Welcome to the Helpdesk’s Podcasts!

Dr. Hood was involved in the development of six instruments critical for contemporary biology — namely, automated DNA sequencers, DNA synthesizers, protein sequencers, peptide synthesizers, the ink jet printer for constructing DNA arrays and large scale synthesis of DNA and the nanostring instrument for the single molecule analysis of RNA (and later DNA). These instruments opened the door to high-throughput biological data and the era of big data in biology and medicine.  He helped pioneer the human genome program—making it possible with the automated DNA sequencer. Under Hood’s direction, the Human Genome Center sequenced portions of human chromosomes 14 and 15.
In addition to his groundbreaking research, Dr. Hood has published 750 papers, received 36 patents, 17 honorary degrees and more than 100 awards and honors. He is one of only 20 individuals elected to all three National Academies—the National Academy of Science, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Hood has founded or co-founded 15 different biotechnology companies including Amgen, Applied Biosystems, Rosetta, Darwin, Integrated Diagnostics, Indi Molecular and Arivale.
(Excerpt from Dr. Hood’s bio available at https://systemsbiology.org/bio/leroy-hood/)

Dr. Margaret Geller is an American astrophysicist at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Her work has included pioneering maps of the nearby universe, studies of the relationship between galaxies and their environment, and the development and application of methods for measuring the distribution of matter in the universe. Dr. Geller received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics at the University of California, Berkeley (1970) and a Ph.D. in Physics from Princeton (1975). After research fellowships at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge, England, she became an assistant professor of Astronomy at Harvard University (1980-1983). She then joined the permanent scientific staff of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, a partner in the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Dr. Geller has received world-wide recognition for her work including a MacArthur “genius” Fellowship (1990-1995) and seven honorary degrees.

Specialised in IP management and competitive & technological intelligence. Used to work at the Luxembourg Institute of Sciences and Technology (formerly Public Research Centre Henri Tudor) for 20 years where he developed projects and services in the above mentioned fields, either for internal purposes (R&D projects) or for external clients (SMEs or some bigger companies) with the main objective of developing informational strategies and the implementation of competitive & technological intelligence activities (in which IP is a key element).

Then he dedicated more and more its activities to IP with the development of, for example, e-learning training in IP, TT projects, projects dedicated the transfer of IP services to national IP offices… and developed methodologies and tools to raise awareness of companies about the importance of IP and to help them for a better integration of IP in their management practices.

He works now as Manager International Cooperation at the Intellectual Property Institute Luxembourg where he is involved, for instance, in the development of the European Knowledge Transfer Society and is also in charge of the publication and stakeholder management activities of the European IPR Helpdesk (since more than 6 years).

How to perform Technology Scouting
After a brief introduction to what is technology scouting and why to perform such an activity, we propose to go through the different steps to undertake in order to perform technology scouting (based on the intelligence cycle): understanding of the problem, choice of information sources (and the importance of IP information), gathering of information, information analysis, decision.

The DIANA Project
The DIANA assay is a novel multiwell-plate based assay suitable for enzyme detection and inhibitor screening. DIANA uses a straightforward protocol, in which the target enzyme is captured, probed with the detection probe consisting of a small-molecule active site ligand attached to a reporter DNA, and subsequently detected by qPCR. It can be implemented using standard laboratory equipment and be fully automatized.
DIANA provides multiple unique advantages over the existing assays (such as ELISA, immuno-PCR or proximity ligation/extension) making it suitable for two areas of commercial application: 1) Clinical in vitro diagnostics 2) Screening for enzyme inhibitors in drug discovery.

Jaromír is a CEO and co-founder of i&i Prague (est. 2017). The company is scouting and supporting growth of the most promising projects from academic institutions from central Europe region to pass through the riskiest part of a journey to market. i&i Prague focuses on projects in discovery, pre-seed or seed phase, projects with excellent innovative potential which should benefit from project-launching experiences and networking skills developed by IOCB TTO in the field of Medtech, Diagnostics and Drug discovery.

Before setting up i&i Prague Jaromir was a Business Development Manager at IOCB TTO s.r.o. since 2012. IOCB TTO is a subsidiary company and Technology Transfer Office of The Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i. (IOCB) in Prague, Czech Republic. IOCB Prague, a public research institute, is well known due to antivirotics and peptide drugs. Among others, the HIV therapy blockbuster Tenofovir TM originated at IOCB Prague. IOCB TTO is managing patent portfolio and IOCB Pipeline Program (Targeted Research Groups) which include more than 10 pre-clinical phase drug development projects in class of small molecules and peptides, moreover, other projects are under development in the field of diagnostics and medical devices.

Jaromir has been participating on almost all aspects of academy-to-business Technology Transfer. His main focus is in a technology potential evaluation, IP valuation and technology marketing, but He also participates at IOCB spin-off activities. By now, three spin-off companies (excluding IOCB TTO) have been established at IOCB. The newest, Riocath Medical Devices a.s., was established 2014 and Jaromir was nominated by IOCB as a supervisory board member.

