderly care management.

Business Advisor of the Year – Boulder Innovation Center, Executive Director Tim Bour. Honored for their knowledge, experience, and cooperation in launching University technology into successful businesses.

Physical Sciences/Engineering/IT Company of the Year – KM Labs, Inc is a leading manufacturer of ultra-short pulse lasers for the research market and their team includes several of the world’s most renowned experts in laser technology included the founders, Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn, both of whom are Professors and physicists at CU-Boulder. CU is also home to the highly-advanced Kapteyn/Murnane lab at JILA, one of the nation’s leading scientific institutes supporting research programs focused on the design of precision optics and atom lasers.

Bioscience Company of the Year. Taligen Therapeutics, Inc., headquartered in Cambridge, MA with research operations in Aurora, CO, is focused on the discovery and development of novel protein therapeutics that modulate the alternative pathway of the complement system to treat a wide range of inflammatory conditions and diseases. The company's lead therapeutic candidates are monoclonal antibodies and recombinant fusion proteins that target key factors in the alternative pathway, which Taligen's founders, including UC Denver Professor V. Michael Holers, M.D., have validated as an important amplification loop in the inflammation process.

Lifetime Inductee into the Pinnacles of Inventorship -- Dr. V. Michael Holers (Smyth Professor of Medicine and Head of Rheumatology, UC Denver). Dr. Holers is one of the world’s leading experts in complement biology.  His research focus is on the roles of complement receptors and membrane regulatory proteins in the immune response and has developed human and mouse models in which to study these processes with an emphasis on rheumatoid arthritis. Among his many accomplishments, Dr. Holers co-founded Taligen Therapeutics, Inc. and serves as their Chief Scientific Officer. 

About the Technology Transfer Office
The CU Technology Transfer Office pursues, protects, packages, and licenses to business the intellectual property generated from research at CU. The TTO provides assistance to faculty, staff, and students, as well as to businesses looking to license or invest in CU technology. For more information about technology transfer at CU, visit www.cu.edu/techtransfer.

About the University of Colorado
The University of Colorado is a three-campus system with four locations: the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and the University of Colorado Denver’s downtown Denver campus and Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. Nearly 54,000 undergraduate and graduate students are pursuing academic opportunities on CU campuses. CU is a premier teaching and research university, and is ranked sixth among public institutions in federal research expenditures by the National Science Foundation. Academic prestige is marked by the university’s four Nobel laureates, seven MacArthur “genius” Fellows, 18 alumni astronauts and 19 Rhodes Scholars. For more information about all of the CU campuses, go to www.cu.edu.

770_ A valuable resource for commercializing
Kate Tallman, Director of Tech Transfer for CU Boulder and Tim Bour, Executive Director, Boulder Innovation Center discussed commercialization of innovative ideas and inventions as well as support offered entrepreneurs. Kate introduced him, "Tim's been with the Boulder Innovation Center for a little over 3 years, and he has built the program from one focus mainly on software and organics and natural into one that now works with all kinds and sectors of technology including clean tech and the biosciences space. So the BIC has become a valuable resource for commercializing university technology. Can you give us some background on what the BIC is?" Time replied, "First of all, most traditionally, people think of the BIC as an incubator, but with some important differences. We're structured as a nonprofit, as a 501c6 nonprofit. We don't have any incubator space, we don't take any equity in our clients and we don't charge any success fees. This is different than many incubators you'd find around the country. But we find that it's really dealt well in terms of working with universities and it also does well in terms of growing jobs in the community, and that's one of our key outcomes. We currently have six market segments; we work in the area of clean tech which includes bio fuels, solar, software, building materials, anything that has a reduction in energy and efficiency in energy. Currently we have 750 advisors in our network and they're pretty evenly divided in those six segments. We currently have 35 outside clients and we work with between 70 and 100 companies a year that become BIC clients. Now of those 35, today right now, 24 of the 35 are based on CU research." Listen for more entrepreneurial support systems...
Related Links: Boulder Innovation Center || Tech Tranfer Channel || CU Technology Transfer Office || CU TTO News || Keywords: Tim Bour, Kate Tallman, Boulder Innovation Center, CU TTO, Tech Transfer, Commercializing, Clean Tech, BioScience, Engineering, IT, Natural, Organic, Space. Channel: CU TTO 8969899 bytes 1/11/10 LISTEN to Tim Bour & Kate Tallman

