This Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) project--a Type III (C:A) partnership between University of California-Davis (UC Davis), an institution new to the PFI Program (defined as one that has never been a PFI grantee) and Fisk University (Nashville, TN), an NSF PFI graduate (0090526, )is focused on developing innovative medical technologies so as to bring them closer to market by assembling multidisciplinary teams that include faculty, STEM students (including those from underrepresented groups), MBA students, and experienced entrepreneurs. In the Medical Technology Commercialization Clinic (MTCC), the teams will assess technical feasibility, market potential and commercialization strategies for technologies of interest, under the leadership of Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (highly experienced, serial entrepreneurs) and with mentorship from the members of the partnership
The broader impacts of the MTCC Partnership will provide an engine for transforming knowledge at the intersection of engineering, life sciences and medicine into innovations that contribute to the Sacramento region's economic development, while also educating STEM students (including underrepresented groups) and clinicians in technology transfer and entrepreneurship and giving them hands-on opportunities to assess the commercialization potential of the technologies they are developing. The proposed activities will: 1) develop a process that enables innovation and multidisciplinary team formation; 2) educate STEM students, medical researchers and faculty in technology transfer, entrepreneurship and commercialization; 3) promote the development of highly commercializable technologies to bring them closer to market; and 4) contribute to the Sacramento region's economic development by feeding its pipeline with trained workforce and startups. The collaboration with Fisk University will also make possible the exchange of innovation knowledge and skills between the Sacramento and Nashville regions.
Partners at the inception of the project are Academic Institutions: University of California at David (lead institution), Fisk University, California State University, Sacramento, Los Rios Community College District; Private Sector Organizations: PRIDE Industries, T2 Venture Capital, and Wavepoint Ventures; and Public Sector Organizations: City of Sacramento, CA; City of West Sacramento, CA; Sacramento Area Region Technology Alliance (SARTA) MedStart Initiative, and Sacramento Area Region Technology Alliance (SARTA).
(MTCC) as a demonstration project that brings together multidisciplinary teams, including faculty, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) students, underrepresented groups, MBA students, law school students and experienced entrepreneurs to take medical technologies closer to market. In the MTCC "clinic", the teams assessed technical feasibility, market potential and commercialization strategies for technologies of interest, under the leadership of Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIRs, highly experienced, serial entrepreneurs) and with mentorship from our project partners. The academic partners in the PFI program are: UC Davis, Fisk University (Nashville, TN), California State University, Sacramento, Los Rios Community College District. Other partners include: Sacramento Regional Technology Alliance (SARTA) and its MedStart program, PRIDE Industries, T2 Venture Capital, Wavepoint Ventures, and the Economic Development departments of the City of Sacramento, City of West Sacramento, and City of Davis. The PFI MTCC program’s broader impacts include providing an engine for transforming knowledge at the intersection of engineering, life sciences and medicine into innovations that contribute to the Sacramento region’s economic development, while also educating STEM students, including underrepresented groups, and clinicians in technology transfer and entrepreneurship and giving them hands-on opportunities to assess the commercialization potential of the technologies they are developing. The project outcomes comprise of: Entrepreneurship education, including students from underrepresented groups. The UC Davis PFI MTCC participants from the partner institutions attended a large number of lectures, seminars, and intensives provided by the UC Davis PFI program and its partners, free of cost. Hands-on projects. The UC Davis PFI program brought together multidisciplinary teams that included faculty, STEM students, MBA students, law school students and experienced entrepreneurs to develop commercialization plans and take medical technologies closer to market. Technology commercialization assessments. The PFI teams developed commercialization plans for medical technologies that respond to unmet needs in the healthcare marketplace, with guidance from experienced entrepreneurs and the program’s partners. Engaging entrepreneurs from the Sacramento region. The PFI program connected local entrepreneurs (EIRs) with PFI teams, leading to strengthening connections with the entrepreneurial and business community, as well as a more vibrant innovation ecosystem for medical technology development. As a direct result of the PFI MTCC program, a local entrepreneur, experienced life scientist and business executive joined California State University, Sacramento as adjunct faculty and worked with faculty and students across the campus to encourage interdisciplinary collaborations and team formation. A number of teams advised by this entrepreneur-faculty have won the Idea-to-Product (I2P) Early-Stage Commercialization Competition organized by the California State University System Program for Education and Research in Biotechnology (CSUPERB) two years in a row. Technology commercialization. Projects supported in part by the UC Davis PFI program made significant advances towards commercialization and continue to raise funds from private investors to complete the long process of commercializing medical technologies. These projects will benefit patients through better diagnostics and treatments, and society through decreased healthcare costs for ineffective and expensive treatments. A few examples are described below. Advanced Medical Diagnostics is a startup company working on commercializing an assay that will enable physicians to determine which cancer patients are likely to respond to platinum-based chemotherapy treatment, while avoiding ineffective therapy and unnecessary costs. The benefits of this assay translate not only to better patient care, but also to significant savings for the healthcare system, because chemotherapy treatments and the management of their side effects are very expensive (an estimated $2.5B per year is wasted in US on ineffective treatment). The Integrated Cancer Therapeutics team developed a commercialization plan for a drug delivery system that will will deliver medication directly to tumors in bladder cancer patients, which is of significant clinical need. Bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer in male and ninth in female populations, and it is extremely expensive to treat due to the invasive cystoscopies required for post-treatment surveillance. The nanomicelle drug delivery system developed by scientists at UC Davis will enable bladder cancer imaging and treatment and thus will have significant impact on patients and the healthcare system once it gets to the market. The ZinApt team developed a commercialization plan for a technology that effectively detects, diagnoses, and prevents infectious disease progression at a lower price and in a fraction of time, compared to current diagnostics. More recently, the scientists developing this technology started investigations with veterinarian colleagues, as evidence suggests that the diagnostic test could be applied to test for tuberculosis in bovines and other animals. Advanced Tissue Diagnostics is a team developing products that allow rapid staining and imaging of tissue in an operating room, so that pathologists and surgeons may assess the disease state in just a couple of minutes. These products will lead to decreased time under anesthesia, decreased probability of infection, better health outcomes, and lower costs for all involved.
