Category: Misc.

Odds & ends

Remaining in research, outside the lab: OTT intern reflects on her journey into tech transfer

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

When I began my PhD in Biomedical Science, I always envisioned myself making new discoveries and making the world a better place. I committed myself to research and I wanted to be a leader in the field.  My doctoral research enhanced my interest in molecular pathways and how deviations in these pathways can lead to various diseases. However, after completing my PhD, I decided to move away from research for a while and transition into academia. Working as an Associate Physiology Professor, I have educated students with various educational backgrounds and helped to enhance their critical thinking skills. While teaching Read More …

New Perspectives: My “invigorating” experience as an OTT intern

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Upon embarking in my graduate studies, I was struck by the vast amount of amazing research that happens on a daily basis. On the other hand, I felt disheartened by the substantial amount of research that failed to make a tangible impact in the “real world.” This realization highlighted the critical importance of effectively commercializing discoveries and optimizing technologies for their practical application. I aspired to pursue a career with a direct, translational impact. To gain a more comprehensive perspective, I joined Emory’s Biotech Consulting Club. Through this club, I discovered its intimate collaboration with Emory’s Office of Technology Transfer Read More …

Emory’s Biotechnology Consulting Club Transforms Lab Innovations into Market Successes

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Many innovators struggle to bring their discoveries to a wider audience. Emory’s Biotechnology Consulting Club (EBCC) steps in to overcome this hurdle by creating a space “where business and science meet.” Making connections inside Emory and out Emory’s Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) and Biolocity connect start-up enterprises with student-led EBCC teams for semester-long consulting projects. It’s mutually beneficial: Start-up companies increase their chances of getting funding by collaborating with students to perform market analyses, identify competitors, and facilitate overall company growth. Students get to improve their skills and knowledge through contact with experts across various disciplines. Since EBCC was founded in 2019, it has Read More …

Q&A With Annual Celebration 2024 Awardees: Eric Ortlund, PhD

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Eric Ortlund, PhD, is the recipient for Emory OTT’s Deal of the Year Award at the 2024 Annual Celebration of Technology and Innovation. Ortlund and his research team used a structure-guided approach to exploit a newly discovered polar interaction to lock agonists in a consistent orientation. This enabled the discovery of the first low nanomolar LRH-1 agonist. In 2023, Emory University executed an exclusive high net worth license with Allonix Therapeutics for this technology. Can you introduce yourself? My name is Eric Ortlund. I’m a professor of biochemistry in the School of Medicine. I run a research lab here that Read More …

Q&A With Annual Celebration 2024 Awardees: Louise Hecker, PhD

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Louise Hecker, PhD, is the EmpowHER Award recipient at Emory OTT’s 2024 Annual Celebration of Technology and Innovation. Hecker is a prominent researcher in the field of regenerative biology and specializes in pulmonology. Her research primarily focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying lung fibrosis and developing novel therapeutic approaches for treating this debilitating disease. Can you introduce yourself? I’m Louise and I am an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Pulmonary Division. We do a wide range of projects, under a big umbrella. We study aging and injury repair. We’re not trying to necessarily find the fountain of youth Read More …

Q&A with Annual Celebration 2024 Awardees: Santiago Arconada Alvarez

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Santiago Arconada Alvarez is one of five members of the team receiving the Inclusivity, Diversity, and Equity Award (IDEAward). Their technology, Low English Proficiency Nurse Communication Tool, is an application that revolutionizes how nurses communicate with patients who have limited English language proficiency and their caregivers. This novel mobile app enables the clinical team to communicate using common phrases in the patient’s language, images, and real-time translation. Can you introduce yourself? I am Santiago Arconada Alvarez and I’m a product development team lead working on medical apps for clinical research. Currently, I co-lead a group called the AppHatchery at Emory Read More …

Q&A with Annual Celebration 2024 Awardees: Erica Evans

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Erica Evans is one of six team members receiving the 2023 Corporate Partnership Award. Partnering with Honeywell, Evans and team are developing multiple diagnostics for sickle cell disease via a multi-pronged, multi-year partnership. Can you introduce yourself? I’m Erica and I’m a research assistant at Dr. Vivien Sheehan’s lab. I’ve been working on the microfluidics projects with her and Dr. Wilbur Lam at Georgia Tech. For about two years, we’d had a prototype for a sickle cell disease, red blood cell adhesion device. My main priority was to get that device to a state where we could reliably distinguish between Read More …

