 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
April 15, 2008
Presenters at the Invention to Venture Conference have provided the following downloadable PowerPoint presentations for the use of attendees:
8:30 - Welcome/NCIIA (Phil Weilerstein)
10:00 - UVM Ventures (Todd Keiller)
10:15 - Legal Issues
11:15 - Academia/Industry Collaboration (J. Tobey Clark)
1:45 - Starting a Tech Business (Jay Ziskrout)
2:45 - Building a Team/Implementing a Business Plan
3:30 - Finding the Money
VERMONT SOY PROFILED IN BOSTON GLOBE
April 2, 2008
A new Hardwick-based soy products company is profiled in the April 2, 2008 issue of the Boston Globe.Ideas for researching the viability of soybean agriculture in Vermont were developed by Dr. Ming Ruo Guo of the UVM Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences. A UVM Agricultural Innovations grant provided startup funding.
UVM INNOVATIONS WEBSITE TO FEATURE MULTIMEDIA
May, 2005
Video clips and short multimedia presentations will demonstrate the uses and benefits of UVM techologies available for licensing. The website's "A/V showcase" page can be reached through a link in the "technologies" submenu, and a link to each clip will be included next to the invention description.
Look for the first video clips to debut here in the summer of 2005.
FDA APPROVES NHL CHEMOTHERAPY AGENT FOR EXPEDITED STATUS
March, 2004
Pixantrone, a chemotherapy agent for Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma developed by UVM Chemistry Department researcher Paul Krapcho and former UVM researcher Miles Hacker, has been approved by the FDA for a pivotal trial. Licensed to Cell Therapeutics, Inc., a Seattle biopharmaceutical firm specializing in oncology products, Pixantrone has shown encouraging results in phase I/II trials with relapsed, aggressive NHL patients.
TECH TRANSFER ACTIVITY INCREASES DRAMATICALLY AT UVM
March, 2003
A review of the current fiscal year reveals encouraging trends in UVM’s tech transfer activity. Disclosures, patents, and licenses have reached new milestones at the university.
• Due in part to a new, proactive approach, OTT has already received sixteen disclosures for this fiscal year. This compares favorably with fourteen disclosures for all of last year.
• Since its inception, UVM has issued a total of fifty-five patents. Twenty-two of these were issued in just the past three years.
• We currently have twenty-one active licenses, four of which were signed in the current fiscal year. Licensing in recent months has been particularly active, with five new licenses currently in the final stages of execution and completion expected by May, 2003.
ACUPUNCTURE RESEARCH APPEARS IN NEWSWEEK
Release Date: 11-26-2002
Contact: Jennifer Nachbur, Jennifer.Nachbur@uvm.edu
Phone: (802)656-7875 Fax: 802-656-3203
Last fall, Dr. Helene Langevin, research assistant professor of neurology, reported in the Journal of Applied Physiology that the body's connective tissue appeared to be involved in the needle grasp response associated with acupuncture work. Langevin and her research team, supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health, now will be able to look one level deeper into the tissue's cells — and the genes within those cells — that respond when an acupuncture needle is inserted into the skin. Her research team will collaborate with the Laboratory of Human Genetics and Integrative Medicine at the National Institute on Aging.
"Our next step is to find out how the cells in connective tissue are responding to acupuncture needling," Langevin said. "We want to know what genes are getting activated as a result and what kind of impact their action has on the body."
Langevin's research findings and rigorous methodology have attracted a lot of attention from both alternative medicine supporters, national media and — most importantly — from the government agency that provides her funding. Her recent five-year, $1.8 million grant from the NIH's Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine is more than triple the original funding she received in 1999. The Dec. 2 issue of Newsweek features Langevin's research in an article titled "Learning from China." Last May, Massage magazine ran a six-page article on her study.
To accomplish their latest task, Langevin and colleagues in the departments of neurology, orthopaedics, pathology and biostatistics will be looking at connective tissue in both animals and humans. As they ramp up to begin the next phase of their study, the team will be developing new technologies to assist them in obtaining information, including something similar to the one-of-a-kind device developed for inserting, manipulating and removing the acupuncture needle Langevin used in her first study, in the General Clinical Research Center. Most of the new study's human subject testing will take place in the operating room at Fletcher Allen's Medical Center Campus. Langevin expects they will begin recruiting study participants sometime in January.
