How does any university technology transfer program accelerate the pace of commercialization? Answer: You never work in a vacuum. 

This year, our team has focused on strengthening existing partnerships and building new ones both inside and outside of VCU. Internally, that means creating connections with centers and experts on all of our research and health system campuses. Beyond VCU, community connections help us find collaborators who may benefit from our deep bench of talent and our IP market — or investors willing to support but would otherwise be unaware of our offerings.

Collaborations improve our chances of accelerating the commercialization process and help us “bring ideas to life.”

Partnerships breed successes such as one of the biggest VCU has seen in recent years: the commercialization of Nerve Tape, invented by the School of Medicine hand surgeon Dr. Jonathan Isaacs and brought to market by the company licensee, BioCircuit Technologies. Nerve Tape is just as it sounds: a tape with tiny hooks that surgeons can use to connect spliced nerves back together. Achieving commercialization of a regulated product that must go through a rigorous FDA clearance process is a huge event for any university. But Dr. Isaacs and his partners did it and feedback from surgeons nationwide has been overwhelmingly positive. Nerve Tape is well on its way to becoming a critical tool for orthopaedic surgeons. We'll have more to share on Nerve Tape soon.

For now, read about some of our partnerships and inventors who are leading an innovation economy in Virginia.

Ivelina Metcheva, Ph.D., MBA

Assistant Vice President for Innovation

VCU TechTransfer and Ventures

Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation