TechTransfer and Ventures | |
Accelerating the pace of VCU-created startups | |
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For several years, VCU TechTransfer and Ventures has supported the creation and development of startup companies based on university IP. Now, we’ve added fuel to that work.
This spring, we launched VCU’s first Startup Accelerator, designed to fast-track VCU-born companies, giving them more personalized coaching and advisory services from our lineup of IP experts and entrepreneurs-in-residence. In 2023, we granted 12 licenses to startups — a number we look to eclipse this year.
The Accelerator pushes faculty entrepreneurs out of the comforts of their labs or offices, helping them carve a pathway to someday get their ideas and technologies into the hands of users. We help them address potential customers’ highest-priority business needs, reduce the risk of failure — and increase the probability of success. We also connect them to outside resources such as investors and specialist consultants, with whom our team has long-term relationships. Our first cohort of five companies will take part in a startup pitch competition on May 13, co-sponsored by our partners at Activation Capital, that will award cash prizes and additional support to winners.
VCU TechTransfer and Ventures expects to offer a spring and fall Accelerator program, with hopes of encouraging other faculty who may have startup dreams to take the next step — even if they’re unsure about the process.
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Our Accelerator and startup support goes hand-in-hand with the continued growth of our licensing and commercialization effort, where we protect and work to commercialize dozens of new IP disclosures each year. You can meet many of the faces and minds behind these projects in this issue of Launchpad. Please enjoy.
Ivelina Metcheva, Ph.D., MBA
Assistant Vice President for Innovation
VCU TechTransfer and Ventures
Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation
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The pilot VCU Startup Accelerator cohort includes five teams — some of which are established companies, while others are on track to create a formal business. Meet the companies and their people. | |
See TechTransfer and Ventures' 2023 Annual Report | In our 2023 VCU TechTransfer and Ventures Annual Report, you will see stories of the VCU inventors responsible for our growing rankings, and find our year-end figures around invention disclosures, patent filings, licenses to startups, licensing revenues and much more. Our report is a showcase of a university and region whose potential is truly UNlimited. | |
From nasal casts to emergency intubation, VCU innovators explore fresh frontiers with Commercialization Fund Awards | Five VCU researchers received funding as part of our fall 2023 round of Commercialization Fund awards. The awards, which collectively total nearly $200,000, support inventors who are conducting valuable translational research with a clear path to market. See which five researchers received awards. Additional recipients will be named this spring. | |
At VCU and around the globe, research and creative expression illuminate society’s greatest challenges and provide insights and solutions to problems. VCU Research Weeks celebrates our impact and builds upon our culture of collaborative, transdisciplinary research. This month, we're celebrating the UNlimited impact of VCU’s research and innovation with more than 40 events. See the full agenda, including four featured events. | |
Could a drug used to treat high cholesterol be repurposed to treat eye disorders? | The connection between the two isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds, and Qingguo Xu, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Pharmaceutics at the School of Pharmacy, is on a path to making it work. His lab has formulated a pharmaceutical using fenofibrate, an FDA-approved oral drug used to treat high cholesterol, to hopefully someday treat certain eye diseases. See how. | |
Congratulations to the 2024 VCU NAI Chapter Inductees and new Senior Members! | |
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In March, the National Academy of Inventors inducted four VCU researchers into the university's NAI chapter:
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Hamid Akbarali, Ph.D., Pharmacology and Toxicology, VCU School of Medicine
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Curtis Sessler, M.D., Internal Medicine, VCU School of Medicine
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Qing Cai, M.D., Ph.D., Pathology, VCU School of Medicine
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Wenhui Hu, M.D., Ph.D., Physiology, VCU School of Medicine
In addition, the School of Medicine's Richard T. Marconi, Ph.D. and School of Pharmacy's Martin K. Safo, Ph.D. were honored as NAI senior members. What's the NAI? What's a senior member? Find out in this VCU News article.
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Research in focus at VCU Board of Visitors meeting | |
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In late March, Vice President for Research and Innovation P. Srirama Rao, Ph.D. delivered an update on VCU's rapidly growing research enterprise to the Board of Visitors at its Academic and Health Affairs Committee meeting.
His remarks were followed by a panel of VCU faculty inventors and CEO's of their startups, who discussed how VCU-developed drugs, devices, processes and technologies are rapidly moving through various stages of the commercialization pathway. The panel included brief presentations from: Nerve Tape for nerve end repair and alignment; ThermaGEL, a patented technology for thermal insulation; Perfusion Medical, a patented IV drug infusion for patients affected by shock; and Lighthouse XR, a virtual reality platform for patients with substance-use disorders. The discussion provided the Board with an understanding of what it takes to move technologies to the marketplace and how TechTransfer and Ventures facilitates the process.
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Chemical designed by pharmacy professor launches as tool for cholesterol research and drug discovery | |
Youzhong Guo, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry in the School of Pharmacy, has launched on a new chemical onto the market. Called CHEAPS, the chemical maintains both the biochemical properties of cholesterol and the balance of both water-repellent and water-attracting properties necessary for protein and cholesterol interaction research.
Go deeper on Guo's IP.
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19 VCU health sciences departments and schools ranked in top 50 for NIH funding for public institutions | These new rankings for biomedical research reflect the university’s growth as a national leader in science and medicine. Overall, VCU is now the 47th-ranked public research university in the country, as reported by the National Science Foundation. The university’s sponsored research funding for fiscal 2023 climbed to $464 million, with $118.9 million coming from the NIH – a 24% increase in NIH-funded research from the previous year. Here's what all this means. | | | | | |
