Category: News

Our Distance Learning Division has two high-value audioconferences scheduled back-to-back on November 11 and November 12, and is offering a $100 discount until the end of the month for those wishing to hear both presentations. Home Run Strategies: Finding, Nurturing, and Securing Maximum Revenues from Disruptive University Technologies (click here for details), featuring Dr. Rainer Iraschko, Vice President of Research for TRLabs, will be held Wednesday the 11th, and Shifting Your TTO from Market Push to Market Pull: Finding the White Space (click here for details), featuring Lina Ramos, president of Emerging Growth Enterprise, is scheduled for Thursday the 12th. Both occur from 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EST, or can be accessed at any time after the live event on MP3 or digital CD. The cost is $197 for each session (with unlimited attendance), and purchasers of both events save $100. CLICK HERE to take advantage of the combination offer.

Coming in December:

• Tech Transfer Partnerships: Establishing Effective Legal and Operational Structures for Long-Term Success, December 8th
• Post-License Monitoring and Support: Performance and Revenue Enhancement Strategies (And When All Else Fails, How to Pull the Plug and Take Back Your IP!), December 16th

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have invented a TeraHertz-ray, or T-ray, laser that uses nanostructures based on semiconductors with special properties. The new device will provide 400 times higher gain than THz quantum cascade lasers — the only functional T-ray technology — allowing practical use of T-ray-based cameras and spectrometers for security and medical imaging. T-rays are electromagnetic waves with a shorter wavelength than microwaves but longer than infrared. They’re attractive for imaging applications because they can penetrate substances ranging from clothing to walls, they are harmless, and they can detect various chemicals — especially explosives. Despite these advantages, T-rays are rarely used due to the scarcity of T-ray emitters that are capable of generating powerful, coherent, and adjustable TeraHertz waves. The Hebrew U invention overcomes these limitations, says Yaacov Michlin, CEO of Yissum Research Development Company, the university’s TTO.

In another development, Yissum also signed a long-term multi-project research and license collaboration with pharmaceutical giant Roche of Basel, Switzerland. According to the agreement, Roche has selected six promising research projects in the fields of stem cells, biomarkers, and novel molecules for the treatment of metabolic diseases. Each collaborative research project is one to three years in duration. Roche will have exclusive license to commercialize the results in return for the payment of transfer fees, milestone payments, and royalties. The projects include a new pathway and strategies to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity; technologies to minimize the risk of tumor development and decrease the risk of immunogenic rejection when using stem cells to treat human disease; technologies to convert embryonic and induced stem cells into liver cells; identification of new biomarkers for progressive stages of vascular complications, such as ischemic heart disease; new methods to differentiate stem cells into beta cell lineages for organ transplants using proprietary scaffolds; and the use of cannabinoids to treat type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Sources: Reuters and PharmaLive

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has licensed a technology for analyzing automotive engine oil to Da Vinci Emissions Services Ltd., a San Antonio, TX, firm that specializes in a suite of combustion engine lubrication and emissions testing services and equipment. UT-Battelle, which manages ORNL for the U.S. Department of Energy, facilitated the agreement. Researchers James E. Parks and William P. Partridge of the Fuels, Engines, and Emissions Research Group in ORNL’s Energy and Transportation Science Division developed the licensed invention, known as “Laser-Induced Fluorescence Fiber Optic Probe Measurement of Oil Dilution by Fuel.”

The oil-dilution diagnostic device uses fluorescence spectroscopy to determine the amount of fuel dilution in engine oil. This condition can occur as fuel-efficient engines are operated in advanced combustion modes to meet lower emissions regulations. Fuel dilution thins the oil, lowers the lubricating ability, and can lead to higher engine wear, increased oil consumption, and engine failure. Fuel dilution also is associated with modern diesel particulate filters, injection systems, and use of biodiesel fuels. The ORNL-developed fluorescence measurement system provides real-time feedback on the fuel level in oil so engineers can develop fuel-efficient and low-emission engine calibrations to prevent oil dilution. ORNL’s technique is faster, cheaper, and capable of detecting fuel contamination in lower amounts than other methods. Conventional techniques require sampling and sending the oil to an analytical lab, resulting in delays of up to two days to produce results.