759_ In order to do that he had to give up his tenure
David Allen, Associate Vice President for Technology Transfer at the University of Colorado is featured in the Profile of a Leader Series here on w3w3® Media Network. Before they got into the Leader Profile, Larry asked for David's forecast for the coming year. David said, "It's going to be a tough year. The economic horizon is looking a little brighter than it has for the last 12 months or so, but we're not seeing any financing, very little activity in M&A at our level; We see some of the ice starting to crack and hopefully melt; But for new companies and new ventures, which is our bread and butter, there's very little. I'm an eternal optimist and I know it's going to get better. For years we've known we would be in a revenue trough (we talked about this on your show before). We planned for that, we're going to be able to make it through that." David has a very interesting background and Larry had many questions including, "Who influenced you the most, he said his parents more than anyone else. But he thought about Elinor Ostrom who has won the Nobel Prize for Economics this year. She was David's advisor when working on his PhD at Indiana University. She is an absolutely wonderful person. What I learned from her was a sense of patience, to challenge yourself and surround yourself with bright intelligent people. I am immensely pleased to see her win, the first woman to ever have done that." Larry asked, "Can you imagine a failure you couldn't overcome, you had to live with?" David was a professor at Penn State, he had an opportunity to go to the Business School - in order to do that he had to give up his tenure. Tenure is hard earned, a torturous process and he was turning his back on it. His friends and colleagues thought he was insane...there are many leadership suggestions...listen for more...
Related Links: CU TTO Home || CU TTO Channel || Available Technologies || CU TTO Blog || Profile of a Leader || Keywords: David Allen, Technology Transfer, University of Colorado, Profile of a Leader, Elinor Ostrom, Nobel Prize for Economics > Channel: Profiles
Bytes: 13415939 - 12/21/09 LISTEN to Dave Allen

765_ Here there are service providers and funding sources
This is part 2 of 2 of a Profile of a Leader interview with David Allen, Associate Vice President for Technology Transfer at the University of Colorado
The turning point in Dave's career was coming to Colorado. The thing that continually amazes Dave is the nature of the business community here in Colorado compared to where he was in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Dave continued, "Here the entrepreneurial climate, the DNA of the community, whatever you want to call it, it's not a difference in degree, it's a difference in kind. Here there are service providers and funding sources, but more than anything else there are people who understand it - that's different than most other places. They are willing to put in the time to support to younger people (TechStars), or what we do at the Boulder Innovation Center." Dave describes much more and he also gives some great advice to young people, "Constantly put yourself in situations where you are surrounded by smart people and figure out ways you can provide value, be prepared for those interactions, it can relate to school, your business community, friends, but challenge yourself." Listen, there's more...
Related Links: CU TTO Home || CU TTO Channel || Available Technologies || CU TTO Blog || Boulder Innovation Center || TechStars || Keywords: David Allen, Technology Transfer, University of Colorado, Profile of a Leader, Boulder Innovation Center, TechStars, Entrepreneurs Channel: Profiles 14638810 bytes - 1/4/10
LISTEN to Dave Allen, Associate Vice President, CU TTO

Table of Contents 2009 (TOC)
David Allen, CU Associate Vice President for Technology Transfer.
Dr. Stein Sture, Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of the Graduate School, Boulder
Dr. Richard Traystman, Vice Chancellor for Research, Professor in Pharmacology, UCDHSC
HB1001 Economic Development Stimulated
More Interviews from 2008

University of Colorado's Office of Technology Transfer Mission Statement
The mission of the CU Technology Transfer Office is to aggressively pursue, protect, package, and license to business the intellectual property generated from the research enterprise and to serve faculty, staff, and students seeking to create such intellectual property. Contact us by phone (303) 735-3711 or by
Email: techtransfer@cu.edu - http://www.cu.edu/techtransfer