Category: Misc.

Odds & ends

Q&A with Annual Celebration 2023 Awardees: Cassandra Quave, PhD

Posted onAuthorAsher Alt

Cassandra Quave, Ph.D. is Curator of the Herbarium and Associate Professor of Dermatology and Human Health at Emory University, where she leads natural product drug discovery research initiatives and teaches courses on medicinal plants, microbiology, and pharmacology. Can you introduce yourself? I’m an Associate Professor of Dermatology and Human Health at Emory. I also serve as the Curator of the Emory Herbarium. I cofounded Verdant Scientific in the summer of 2022 and serve as the CSO for the company. What did you enjoy about winning an award? It is always nice to receive recognition for one’s work. I am passionate Read More …

12 Days of “Invents”

Posted onAuthorJessica Beach

The holiday season is upon us yet again! We’re ringing in the most wonderful time of the year by celebrating inventions of all types – even some of Emory’s. We polled members of our office for their favorite inventions of all time – and then had a week full of voting to narrow it down! It was a true team effort to decide on the final 12 inventions. Happy Holidays from all of us at the Office of Technology Transfer. We hope you enjoy our 12 Days of Invents! He knows if you’ve been bad or good… so be good Read More …

Students: My Experience as a Writer for OTT

Posted onAuthorJessica Beach

I joined Emory’s Office of Technology Transfer in the Fall of 2020. I was a junior in college, and it was my first semester of online classes during the pandemic. Before working with OTT, I did not know anything about the field of technology transfer. I wasn’t entirely sure how it would relate to my personal pursuits, but I was still interested in engaging with Emory OTT regardless. I found the field of technology transfer to be interesting, interdisciplinary, and far reaching. Through my four semesters with OTT, I learned a lot about the field, and I was able to Read More …

Intern: Experience by the Numbers

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

5 boot camp sessions 3 rotations 5 wonderful supervisors 19 commercialization evaluation reports 14 technology briefs ~377,286 database searches 1 year of invaluable experience in the technology transfer field I decided to apply for the OTT internship at the end of my third year of graduate school for two reasons. First, I knew that academia wasn’t for me and wanted exposure to alternative careers and second, the daily lab slog (grad students, you know what I’m talking about) had me feeling burned out and in need of something new to channel my energy into. At the time, my PI was Read More …

OTT Presents: The 2022 Annual Celebration Awardees

Posted onAuthorJessica Beach

Each spring, Emory’s Office of Technology Transfer hosts an Annual Celebration of Technology and Innovation. We are excited to announce the 2022 awardees! We took time to interview several of this year’s awardees to learn more about their technologies and their reaction to winning an award. Innovation of the Year – KeyStrike: Securing Communications from an Untrusted Computer; Ymir Vigfusson, PhD Can you introduce yourself? “I’m an Associate Professor in Computer Science at Emory University and a co-director of the Emory SimBioSys lab, where I work on large-scale networked systems, computational epidemiology, and information security. Alongside academia, I’ve co-founded multiple Read More …

The History of the Technology Behind the New Year’s Ball Drop

Posted onAuthorJessica Beach

The ball drop has become an iconic staple for New Year’s Eve celebrations worldwide. This is especially true in New York’s Times Square celebration. Despite the seemingly modern invention, the first iteration of the nearly twelve-thousand-pound ball was created back in the nineteenth century. Can you guess the surprising link between ship navigation and the New Year’s Ball Drop? Time balls originated in the early eighteen-hundreds. Since this was before there were time zones in America, most cities kept track of their own time based on the sun. The lack of centralized time made it difficult to know the exact Read More …

OTTer Fun Facts

Posted onAuthorJessica Beach

Otters LOVE Rocks: Otters often have a favorite rock to open their shellfish! Each otter stores a favorite rock in its chest pouch that is unique to them and their preference. The otter loves to keep this tool close when gathering food. Every otter has a pouch for storing food, that is not super noticeable, but an important part of the otter’s body. Source: The Little Book of Otter Philosophy. Otters Have a Unique Smelly Poop: Weird fact of the day is Otters have a particular stink to their feces. So much so, that this poop is coined, “Spraints.” Otter Read More …

Meet the 2021 Annual Celebration Awardees

Posted onAuthorJessica Beach

Each Spring, Emory’s Office of Technology Transfer hosts an Annual Celebration of Technology and Innovation. Though we weren’t able to gather in person to celebrate this year, we are extremely proud of the 2021 awardees. We took time to interview several of this year’s awardees to learn more about their technologies and their reaction to winning an award! 2021 Innovation of the Year – Serological Test for SARS-CoV-2; John Roback, MD, Ph.D. Can you introduce yourself? “John D. Roback, MD PhD.  I am a Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Medical Director of Emory Medical Laboratories, and Executive Vice-Chair for Read More …

Interviews with 2020 Annual Celebration Awardees

Posted onAuthorJessica Beach

Each Spring, Emory’s Office of Technology Transfer hosts an Annual Celebration of Technology and Innovation. In preparation of announcing the 2021 awardees, we spoke with several award recipients from 2020 about their experience with OTT’s Annual Celebration. 2020 Innovation of the Year – Autonomic Formation of Large-Scale Wireless Mesh Networks; Sergio Gramacho, Ph.D. Can you introduce yourself? “I am Sergio Gramacho, an avid learner and applier who had the opportunity to formally study Electrical Engineering (BS), Business (MBA) and Computer Science (Master, PhD) in different moments of my career.” What did you enjoy about winning an award? “This award was Read More …

Annual Celebration: Where Are They Now?