Source: The Oak Ridger

Researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, have created the spinout company Ohmedics, Ltd., to commercialize their wound management product. The wound monitor allows doctors and nurses to check whether a wound is moist — the optimum condition for healing — without removing the dressing. The technology uses a tiny, disposable sensor attached to the gauze of a dressing. A handheld meter attached to the sensor displays whether the dressing is moist and can be left alone or is too wet or dry. The technology can be used in hospitals and outpatient settings and adapted to any kind of chronic or acute wound. The technology reduces pain and skin trauma to the patient, limits opportunities for infection, and saves staff time by eliminating unnecessary dressing changes. “With chronic leg ulcers alone affecting 10 out of every 1,000 adults in the Western world at some time in their lives, the need for effective wound care is clear,” says Trish Connolly, professor in the university’s Institute of Medical Devices and CEO of Ohmedics, which was launched following a successful clinical trial in Glasgow. The company plans to begin producing the wound monitor this fall.

Sources: medtechinsider and Science Busines

Part of managing your online reputation involves your strategy for handling the negative commentary that you acquire. If you write articles on the Internet, use Facebook, Twitter, or other social media outlets, or simply have a prodcut that people talk about, there is a very good chance you will encounter comments somewhere on the web that are less than favorable.

That’s just the nature of the game. Some people choose to go on the defensive and immediately get caught up in a so-called "flame war." Others just ignore them. You may do a mixture of the two. The right call really depends on the nature of the comment and its potential impact on your brand or product.

Negative commentary has been discussed throughout the industry a lot lately. It was a common theme at the recent BlogWorld Expo. Rebecca Kelley, Director of Social Media for 10e20, has written a humorous post on the subject for Jeremy Schoemaker’s ShoeMoney blog.

"The fact of the matter is that the Internet is like a great big public bathroom stall," she says.  "Sometimes it’s clean, unassuming and well-stocked with supplies, but most of the time there’s piss on the floor, a deuce in the toilet, no toilet paper, and various atrocities scrawled onto the walls."

"Some people avoid them at all costs, electing to hold it until they get home," she adds. "Others put up with them, going in and out to do their business and not letting it affect their day-to-day lives."

Clearly Kelley looks upon the subject with a good deal of amusement. She’s not alone. Have you heard of The Bloggess? She’s a popular blogger and shares this sentiment:

I think it’s safe to say that both of these women have been pretty successful on the Internet, so it may be worth paying attention to the fact that they do not take negative commentary too seriously.

There’s no question that online reputation management is an important aspect of online marketing and keeping a favorable reputation to facilitate future business. That said, it’s generally not worth getting too worked up over somebody’s name calling or differing points of view. Sometimes you just have to choose your battles. Worry about the ones that have the greatest chance of damaging your brand.

Related Articles: 

> Baby Food Recall Shows Reputation Management Done Right

> Killing Bad Search Results with Reputation Management

> Fighting a Bad Online Reputation & Keeping a Good One

China, of course, is famous for massive censorship of the internet. Google, on the other hand, is well known for fighting censorship in many cases. Even in China, where it was required to block some searches, Google tried to take as permissive an approach as possible, even letting users know when a site was being blocked (yes, this was quite controversial, but the company did more than many other search engines). So, it does seem a bit surprising to see a headline claiming that China is accusing Google of censorship. Isn’t that backwards?

It isn’t “China” so much as it’s the Chinese Communist Party’s main newspaper (so, basically, the paper of record from the government) claiming that Google is not finding a report it put out suggesting that Google’s book searching project might violate Chinese authors’ copyrights. Of course, that claim is a bit amusing as well, given China’s general attitude towards copyright over the last couple of decades… but that’s another story.

Google claims that it did no censorship at all, and that there was an automated block put on the site via its StopBadware service, which makes sense. Google has long used StopBadware to try to protect users from malware sites, and the service does sometimes make errors. While it seems unlikely that Google would purposely block the report, that doesn’t make it any less strange for a Chinese government publication to accuse Google of censorship. Given the government’s happy embrace of censorship, how does it have any sort of moral claim here?

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Dr Alan I. Leshner, Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Executive Publisher of the Journal Science, is giving the inaugural JRC Annual Lecture this evening in Brussels.

The title of the lecture is "Europe and the United States, a crucial moment for science cooperation". European Commissioner for Science & Research, Janez Potočnik and JRC Director-General Roland Schenkel are also speaking at the event, which marks the 50^th anniversary of the opening of the European Commission’s first research site in Ispra (Italy) and today’s signature of a Memorandum of Understanding between the JRC and AAAS.

