From the Director: Looking back and looking ahead at the end of FY23

Posted onAuthorJessica Beach

As one fiscal year closes, and a new one begins, Todd Sherer, Associate VP for Research, Executive Director of Emory OTT, reflects on what the office has achieved and what we’re looking toward in the future. Thinking back on Fiscal Year 2023, what accomplishments stand out to you most? Three big things stand out. One is Emory’s crossing the billion-dollar threshold in sponsored research. While OTT doesn’t directly submit grants and contracts, we do help to enable research through our processing of material transfer agreements (MTAs) and data use agreements (DUAs). We also provide consultation on research grants, and contracts, Read More …

15 Good Minutes: Curtis Henry, PhD

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Can you give our readers a brief introduction to yourself? My name is Curtis James Henry. I’m an assistant professor of pediatrics here at Emory University School of Medicine. I’m also a member of the NCI-designated Winship Cancer Institute in the cancer immunology program, and a member of the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. I’m an immunologist by training: I received my PhD in 2008 from Wake Forest University, where I studied the impact of inflammation in modulating immune responses – specifically T-cell responses and trying to determine how to make better vaccines by manipulating the inflammatory environment. After Read More …

Bayh-Dole Coalition Honors Emory Professor Behind Groundbreaking HIV and Covid-19 Treatments

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

ATLANTA, GA (August 21, 2023) — Emory University Professor Dennis Liotta has been featured in the Bayh-Dole Coalition’s new “Faces of American Innovation” report for developing chemical compounds used in life-saving medicines. The Bayh-Dole Coalition is a diverse group of innovation-oriented organizations and individuals committed to celebrating and protecting the Bayh-Dole Act, as well as informing policymakers and the public of its many benefits. On September 13, Dr. Liotta and four other leading innovators will receive the inaugural Bayh-Dole Coalition American Innovator Award in Washington, D.C. “This is a wonderful honor, and I am humbled to receive it,” said Dr. Liotta. Read More …

contractConnect: Submit your agreements online

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Save time and paper: With Emory contractConnect, you can now submit your Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) or Data Transfer/Use Agreement (DUA/DTA) online! Emory personnel no longer must download, fill out, scan, and send PDFs. Instead, you can submit your MTAs and DUAs directly via the forms found on Emory contractConnect. Automatically and seamlessly upload any number of supporting documents, save your submission as a draft to come back to, and get all the signatures you need on this user-friendly portal. All questions from the previous PDF version of the questionnaires are found on the system, and records are automatically created Read More …

11 ways to get involved in entrepreneurship at Emory

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Emory University is one of the central entrepreneurial innovation hubs in the US. The school achieves this legacy through the resources it offers to its students, including classes, school-sanctioned events, and extracurricular clubs. There are so many ways for Emory student, faculty, and staff to hone their entrepreneurial spirit – start with this list. Extracurricular organizations 1. Emory Entrepreneurship and Venture Management (EEVM) The most popular entrepreneurial organization for undergrads on campus, EEVM’s mission is to assist student entrepreneurs and foster a business spirit at Emory. One of its most well-known activities is HackATL, a weekend-long business hackathon that has Read More …

“My work is for a community that looks like me:” Dr. Rasheeta Chandler on women’s health and reducing racial disparities

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Rasheeta Chandler, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN is an Emory researcher passionate about improving health outcomes for Black women and women of color. Emory OTT sat down with Dr. Chandler to chat about the disparities in health outcomes for minority communities and how her research is helping to close the health gap. What makes you passionate about your area of research? Throughout my career, I’ve always gravitated toward women’s health. My work is for a community that looks like me, my mom, my sister, my aunt, and my cousins. It’s disheartening to see staggering disparities for communities of color on Read More …

From the Director: The future of university TTOs are integrated innovation ecosystems

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Todd Sherer, PhD, is the Associate VP for Research and Executive Director of the Emory University Office of Technology Transfer. Here, Todd shares the importance of innovation ecosystems: what they are, how they influence technology transfer, and where we go from here. Thirty years ago, if you’d called the innovation ecosystem together at Washington State University – whose technology transfer office (TTO) I was working in at the time – I would have been the only person in the boardroom. Happily, this isn’t the case anymore: I recently had a meeting with at least eight different programs across the university Read More …

Multiple Myeloma in Your Marrow

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

A plasma cell, a type of white blood cell found in bone marrow, creates antibodies that fight germs and infections. But when cancerous plasma cells – called M proteins – crowd out healthy ones, it can lead to a cancer called multiple myeloma. Symptoms and complications of multiple myeloma Typically, there are few to no symptoms in the initial onset of the disease. However, signs like bone pain in the spine or chest, nausea, fatigue, frequent infections, or weakness in the legs can appear as the disease progresses. In 2023, the American Cancer Society estimated that 35,730 new cases of Read More …

A Different Kind of Translation: Biology, English, and an OTT Position

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

In the days leading up to March 13th, 2020, a date now seared in my mind as the day the world shut down, I was a high school junior in California. Blissfully unaware that it would be my last time in high school, I didn’t take note of any of the things I would come to miss so dearly – my friends’ faces and sitting in a classroom, walking through a jam-packed hallway, my daily train ride to school. In fact, in those last few days, I barely noticed any of it. I was busy. Specifically, I was slogging away Read More …

Emory scientist Khalid Salaita earns top Merck prize for viral sensing technology

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Dr. Khalid Salaita, Samuel Chandler Dobbs professor of chemistry at Emory University, is the 2023 recipient of the Merck Future Insight Prize. The prestigious award is given to a researcher whose work currently lays the foundation for a “dream product” that is important for the future survival of humanity. The 2023 topic is the pandemic early alert system, and Salaita’s work on Rolosense, a viral sensing technology, has earned him the prize – which also includes a €500,000 research award. “It’s an arms race between us and pathogens, and being able to detect any pathogen in real time is going Read More …

5 Ways to Stay Safe in the Summer Sun

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

For many, summer is arguably the best season of the year. Beach trips, no school, vacation, and, of course, the summer sun. But with long periods of direct sun exposure also comes painful sunburns and damage from UV light, a form of radiation the sun emits that damages DNA in skin cells. Not to fret! You can still enjoy all summer has to offer with a few simple tips to protect yourself. Tip #1: Wear sunscreen! The FDA recommends wearing sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or higher. Even on cloudy days, UV light can still damage your skin, so Read More …

Angel investing vs. venture capital: What’s the difference?

