The research community at OHSU drives discoveries that improve health care, create jobs, expand the economy and improve quality of life for the citizens of Oregon and beyond. OHSU’s Office of Technology Transfer and Business Development, or TTBD, supports that community by promoting innovation and an entrepreneurial culture that enables the transfer of research from laboratory to market for the benefit of all.

For 11 years, TTBD has hosted an award ceremony to celebrate university accomplishments and recognize OHSU employees who’ve made significant contributions to innovation, entrepreneurship, industry partnership, patenting, and technology commercialization. Following are highlights from last night’s 2016 TTBD Awards Ceremony.

TTBD FY16 milestones

• Introduced 151 new innovations, a 14 percent increase over FY15’s all-time high of 133, with a nearly 10 percent increase in the total number of OHSU inventors.
• Finalized 104 license and option agreements on OHSU technology, a 41 percent increase from FY15.
• Completed 422 material transfer agreements, an 11 percent increase from FY15; and 285 service agreements, a 40 percent increase from FY15.
• 20 U.S. patents issued; 43 patent applications filed on new inventions, a nearly 50 percent increase over FY14.
• Garnered nearly $16 million in nonclinical industry-sponsored research awards under 84 agreements.

New companies based on OHSU technology

• CORI2, Inc. -- brings users a comprehensive, feature-rich quality system specifically for use in endoscopy.
• First Ascent Biomedical LLC -- using a multidisciplinary approach to cancer research, they can prove the scientific and mathematical models used to develop the drug treatment protocols, dramatically improving cancer treatment results.
• Project Lite, Inc. -- develops sterilization devices for in-line catheters that markedly reduce the incidence of infection in a cost-effective manner.
• Qview Health, Inc. -- develops easy-to-use hospital-wide software solutions for secure, confidential peer-review management.
• Regenavid, Inc. -- focuses on a potential drug target that has been shown to play a significant role in neuron regeneration.
• SurgiVance, Inc. -- develops an all-in-one unit at the surgical location that reduces surgical time, costs, pain and anxiety, while improving outcomes.

2016 TTBD Award winners

• New Inventor of the Year -- Sudarshan Anand, Ph.D., assistant professor of cell and developmental biology, OHSU School of Medicine.

 “Dr. Anand is a relatively new inventor at OHSU who possesses a passion for innovation that he passes on to students and post-doctoral fellows at OHSU. Dr. Anand is always eager to work closely with TTBD and is making great efforts to develop his inventions for commercial success.” -- TTBD leadership

• Business Development Partnership Achievement -- Matthew Hansen, M.D., M.C.R., assistant professor of pediatrics (emergency medicine), and David Sheridan, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics (emergency medicine), OHSU School of Medicine, OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.

“Drs. Hansen and Sheridan have worked closely with TTBD the past few years and have been instrumental in the success of OHSU’s strategic partnership with Welch Allyn, Inc. Both Dr. Hansen and Dr. Sheridan possess the passion to come up with ideas and solutions for real-world problems in partnership with industry. They are models for how clinicians can successfully connect and work with industry.“ -- TTBD leadership

• Technology Transfer Achievement -- David Huang, M.D., Ph.D., Peterson Professor of Ophthalmology, and professor of ophthalmology and biomedical engineering, OHSU School of Medicine, OHSU Casey Eye Institute.

 “Dr. Huang is an accomplished innovator and entrepreneur having helped to co-invent optical coherence tomography, or OCT, now one of the leading diagnostic technologies in ophthalmology and optometry for such diseases as glaucoma and retinal diseases like age-related macular degeneration and diabetic eye disease. Dr. Huang has worked closely and effectively with TTBD in many capacities over the years and has a great desire to see his technologies help people.” -- TTBD leadership

• TTBD Appreciation -- OHSU Clinical Trials Office, Contracting Unit

“The OHSU Clinical Trials Office, Contracting Unit has worked collaboratively with TTBD for many years, but the partnership has strengthened recently to help OHSU accomplish its mission of moving research and innovation into clinical trials for public benefit. TTBD and the Clinical Trials Office, Contracting Unit complement each other in several ways while leaning on each other as more translational research occurs at OHSU.” -- TTBD leadership

Additional FY16 Accomplishments

• Creation of an Entrepreneur-in-Residence program
• Launch of the Improved Access to Technology (IMPACT) program, accelerating the establishment of industry-sponsored research agreements
• Development of a new Express Option Agreement program for OHSU startups
• Establishment of a key collaborative partnership with GE Healthcare
• Expansion of the Biomedical Innovation Program to include funding for therapeutic technologies, in collaboration with Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute,
• Reauthorization of the University Venture Development Fund