Download the JRC News Release

Faculty members with novel ideas for inventions or companies are busy people with packed schedules. So as technology transfer professionals plan faculty outreach efforts, talking a decidedly informal approach — rather than attempting to cajole researchers into scheduled meetings — may improve your results. Several universities have reported successful outcomes with Entrepreneur Office Hours, designed to allow faculty to drop by the TTO for advice, to brainstorm business strategies, check out funding opportunities, and learn about commercialization resources available. “Some tech transfer people may think they can sit in their offices, disclosures will roll in and the checks will roll in. But it’s not that easy. It’s much more of a contact sport,” says Brian Darmody, associate vice president of research and economic development at the University of Maryland (UM). UM’s office hours program has been evolving and growing for five years, and now has specific results to prove the program’s value. Gayatri Varma, PhD, executive director of UM’s Office of Technology Commercialization, traces the launch of three companies directly to the Entrepreneur Office Hours program. “Life sciences here wasn’t very entrepreneurial,” Varma says. “But after the office hours program got started, we had three companies come out of life sciences — and that hadn’t happened before.”

Columbia University is running a similar program that started just six months ago. “We formalized Entrepreneur Office Hours as part of our efforts to continue to cultivate a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem at Columbia University,” says David B. Lerner, director of CTV Venture Lab, the venture arm of Columbia Technology Ventures that assists faculty and students in start-up formation. A detailed article on the office hours programs appears in the October issue of Technology Transfer Tactics. For subscription information, CLICK HERE.

TAXIS Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Rutgers University, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) have signed an exclusive license for worldwide rights to develop and commercialize antimicrobial technology that addresses multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial infections. The rise in the number of MDR bacterial pathogens in recent years has dramatically reduced the utility of the current arsenal of antibiotics. In particular, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) have emerged as major threats to global public health. TAXIS is currently identifying and validating lead drug candidates that target MRSA and VRE with formulations the company says are superior to existing standards of care. Current efforts are focusing on developing the azachryseniums (AZCs) as a class of bactericidal agents to effectively treat infections caused by MDR pathogens. “The compounds under investigation have great potential to treat a broad-spectrum of emerging, drug-resistant pathogens that represent large and growing public health and biodefense threats,” says Gregory Mario, CEO of TAXIS. “We are excited to develop these further and move them closer to the clinic.” The antimicrobial technology was developed by Daniel S. Pilch, professor in the department of pharmacology at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Edmond J. LaVoie, professor in the department of medicinal chemistry at Rutgers’ Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. In March, the two scientists joined with Mario to form TAXIS.

Source: Bio-Medicine

The developer of breakthrough technology using the first fully programmable magnetic strip expects the innovation to enable the next-generation of credit and debit cards, providing added security for consumers while protecting retailers and financial institutions from fraud-related losses. The technology was invented by Dynamics, Inc., a Pittsburgh-based company founded in 2007 by CEO Jeff Mullen while attending the MBA program at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. In September, Dynamics secured $5.7 million in Series A funding led by Adams Capital Management, completing a big step toward commercialization of its technology. “Dynamics’ success is reflective of how an interdisciplinary-academic approach coupled with experiential learning is a recipe for successfully incubating entrepreneurial ventures,” says Art Boni, executive director of the Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship at the Tepper School of Business.

Dynamics developed the first prototype of its payment card technology while a tenant of Project Olympus, an initiative of Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science. Project Olympus provides incubator space, start-up advice, and micro-grants to faculty and students across campus. The core of the program is a proof-of-concept Innovation Lab, where students, graduates, faculty, and on- and off-campus partners explore the commercial potential of innovations developed at the university. Mullen and his team presented the concept for Dynamics at one of the Project’s “Show and Tell” programs, in which students and faculty present their ideas directly to regional investment and business leaders. By winning several international business plan competitions, Dynamics subsequently netted roughly $400,000. Mullen holds more than 90 patents pending or issued and received his undergraduate degree in electrical and computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon. He “leveraged the strengths of several schools and disciplines at the university” to develop, test, and refine Dynamics’ business strategy, according to Boni. “We had to solve many technical challenges, such as the compatibility of our product with the more than 60 million current point-of-sale magnetic readers,” Mullen adds. But “gaining traction in the marketplace and attracting top executives into the company takes a different skill set.”

Source: Reuters

The University of Florida, Cornell University, and a handful of other schools have received $12.2 million to build a social network for scientists and researchers. The goal of the project is to make it easier to find research and like-minded researchers in an effort to speed new discoveries. The project, funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, will initially take the form of networks within each of the seven founding schools, which include Indiana University, Weill Cornell Medical College, Washington University in St. Louis, the Scripps Research Institute, and the Ponce School of Medicine in Puerto Rico. The network could expand across the country within two years and eventually go worldwide, developers say. “The goal of the program is national networking of all scientists,” according to Michael Conlon, interim director of biomedical informatics for the University of Florida. “We often find that researchers have pretty good networks with students or with scientists at institutions where they received their degree or worked before. But they don’t always know people even at their own institutions.”

