From the Director: COVID-19’s Impact on Technology Transfer

Posted onAuthorJessica Beach

Todd Sherer, PhD is the Associate VP for Research and Executive Director of the Emory Office of Technology Transfer. In this article, Todd Sherer discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the technology transfer industry and on the Emory Office of Technology Transfer specifically. Humankind has longed for better ways of doing things for centuries.  More recently, this phenomenon to make products that solve problems, as well as to create jobs and wealth, has been termed the “innovation economy”.  The demand for technology innovation is global, and there is always the desire to make people healthier and happier. However, Read More …

Breaking Down Breast Cancer

Posted onAuthorJessica Beach

Around 1 in 8 women in the U.S. will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. Cancer happens when abnormal cells grow and divide uncontrollably. Though breast cancer primarily appears in women, men can actually get breast cancer too and are affected by the same types of breast cancer as women. About 1 in every 100 diagnosed case of breast cancer in the U.S. affects men. Breast cancer becomes particularly dangerous when it spreads outside the breast through blood and lymph vessels, a process called metastasizing. The most common type of breast cancer is Invasive ductal carcinoma, where cancer cells begin 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 …

What is Informed Consent?

Posted onAuthorJessica Beach

Informed consent is the process of obtaining a patient’s or participant’s permission prior to conducting a medical procedure or investigation on said person. It involves ensuring that the participant completely comprehends and agrees to the potential consequences of any procedures that they will undergo. Examples include, a health care provider asking their patient to consent to a surgical procedure before providing it, or a psychologist discussing information about the study with a future research participant prior to enrolling them into an experimental study. As such, informed consent is collected according to guidelines from the fields of medical ethics and research 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 …

The Institutional Review Boards 101

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

New discoveries of therapies and drug mechanisms are not always the daily news headline, but today ethical guidelines exist to continue to keep a standard of the production of any new medication or treatment. However, the history of clinical research has not always been so ethical. For instance, the PHS Syphilis Study in Tuskegee, AL and the Willowbrook Hepatitis Experiments, are only two of many notorious examples of horrifically unethical clinical trials. The purpose of this article is to bring light into the role of the Institutional Review Boards (IRB) in relationship to on ongoing clinical trials today to ensure Read More …

15 Good Minutes: Hari Trivedi

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

After completing an undergraduate degree in engineering at Georgia Tech, Emory Assistant-Professor Dr. Hari Trivedi began medical school with an open mind about what field to specialize in. While exploring different fields, Trivedi began to grow interested in the intersection of medicine and technology. He eventually settled on his chosen field, radiology, after witnessing how it combined his interests in both medicine and engineering. “During radiology rotations, I thought radiology was just so cool because radiologists get all the newest toys,” Trivedi said. “I remember seeing my first 3D reconstruction of a CT scan, and that’s when I was like, Read More …

Understanding AI Lingo in Healthcare

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

With the ever-growing incorporation of technology into medicine over the past decade, healthcare industries have advanced to integrate novel technology innovations. Such innovations include artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), 3D-printing, robotics, and so on. One of these innovations, artificial intelligence (AI), holds promise in improving patient care while reducing costs. This technology has been applied in areas such as patient diagnosis and monitoring, treatment protocol development, radiology, and drug development. While some of this might seem like science-fiction, it’s being incorporated every day in the healthcare field. To help introduce you to this new world below, we’ve compiled a Read More …

15 Good Minutes: Ichiro Matsumura

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

For Emory Professor of Biochemistry Ichiro Matsumura, PhD, inspiration to pursue a career in research came from an unlikely source: a concussion. When Matsumura was in college at MIT, he got into a bike accident that left him hospitalized for several months. After being released from the hospital, Matsumura was prepared to retake all his courses from that semester over the summer. However, one of Matsumura’s professors, Harry Lodish, gave him the option to write a report from a list of topics instead of retaking the course, given that he had done well on the class’s first midterm. The topic Read More …

Algorithms and Healthcare: The Future is Coming

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

Computers are everywhere it seems, even in our healthcare. While they aren’t quite at the level of (find some movie reference with something futuristic) they are making significant contributions. One of those contributions is algorithms which are contributing in areas from imaging, diagnosing, and predicting. To help solve dilemmas such as this, healthcare professionals are increasingly turning to algorithms, which use machine learning techniques that enable computers to learn information without human input. Algorithms create a formulaic process for healthcare professionals to evaluate patient symptomology and decide on the best course of treatment. While they cannot replace human decision-making or Read More …

15 Good Minutes: William Wuest

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

Antibiotics have been one of the most consequential innovations in human history, allowing us to treat a wide variety of bacterial diseases that could otherwise be damaging or fatal. However, bacterial resistant to these antibiotics is on the rise, necessitating a constant drive to discover new antibiotic drugs as older ones are rendered less effective. One of the scientists on this forefront of this push is Emory Associate Professor and Georgia Research Alliance Distinguished Investigator, William Wuest, PhD. Wuest runs a lab that is focused on finding novel antibiotics to fight bacterial infections. Recently he and his team have made Read More …

Be Ware of Preprints: Protect Your Intellectual Property First

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

Who owns the rights to a new innovation described in a research paper? If a patent is in place, the answer is simple: the owner. Generally, the lengthy, and confidential, peer-review process means that authors of unpublished work have ample time to submit an invention disclosure and to have their technology transfer office review and if necessary, file a patent, ensuring that any new invention is protected prior to any public disclosure. However, the rise of “preprint” services, which allow authors to publish preliminary findings ahead of peer-review, has complicated this process. Preprints can severely hamper the ability of authors Read More …

15 Good Minutes: Cassandra Quave

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

When most people think about medicine, plants are not what immediately jumps to mind. However, for Emory Assistant Professor Cassandra Quave, PhD, the relationship between plants and medicine is career-defining. Quave is an ethnobotanist, meaning she studies human interaction with plants and their potential medical properties. Her work has led to important discoveries including treatments for eczema and skin infections. Quave describes her research as investigating compounds on a fundamental level, derived from their source in plants. She and her lab then determine whether the compound has properties that would allow it to be used in medicine. “In a single 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 …

What is PHI?

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

PHI stands for Protected Health Information and encompasses all information acquired during health care services that could potentially be used to identify an individual. PHI does not only include medical records, but also communications between medical personnel regarding treatment, billing information and health insurance reports. For information to be formally considered PHI under the law, it must be created, received, stored, or transmitted by HIPAA-covered entities. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), covered entities are limited in the types of PHI they can collect from individuals, share with other organizations or use in marketing. HIPAA-covered entities include Read More …

What is Targeted Drug Delivery?

Posted onAuthorLinda Kesselring

Targeted drug delivery is a method of delivering medication with the goal of maximizing its effects on specific parts of the body. This approach aims to minimize unwanted effects of the medication on non-diseased tissue, while at the same time prolonging the drug’s actions on its target. Regular drug delivery utilizes blood circulation as a means to transfer the active substance to its target. The main disadvantage of that approach is that a very small percentage of the initial dose manages to reach the intended target, while the rest affects unintended cell populations. Targeted drug delivery aims to mitigate this Read More …