Jaromir hold MSc. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Charles University in Prague and he earned another master degree in Corporate Economics, Management and Enterprise valuation at The University of Economics in Prague.

The speaker interviewed for the EU-Japan Technology Transfer Helpdesk by Luca Escoffier is Arundeep Pradhan. more…

iBodies: Modular Polymer-Based Synthetic Antibodies
System of iBodies is very flexible, modular. In theory, any compound, functional group or tag can be adjusted to user need. iBodies are all-rounder; one ibody can be used for different biochemistry approaches (WB, IP, ELISA, live cell imaging). This polymer platform can be used to produce inexpensive, stable and non-animal-based antibody substitutes directed virtually toward any protein of interest with a known ligand. Additionally, the system enables to bind close protein homologs, such as paralogs and orthologs in their native state, which is usually difficult or impossible with antibodies.

Tomas Knedlik has been studying biochemistry at the Faculty of Sciences of the Charles University in Prague and started his PhD in 2010 at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry in Prague.
His main scientific interests are polymer conjugates and their application in biochemistry as antibody mimetics, the identification of the biological role of Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) and its role in prostate cancer.
Tom has been working on the iBodies project from the start as its main leader and has been featured in a couple of scientific publications throughout his PhD.

Technology commercialization in Chinese universities
The focus of this podcast is on technology commercialization efforts in Chinese universities, and it will help the audience understand what the actual situation in China is, and what it means to foreign companies and universities collaborating with Chinese universities. The podcasts also covers the nature and quality of the efforts to manage the commercialization of university-created IP assets For those interested in the topic, the topics dealt with in this podcast are the subject of an article written by Ziv Rotenberg, which was recently published in IAM Magazine (issue 79).

Ziv Rotenberg is the founder of Group8 Consultants, a Beijing-based China-focused intellectual property consulting company. Ziv works with technology SMEs, investors and research institutions in China, both domestic and foreign, assisting them in understanding their IP environment, building and leveraging strategic IP assets to create value, incorporate IP into their business strategy and manage IP risks and opportunities. He also advises on IP aspects of strategic transactions, tech transfer and other IP-related issues. Ziv is also conducting IP-related research at China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing and serves as a mentor for startups at Tsinghua University x-lab and at Chinaccelerator. Prior to coming to China in 2011, Ziv worked on complex IP cases for two of Israel’s top IP law firms, representing some of the world’s largest companies in complex deals and disputes. He has unique experience and insight on how IP and business combine together, in the China context and in the global context.

Bart Kolodziejczyk is a nanoscientist and energy expert. In addition to a PhD in materials engineering from Monash University, he has three Master’s Degrees, in mechanical engineering from Rzeszow University of Technology, in renewable energy from University of Iceland and University of Akureyri, and project management from Stockholm University. His professional work covers a breadth of his personal interests, with focuses on nanotechnology, microelectronics, commercialization, innovation and startups. He’s also very active in science policy and science diplomacy. Previously, Bart worked and advised for the United Nations, European Commission and OECD among few other international organizations. Dr. Kolodziejczyk has co-funded two start-ups and two not-for-profit organizations. Currently, working on a new venture to help the scientific community with research funding. He has won several high-profile awards, and he was named Future Leader by the World Forum on Ecosystem Governance. More recently, he’s been named Fellow of the Global Young Academy and MIT Innovator Under 35.

The speaker interviewed for the EU-Japan Technology Transfer Helpdesk by Luca Escoffier is Efrat Kasznik, President of Foresight Valuation Group in Silicon Valley and a Lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Efrat is a valuation expert, with over 20 years of experience in the valuation and commercialization of intellectual property and emerging technologies. She is a member of the leadership of the Licensing Executives Society, High Tech Sector, where she chairs the IOT committee. She has been listed on the IAM 300 list of Leading IP Strategists for 4 years in a row, and has been a frequent speaker in IP and business conferences. Throughout her career, Efrat has also been a co-founder and CFO of telecom and cleantech startups, and is currently an advisor to startups, incubators and investors in Silicon Valley, Europe and Israel.

The speaker interviewed for the EU-Japan Technology Transfer Helpdesk by Luca Escoffier is Arundeep Pradhan. Arundeep is a pioneer in the field of technology transfer.  He began his career at the University of Utah and subsequently spent five years at Colorado State University. He is the former Associate Vice President of Technology Transfer and Business Development at Oregon Health & Science University where he managed industry collaborations, business development, entrepreneurship, technology licensing and intellectual property.  In addition, he was the president of the Association of University Technology Managers in 2009 and the interim CEO of a startup biotech company. Arundeep is currently president of Apio, a consulting firm that he co-founded in 2012.