Lab2Market Initiative - Six Technologies of 2005-2006

Oregon’s Lab2Market Initiative - National Science Foundation

(B) Primary Next Steps
* Submit 'traditional' NIH grant rewrite by July 1 deadline.
* Initial feedback from NIH about STTR funding extremely encouraging.
* Pursue partnership with the Institute for One World Health.
* Continue to our research program at PSU that underpins this project/company.
* Move the technology to the next set of diseases, beginning with microbial diseases which have acquired resistance to current drugs.
* Submit a second STTR application to NIH at the August 1 deadline for antimalarial work.

(2) PSU Prof. Shalini Prasad: biochemical sensors

(A) Key Milestones
* Identified the technology most suitable for early commercialization
* Patent application filed, obtained the provisional patent
*Two companies in the Bay Area have demonstrated interest
* Working on statement of work with one of them

(B) Primary Next Steps
* Complete statement of work with the Bay Area company
* Start phase 1 work with the Bay Area company
* Complete validation tests with existing technology standards

(3) OSU Profs. Chih-hung Chang and Brian Paul: nanofabrication of dendrimers

(A) Key Milestones
* 2nd generation dendrimer has been demonstrated in our labs
* Also making nanoparticles and quantum dots in our labs
* 2nd round patent filing imminent
* Met with multiple entrepreneurs in search for business manager

(B) Primary Next Steps
* Demonstrate massively paralleled separations technology
* Find a business partner to connect us to the specialty chemical marketplace
* File 2nd round patent

(4) University of Portland Prof. Sister Angela Hoffman: Taxol extraction from soil

(A) Key Milestones
* We have determined that it takes about 5-6 months for significant amounts of Taxol to be released into the soil from yew trees.
* The soil patent will issue within the next 4 months.
* We have shown that our soil Taxol extracts do not contain any
bacterial toxins.
* We have found that isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol is actually more efficient than methanol for extracting Taxol.
* We will begin our summer experiments by the end of this week. Equipment has been fabricated of rentals have been located. I found a source of recycled alcohol that is much less expensive than new.
* We have written protocols and safety regulations for the work site that Weyerhaeuser finds acceptable.

(B) Primary Next Steps
* At least one undergraduate and one high school students will extract at least 2-3 cement mixer loads of soil weekly throughout the summer.
* The alcohol will be evaporated and recycled. Crude extracts will be purified using HPLC.
* By the end of the summer, we will calculate all expenses and yields to determine whether the process is cost-effective. When this information is available, we will have our "last" mentor meeting.

(5) CTO Philipp Kirsch, IPM Development Company: the "FAST-ID" of harmful insects

(A) Key Milestones
* Mentors focused attention on determining the most critical steps in commercializing the FAST-ID technology: 1. Design specifications for the pre-commercial prototype, 2. Selecting the best launch market.
* Lab2Market delivered a 'conjoined' MBA team (2 teams put together) that focused on the overall FAST-ID technology business opportunity in Phase I. In Phase II, the team zeroed in to deliver a detailed market/opportunity analysis for FAST-ID as an automated sensor in greenhouse vegetable and ornamental production systems. Very nice 50+ page report as the final product.
* Mentors focused some analysis on corporate/legal issues and IPMDC is now much tighter (structure, alliances, IP agreements, etc.).
* In January, IPMDC successfully demonstrated that the FAST-ID system could 'hear' wild, free-flying mosquitoes flying through the eaves in or out of an African village hut on the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya. A world first in unattended insect activity recording. Also, an opportunity to build a much bigger network of contacts in the African and global public health community.
* Since January 2006, IPMDC's research and development activities have been awarded just over $2 million in federal grant funding for five new grants (1 NSF for FAST-ID; 2 NIH, 2 USDA, to work on other "insectcentric" technologies, not overlapping with the FAST-ID system).
* The new NSF grant award ($680K) funds IPMDC's FAST-ID technology development in consortium with OHSU-OGI and University of Guam that will focus on software and hardware design of the next prototype system.
* IPMDC has filed two provisional patents in the past 7 months. The FAST-ID patent was filed in September 2005.
* The mentor team brought much needed direction to IPMDC's operations, with seasoned, helpful guidance and well-rounded insight into the many issues that we face. Also good contacts as different questions arose.
* The Lab2Market program strongly encouraged (forced) to give attention to the business of entrepreneurship/innovation, and discipline to simply careening from one opportunity to the next.
* The mentor team met monthly with IPMDC. Mentors also gave very useful input to the MBA project team.

(B) Primary Next Steps
* Reconvene the mentor team for 2-3 more roundtable discussions with a focus on identifying critical issues and discussing the next steps of product, market and corporate development.
* The new NSF grant is set to start on July 1 2006. IPMDC will start building a reference library of insect wingbeat signatures from diverse biota. This grant has a biodiversity, environmental monitoring focus. OHSU/OGI will start building a prototype of the next generation system, and working on signal analysis.
* Identify a commercial greenhouse partner in the Willamette Valley and install an experimental system for testing (the MBA team provided several contacts). Run the system and work out the bugs.
* Complete corporate organization, and identify and recruit a seasoned business manager to build the commercial counterpart to the R&D thinktank.
* Implement and follow through on the research activities proposed in the newly funded grant proposals: Work the research plan!
* Write and submit several new grant proposals to the NIH August 1, and USDA September 1 cycles.
* AND....try to get some manuscripts written and submitted to scientific journals documenting FAST-ID and other research results.......try to find some time to go hiking and backpacking with the family, and finish the fence around the yard that was started too long ago.

(6) Jon Hofmeister, Perpetua: power generation for wireless sensors

(A) Key Milestones

* 3 signed beta commitments
* Leased production space in Corvallis
* Entered into bridge production contract
* Added 2 new members to the core team (with 30 and 29 years of experience, respectively)
* Just getting going on fundraising

(B) Primary Next Steps
* Fundraising
* Corvallis production
* Intellectual Property expansion

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0438736.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.