Posted onAuthorJessica Beach

Each Spring, Emory’s Office of Technology Transfer hosts an Annual Celebration of Technology and Innovation. In preparation of announcing the 2021 awardees, we spoke with several award recipients from previous years about their experience with OTT’s Annual Celebration. 2009 Innovation of the Year – Novel PET Imaging Agents; Mark Goodman, Ph.D.  Can you introduce yourself? “I am Mark Goodman; I am a professor of Radiology and Imaging Sciences. I have secondary appointments in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology. I am the Emory Endowed Chair in Imaging Science.” What did you Read More …

All About Georgia OTTers

Posted onAuthorJessica Beach

The otter is an amphibious mammal that can be found throughout the United States and other regions of the world. The good news is that these cute animals can be found in our home, Georgia. History reveals that the North American river otter (Lutra canadensis) is an amphibious playful member of the weasel family as are the mink and sea otter. The fur color of a river otter can be described as a dark brown to almost black. In the United States, many states have experienced a gradual decline in the river otter populations in time. Despite this, otters are resilient Read More …

An Introduction to OTTers

Posted onAuthorJessica Beach

Otters The otter is a resilient and fascinating animal that can be found throughout the United States, as well as throughout most continents. Otters can be found all over the world, from Asia to Alaska, these animals are globally loved. Their scientific name is Mustelidae. This adorable animal is a member of the weasel family, yet they are the only one within the family that can swim. Otters are described as tiny, with short ears, lengthened bodies, and very soft fur. These charming otters are small animals that average about four feet in length and can weigh up to 30 Read More …

12 Days of Christmas Invent

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

The most wonderful time of the year is officially here! You may usually count down the days until Christmas with an Advent calendar, but why not count down with an “Invent” calendar, too? Happy Holidays from the Office of Technology Transfer and these twelve days of festive inventions. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas… with all of those twinkly lights strung up around the house! Would you believe that Christmas lights were actually invented by Thomas Eddison and his business partner Edward Johnson in 1882? The duo hand-wired 80 lights around Johnson’s revolving Christmas tree, but it didn’t Read More …

Emory Female Inventors Revisited

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

The Emory community is proud to have some of the most cutting-edge research teams led by women. Female scientists at Emory are responsible for a variety of innovative discoveries in biomedical sciences and technology. Some of their inventions have had profound positive impact on the scientific community and society as a whole. In this article, we are honoring five of Emory’s female inventors and their work. Cassandra Quave is an Assistant Professor of Dermatology at the School of Medicine and the Center for the Study of Human Health. She is a medical ethnobotanist, studying the medicinal properties of novel plant Read More …

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

The healthcare industry generates a lot of data. X-rays, pathology slides, patient vitals, clinical trial information; we have mountains of information accessible at the touch of a button. But it’s costly and time-inefficient for humans to manually pour over it. So what do we do with all of this data? The field of intelligence (AI) allows not only to let us analyze all our data, but to find subtle and complex patterns in them. Machine learning algorithms are particularly responsible for these advancements. Engineers have developed software that’s able to look at a dataset, find relationships between a bunch of Read More …

Holiday Patents—Really?

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

It’s the holiday season and what better way to poke a little fun at an important part of our profession—patents. Here are five of our favorite interesting, unique but certainly creative. Here are some of our favorites. Feel free to tweet at us (@EmoryOTT) with some of yours. 1. “Underwater Christmas Tree”. US4130161A Abstract: An underwater Christmas tree for controlling flow from an offshore well is disclosed as having a master valve which is controlled by fluid pressure within a flow-line extending from a production bore of the tree, and means for receiving and releasably retaining a TFL tool in the Read More …

Case Managers’ Reflect on Their Time with TMS

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

OTT’s first disclosure from Charles “Chip” Epstein, MD related to his work with an iron core stimulation coil was received in the spring of 1995, with a second disclosure related to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) coming along in late 1997. These were not only the early days for the technology but also the early days of our budding Tech Transfer office. The technology looked promising since it was both the first magnetic stimulator to utilize an iron core design which enabled improvements in power efficiency, heat generation, focal stimulation, and costs. Recognizing these benefits, OTT decided to pursue patent protection Read More …

The 12 Days of Christmas OTTer Style

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

On the first day of Christmas, my OTTer gave to me, A new disclosure form On the second day of Christmas, my OTTer gave to me, Two patent applications On the third day of Christmas, my OTTer gave to me, Three new blog posts On the fourth day of Christmas, my OTTer gave to me, Four featured innovations On the fifth day of Christmas, my OTTer gave to me, Five Licenses to sign! On the sixth day of Christmas, my OTTer gave to me, Six new start-up projects On the seventh day of Christmas, my OTTer gave to me, Seven Read More …

Tech Transfer Jingle Bells

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

Dashing through the lab In my new lab coat Cleaning pipettes I go Can’t find my lab notebook Filling out the disclosure Making spirits bright What fun it is to laugh and sing A tech transfer song tonight … [Chorus] CER reports, CER reports Triage all the way Oh! What fun it is to write these Every single week CER reports, CER reports Triage all the way Oh! What fun it is to write these Every single week Dashing through the prior art Please no public disclosures First to file I go God please let it be enabled Useful, novel, Read More …