A new article on the relationship between acupuncture meridians – the interconnected energy channels of the body mapped out in ancient Chinese texts –- and connective tissue planes is featured in the journal The Anatomical Record/The New Anatomist.
To read The Anatomical Record/The New Anatomist article, go to: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/101521787/START
To read the Newsweek article, go to: http://www.msnbc.com/news/839161.asp.
AWARDS AND HONORS: DR. DAVID KRAG
Release Date:05-22-2002
Contact: Todd Keiller, Todd.Keiller@uvm.edu
Phone: (508) 497-2497, FAX: (508) 497-0733
Dr. David Krag, S.D. Ireland Professor of Surgery, has been awarded a two-year, $243,000 grant from the Charleston (W.V.) Area Medical Center Foundation to perform a collaborative study that will evaluate the detection of cancer cells in the peripheral (circulating) blood and bone marrow of breast cancer patients. The project is based on preliminary data that indicated that a surprisingly high percentage of patients have circulating tumor cells in the peripheral blood prior to removal of the primary tumor. The funds will support an expansion of this project to both UVM and the Charleston Area Medical Center.
NEW TREATMENTS FOR CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE
Release Date: 01-15-2002
Contact: Jennifer Nachbur, Jennifer.Nachbur@uvm.edu
Phone: (802) 656-7875, FAX: 802-656-3203
Two new national clinical trials will make drug-coated stents -- experimental treatment alternatives for patients at risk for restenosis or re-narrowing of an artery -- available to coronary artery disease patients in the Vermont region. The University Invasive Cardiology Group -- made up of interventional cardiologists at the University of Vermont and Fletcher Allen Health Care -- is coordinating the study locally.
According to the American Heart Association, stent procedures represent 70 to 90 percent of cardiac procedures. A stent -- a tiny piece of stainless steel shaped like a coil or spring - is often placed in order to open up a blocked artery in the heart. To place a coronary artery stent, a doctor threads a tiny balloon catheter carrying a collapsed stent through an artery in the leg and - once it reaches the location of the blockage -- inflates the balloon. This expands the stent and locks it in place to ensure the artery stays open and normal blood flow resumes. However, 25 percent of patients -- particularly diabetics -- experience repeat blockages within nine months of having a stent placed.
What makes these experimental stents different is their coating, which includes either chemotherapy agents or antibiotics. These drugs are believed to prevent the growth of scar tissue that sometimes develops as the body tries to "heal" the area surrounding the stent. Though no findings from drug-coated stent trials have been reported yet in the United States, clinical studies in Europe have shown promising results.
The UVM/Fletcher Allen site is the first site in New England to launch a new chemotherapy drug-coated stent trial. Each of the two trials aims to enroll 1,000 patients across the country at a total of approximately 70 sites.
"We're very excited to be able to take a leadership role in one of the most promising new developments in cardiology," said Harold Dauerman, M.D., associate professor of medicine and director of Fletcher Allen's Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory. Dauerman is the local lead investigator of the first stent trial.
"In addition to our excitement about being able to provide access to drug-coated stents in New England, we are pleased that these two trials will allow us to evaluate both the potential benefit for patients receiving new stents, as well as patients who have had stents placed, but experienced repeat blockages," said Matthew Watkins, M.D., associate professor of medicine, director of interventional cardiology at Fletcher Allen, and local lead investigator of the second of the two stent trials.
Fletcher Allen has a high volume of patients who receive angioplasty or stent-placement treatments for blocked arteries -- approximately 1,500 each year. The University Invasive Cardiology group is involved in several other clinical research studies in such areas as therapeutic angiogenesis -- the growth of new blood vessels for the treatment of coronary artery disease; treatments for diabetics with coronary artery disease; new therapies for bypass grafts with blockages; and new drug treatments for the prevention of blood clotting and complications during stent placement.
Each trial has specific eligibility requirements. To inquire about participating in a clinical trial, contact Michaelanne Rowan, R.N., or Faye Borden, R.N., research coordinators, at (802) 847-4746.
____________
UVM Innovations
University of Vermont, Office of Technology Transfer (OTT)
Todd.Keiller@UVM.edu
Available Technologies
New/Featured Technologies A/V Showcase Biomedical/Health Sciences
Agriculture/Life Sciences Engineering
About OTT
News FAQ Success Stories Staff/Contact Info
Working with OTT Corporate Registry
Licensing Services
How to License UVM Technologies Sample Forms and Agreements
_______________
