UK OTC's August 2017 Commercialization Connect Newsletter

UK OTC's Commercialization Connect Newsletter

COMMERCIALIZATION CONNECT

August 2017

In this Issue:

UK Startup MosquitoMate Gains National Attention
OTC Director Co-Authors Article in the Berkeley Business Law Journal
Would You Like to Do Research in Outer Space?
First UKAccel Graduation and Demo Day
UKAccel Partner Awesome Inc Ranks #4 in Coworking Space
By the Numbers: Patents, Licenses and SBIR-STTR grants July 2017
Events of Interest to Inventors and Entrepreneurs

1. UK Startup MosquitoMate Gains National Attention

University of Kentucky startup MosquitoMate has gained quite a bit of national media attention, since partnering with Verily Life Sciences (formerly known as Google Life Sciences), on Verily's Debug Project . MosquitoMate's technology has been featured in Fast Company , Wired , Fortune , and CNBC among other outlets.

MosquitoMate produces sterile male Asian Tiger mosquitoes by infecting them with the Wolbacachia bacterium. When these mosquitoes mate with female mosquitoes, the resulting eggs are unable to hatch, thus eliminating the next generation of mosquitoes. MosquitoMate provides a non-chemical, non-GMO pest control solution that does not harm other species, such as butterflies and bees. It has implications for controlling intractable diseases such as Zika and Dengue. The technology is based on the research of Stephen Dobson, professor of Entomology, in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, and the UK patented technology is licensed to MosquitoMate.

MosquitoMate recently expanded its mosquito production operations off Regency Road in Lexington to a 6000sf facility, and it has grown to 12 employees.

2. OTC Director Co-Authors Article in the Berkeley Business Law Journal

The OTC's Director, Ian McClure, is the co-author on a new article titled, Effectively Discharging Fiduciary Duties in IP-Rich M&A Transactions , published in the Berkeley Business Law Journal, with Elvir Causevic, Head of the Tech+IP Advisory Group at Houlihan Lokey, an investment banking firm in Los Angeles, CA. The article discusses the value of intellectual property (IP) to technology companies and to the economy; the many misconceptions about companies' IP; and it provides an overview of best practices for effectively satisfying fiduciary duties for corporate boards of directors in IP-rich mergers and acquisitions, to maximize the shareholder value generated from a corporation's material IP assets. The article concludes that, "faithfully discharging complex fiduciary duties of directors in corporations undergoing IP-rich M&A deals is possible within the M&A timeline, provided that companies undertake reasonable incremental efforts that utilize competent and independent advisors available in the marketplace today."

3. Would You Like to Do Research in Outer Space?

If you could, would you take advantage of the opportunity make a novel research discovery by doing lab experiments in outer space? A Lexington-based startup company has made that opportunity possible. Space Tango designs, builds and operates systems that enable microgravity research, with a focus on applications that can be commercialized here on Earth. Their systems allow researchers to study the behavior of materials and biological systems in a microgravity environment.

Space Tango is unique in its ability to do research in space; it is one of a few companies that has its own lab on the International Space Station (ISS). The traditional way of doing academic and commercial research in space, requires the help of astronauts to design and carry out the experiments. This is costly and it requires the astronauts’ valuable time. Space Tango has solved this problem by helping researchers to scale-down and adjust their experiments to as small as one of their cube units (4”) up to seven cubes. A maximum of 21 cubes will fit into a TangoLab facility, which is about the size of a microwave oven. These cubes, or mini laboratories, are loaded onto a SpaceX rocket to be launched into outer space, and taken to the ISS. In this way of doing research, Astronauts need only to place the cubes in the TangoLab facility. Software and hardware developed by Space Tango allows customers to receive data and video that is live streamed from their experiment. They also have the ability to remotely control the experiment.

Space Tango has customers around the world who are doing research in a variety of areas. Many are in Exomedicine, an emerging field that seeks answers to human health problems through research in outer space. Solutions are being pursued in the areas of regenerative medicine, oncology, and drug design to name a few. Space Tango is positioned for growth as more researchers learn about and utilize their services, and as the frequency of space launches continue to increase.

On August 14, 2017, a second TangoLab facility was launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 for NASA’s Commercial Resupply-12 (CRS-12) mission (see press release) . This new facility doubles Space Tango’s capacity for microgravity experimentation. The first TangoLab facility was launched on CRS-9 on July 18, 2016, and the first cubes for lab experiments were launched on CRS-11 on February 19, 2017.

Space Tango is led by CEO/CTO Twyman Clements . It is a for-profit subsidiary of Kentucky Space LLC. Kris Kimel is the President/Founder of Kentucky Space LLC and he is also the Chairman and Co-Founder of Space Tango.

See a recent FastCompany article mentioning Space Tango.

View Past Issues of Commercialization Connect

4. First UKAccel Graduation and Demo Day

An article, written by Mariam Gorjian, about the UKAccel program's first graduation and demo day, was published in UKnow.

Our second cohort will begin the program the first week of September. Applications are now being considered. If you have an interest, please review the criteria and complete the application form on the UKAccel webpage.

5. UKAccel Partner Awesome Inc Ranks #4 in Coworking Space

Awesome Inc , UKAccel's partner for team workspace, is ranked #4 in the Top 10 Coworking Spaces: The Allwork US Edition . They were recognized for creating an, "all-in-one accelerator, shared office space, mentorship program and coding school." Awesome Inc was previously featured in a story by Allwork.Space, an online magazine that focuses on the flexible workspace industry.