Technologies used to support the effort will include VIVO, an open source discovery tool developed at Cornell to search for research information across disciplines, departments, and colleges. The network also will exploit concepts of the Semantic Web, the vision of web developer Tim Berners-Lee that provides a common framework for more useful data sharing across applications, enterprises, and communities. The effort is not the first seeking to connect scientists. A commercial venture, Epernicus, is seeking to link life sciences researchers within companies and, eventually, across organizations.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

UF Tech Connect, a program of the Office of Technology Licensing at the University of Florida in Gainesville, has received the Award of Excellence in Technology Commercialization from the University Economic Development Association. The award recognizes the center’s role in creating high-tech companies, jobs, and private investments in Florida. During its 2008 fiscal year, UF Tech Connect helped client companies generate more than $86.9 million in private investments and create more than 77 jobs. The UF Tech Connect program brings together UF faculty, entrepreneurs, and investors, explains Jane Muir, director of the center. The center also develops new programs and sponsors events that foster new business creation. “The UF Tech Connect program plays an important role in helping to commercialize university discoveries by helping create technology-based start-up companies,” says Win Phillips, UF vice president for research.

Source: University of Florida News

National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in Taiwan has signed a joint venture agreement with privately owned Taiwan Nitride Material, Inc., for the production of aluminum nitride (AlN). Both parties agreed to invest NT$30 million (US$932,000) for research and development of AlN, a semiconductor material widely used for heat radiation and insulation in microelectronics and optoelectronics. NCKU will realize an 18% share from transferring the production technique and expects to generate at least NT$100 million (US$3.1 million) in revenues from development of the technology over the next 10 years. Taiwan Nitride Material plans to apply AlN to the problem of heat dissipation, which is often encountered in LED devices and the main cause of failure, especially in lighting and large-screen TVs. Other applications of AlN include optoelectronics, dielectric layers in optical storage media, electronic substrates, and chip carriers that require high thermal conductivity. The technology also is suited to military applications and to steel and semiconductor manufacturing. The agreement is designed to foster continued partnership between the university and company as development continues.

Source: Reuters

Technology Transfer Tactics has an online job listings service for professionals and employers serving the research commercialization marketplace. If you are looking for a job in tech transfer, or looking to fill a tech transfer position, you won’t find a more targeted resource. Job seekers may view available positions without charge, and employers pay only a nominal fee to reach our select group of tech transfer customers. Plus, paid subscribers to Technology Transfer Tactics are eligible for a two-week listing free! Visited by 4,000 individuals every week, our site is firmly entrenched in the research commercialization marketplace. Take advantage of this new opportunity to reach the largest, most targeted universe of tech transfer professionals available.

Standard listings are only $150 per month, and featured listings — with top placement and a bright yellow background — are $250. Subscribers receive a standard listing for two weeks with no charge. For complete information on how to get your organization’s job listings posted, call Sara Henderson at (877) 729-0959, ext. 105 or CLICK HERE. To view the current job openings, CLICK HERE.

The Texas A&M University System (TAMUS) has inked an exclusive license with Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT), of Lancaster, PA for Momentum-driven Vortex Phase Separator (MDVPS) technology. The Interphase Transport Phenomena Group of the Space Engineering Research Center (SERC) at TAMUS’ Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) developed the technology. ACT specializes in advanced thermal technology development and custom thermal product manufacturing, including the design and development of heat pipes, pumped liquid and two-phase loops, and thermal storage devices for aerospace, military, commercial, and government R&D customers. The company plans to apply the TAMUS technology to design systems with higher heat transport and lower overall system size for applications such as air conditioning, humidity control, purification, and vapor compression. The addition of MDVPS technology expands ACT’s portfolio of two-phase technology, which uses evaporation and condensation to absorb and reject heat, allowing for direct contact heat and mass transfer. The technology has performed well in all orientations and under microgravity conditions, suggesting suitability both for aerospace and ground applications.

Source: PR-Canada

Oh noes! I have like five or six of these recalled surge protectors around my house. Plus I sold countless numbers of them over the pricy Monster Cable models during my days at Circuit City. Maybe I was somewhat responsible for one of the fires that spurred the recall…oh no…

Apparently something with the rotating plug molding and housing can cause fires. The recall covers 68,700 surge protectors sold between September 2003 and December 2007. The model numbers within the recall are F9G930-10, F9G930v10, F9G930-10-W and F9G930-10-SN. If you happen to own one of these, visit this website for more info. And if I sold you one, I’m really sorry. I guess I should have drank the Kool-Aid and pushed a $100 Monster Cable surge protector instead. [via Slashgear]