Q&A with Annual Celebration 2024 Awardees: David Myers, PhD

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

David Myers, PhD, is one of three team members to receive the 2023 Innovation of the Year award. The technology, A Bio-Inspired Skin Interface Method for Continuous Access to Blood for Measurement and Therapy, is a wearable, continuous blood collection device that can monitor blood-based biomarkers with reduced risk of blood clots. Can you introduce yourself? I’m David Myers. I’m an assistant professor in biomedical engineering. I studied mechanical engineering for my PhD, and then trained in hematology for my postdoc. What initially drew you to your field? I love seeing things move and how stuff works. Can you tell Read More …

The role of technology in holiday light shows

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

What is the holiday season without its lights? The tradition of holiday lights – specifically in Christmas trees – was made popular by the 1848 issue of The Illustrated London News. The image of the candle-illuminated tree at Windsor Castle was published, inspiring the public and popularizing the idea of decorated Christmas trees. The British royal family was headed by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, both of whom had German heritage. The tradition of decorating Christmas trees is German, and the two introduced that tradition to Windsor Castle, the British public, and the rest of the world. From fire to Read More …

The pros and cons of wearable devices in clinical trials

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

The use of wearable devices has skyrocketed over the past few years, with approximately 21% of U.S. adults reporting the use of a smartwatch or wearable fitness tracker. Many of those people use the wearable devices, including clip-on devices, belts, or patches, to track their own health metrics and stay on top of their wellness goals. Powered by microprocessors and sensors, wearables are capable of receiving, analyzing, recording, and communicating data such as one’s heart rate, oxygen saturation, sleep patterns, workouts, and even electrocardiograms. And thanks to rapidly developing technology, advances in 5G or AI have been incorporated into wearable Read More …

EEVM: Emory club fosters student-led innovation and entrepreneurship

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Entrepreneurship has become increasingly influential on college campuses, capturing the imagination of visionary students who seek autonomy, financial security, and the power to drive social change. Even for those not pursuing a business degree, learning about entrepreneurship can foster innovative thinking, research skills, and collaboration abilities. Emory University, in particular, has cultivated a vibrant community that supports both individual innovators and organizations striving to leave their mark on society. Among them, Emory Entrepreneurship & Venture Management (EEVM) stands as one of the biggest players in promoting the spirit of entrepreneurship. EEVM is dedicated to lowering the boundary for building businesses 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 …

“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 …

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 …

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 …

Q&A with Annual Celebration 2023 Awardees: Anant Madabhushi, PhD

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Can you introduce yourself? I am Anant Madabhushi, the Robert Woodruff Professor of biomedical engineering at Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology. I also have a joint appointment in Biomedical Informatics, pathology and radiology. Apart from that, I’m also a research career scientist at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. My research interest is in convergence AI and machine learning for problems in precision medicine. Specifically, my group is interested in using routinely acquired data – such as CAT scans, MRI scans, and biopsy images – to interrogate with AI/machine vision-based algorithms and identify patterns that will allow us to Read More …

Q&A with Annual Celebration 2023 Awardees: Rasheeta Chandler, PhD, RN

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Rasheeta Chandler, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN is an Associate Professor, tenured, at Emory University’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. Her research interests include HIV prevention in minority populations and comprehensive sex health promotion, supported by funding from the National Institute on Nursing Research. Can you introduce yourself? I am a professor at Emory in the School of Nursing, and my passion comes first and foremost from being a Black woman. As a healthcare provider, I’m driven by the opportunity to provide care to marginalized women and women of color – listening to them and their needs, and helping Read More …

Q&A with Annual Celebration 2023 Awardees: J. David Prologo, MD

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Dr. Prologo is an interventional radiologist whose research has focused on the application of image guided techniques to the delivery of stem cell therapies, the treatment of cancer pain, and for obesity management. Can you introduce yourself? I am David Prologo – an Interventional Radiologist and Associate Professor of Radiology in the Emory School of Medicine. What did you enjoy about winning an award? This is an amazing honor given the incredible level of innovation and commercialization that comes out of Emory. Can you tell us a little bit more about the technology/innovation you received the award for? My partner Read More …