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

It’s no secret that you need funding to launch a start-up, and angel investing and venture capital are two of the most common sources. There are significant differences between these types of funding, and the right fit depends on both the characteristics of the inventor (you) and the terms of investments. What is an angel investor? An angel investor is someone that provides a large amount of their own money to an early-stage startup. Some angels invest independently, but often investors will join angel networks in which they pool funds to make larger investments. In exchange for this monetary support, Read More …

Emory’s Female Founders Forum promotes underrepresented innovators

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

This is the first installment of a series featuring the Female Founders Forum at Emory (F3@E). This year’s cohort members include Drs. Rasheeta Chandler, Elaine Fisher, Louise Hecker, Rebecca Levit, Cassandra Quave, Sarwish Rafiq, and Chunhui Xu. Out of the estimated $283.3 billion venture capital (VC) allocated in 2022, start-ups with all-women teams received just $4.5 billion – less than 2% of the total funding. F3@E is one step that Emory University is taking in response to this disparity. An initiative created by Deborah W. Bruner, Senior Vice President for Research, in partnership with Emory’s Office of Technology Transfer (OTT), Read More …

From the Lab to the Law: My journey to IP, from an OTT intern

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

My life journey to this point has been anything but traditional. While some might call my path “circuitous,” I would argue my experiences helped me develop a multitude of transferable skills. I decided in my last two years of my undergraduate education at Georgia State University (Go Panthers!) to pursue becoming a medical doctor. During this time, I was also interested in applying for “Teach for America” as I had a passion to be a part of educational equity in our society. I was accepted as a corps member and taught eighth grade science for four years – a  whole Read More …

The Hatchery offers space for student entrepreneurs to innovate

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

“Entrepreneurship” has become a buzzword in popular culture. Look no further than the 40% of Americans who’ve started a side hustle, or to the popular show Shark Tank, in which start-up businesses seek investors and get feedback. At Emory, the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well, and there are dozens of resources for the campus community to use – even beyond the business school. One of the largest facilitators of entrepreneurship at Emory is in The Hatchery, Center of Innovation. The Hatchery supports student innovators and entrepreneurs from all Emory schools and covers all stages of innovation, from inspiration and Read More …

15 Good Minutes: Chunhui Xu, PhD

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Chunhui Xu, PhD, is an associate professor of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine specializing in cardiogenesis — the study of the development of the embryonic heart. Researchers in her lab turn human pluripotent (immature) stem cells, or hPSCs, into cardiac muscle cells. It’s an innovation that holds hope for disease modeling, drug screening, and regenerative medicine. March 2020 marked the end of a stellar project: Cardiac cells were shown to be cultivated more efficiently in the microgravity environment of space. The experiment, devised by Emory professor Chunhui Xu, PhD, in partnership with Kevin Maher, MD, began years ago Read More …

From the Director: March-in authority to control drug prices ultimately hurts Americans

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Todd Sherer, PhD is the Associate VP for Research and Executive Director of the Emory University Office of Technology Transfer. In this article, Todd reflects on the Bayh-Dole Act and provides a lesson on march-in authority as outlined in the law. Before the bipartisan Bayh-Dole Act was passed in 1980, no federally funded drugs, vaccines, or products were commercialized and brought to market. This was because the government, not the inventing organizations, took ownership of the patent. At a time when American industrialism was threatened, the Bayh-Dole Act strengthened U.S. competitiveness. In the past, activists have tried to challenge Bayh-Dole Read More …

An Overview of PTSD

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a serious and greatly misunderstood condition. There is a high degree of stigma, controversy, and mystery attached to this condition, which is why it was only in 1980 that the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) recognized PTSD as a disorder. Although progress has been made since its recognition as a disorder, PTSD is still controversial in many spaces, and scientists and patients alike struggle with miseducation and dismantling stigma. Causes PTSD can develop in a person if they are subject to a “catastrophic stressor,” or exposure to an upsetting, traumatic event. Exposure Read More …

15 Good Minutes: Samuel Sober, PhD

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

The singing of Bengalese finches led Samuel Sober, PhD, to a breakthrough technology for understanding how the brain controls movement and the processes of sensorimotor learning. “Songbirds are the best model system for understanding how the brain controls complex vocal behavior, and one of the best systems for understanding control of motor behavior in general,” says Sober, Emory associate professor of biology. This breakthrough comes after decades in the neuroscience field. After getting his bachelor’s in neuroscience and behavior, Sober pursued a doctorate in neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco. His doctoral thesis researched human motor planning and Read More …

Chronic Kidney Disease: The Basics

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Two small, bean-shaped organs – the kidneys – have a big impact on our overall health. They filter out waste and excess fluids and help regulate our blood pressure. When our kidneys gradually stop working, it can lead to chronic kidney disease (CKD). In this article, we will discuss what CKD is, its causes, symptoms, and ways to prevent it. What is chronic kidney disease? Chronic kidney disease is a progressive condition that gradually reduces the function of the kidneys, leading to a build-up of waste and fluids in the body. When the kidneys can’t filter blood as effectively as Read More …