The accomplished researcher and entrepreneur helps establish a UCI department, startup ventures and pivotal research.

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SET 1, WAVE 4 / JULY 2019 / innovation.uci.edu/news

S T A R T U P

AG Tools Elevates the Agriculture Industry from the Ground Up

D E E P D I V E

Scott Hamilton: Scaling Businesses Large and Small

L I S T I C L E

Top 5 Most Popular Startup Sectors

Abe Lee’sJourney to Lab-on-a-Chip

UCI Professor

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2 Events Past Tides •Richard’sleadershipworkshop •BMEeveningwithindustry • Beall Applied Innovation + SBDCpartnershipaward ...and more 4 Resource International Partner Moves into the Cove @ UCI Beall Applied Innovation 5 Available Technologies ComingDownthePipeline

6 Startup AG Tools Elevates the Agriculture IndustryfromtheGroundUp

10FacultySpotlight Abe Lee

14 Deep Dive Scott Hamilton: Scaling Businesses Large and Small

16 Listicle Top 5 Most Popular Startup Sectors 18 Cove Tenants IntheEcosystem 19 Q&AEmployeeFeature Sophia Lin

20 UCI Stories Across Campus • UCI Health •HenrySamueliSchool ofEngineering •DonaldBrenSchoolof Info.&ComputerSciences •SchoolofLaw •SchooloftheHumanities

21 Tips FollowtheMoneythroughthe Venture Capital Process, Part 1

Stayup-to-datewithnews aboutUCI’sinnovationsandcommerciallypromisingtechnologies. FindthisissueofRisingTideat innovation.uci.edu/news

Ifyouhavestoryideas,contacttheeditor-in-chief:connorj@uci.edu

Rising Tide Editorial Editor-in-Chief JackieConnor

Writers JennyGarcia Ethan Perez Luis Vasquez Grace Wood

Copy Editors Ethan Perez

Design Director JulieKennedy

Designers JesusReyes Vivian To

Photographers Rthura Cevallos Yuxin Cha Jacqueline Kao JulieKennedy Ben Li RyanMahar EmilyMorrison AmyVong

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“IT'S FINE TO CELEBRATE

SUCCESS BUT IT'S MORE

IMPORTANT TO HEED THE

LESSONS OF FAILURE.”– Bill Gates

1JULY 2019 / UCI BEALL APPLIED INNOVATION / RISING TIDE

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BME Evening with Industry / April 2019 Biomedical engineering students present their senior capstone projects, which are mostly based off of UCI intellectual property, to an audience of industry and academic mentors at the Cove @ UCI Beall Applied Innovation. The ‘speed dating-style’ event, presented by BioEngine, matches teams to appropriate industry mentors.

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The Cove @ UCI is host to more than 700eventsperyearinsupportofinnovation,entrepreneurship,industryandthecommunity.Takepart!Checkoutandregisterforupcomingevents:innovation.uci.edu/events

Lunch & Learn DATE: Monthly TIME: Noon to 1 p.m.

Subject matter experts present on a particular topic relevant to innovation and entrepreneurship. Topics range in breadth from branding and marketing to avoidable pitching mistakes to working with investors.

Free to the public. Light beverages are provided.

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Translational Science Day / May 2019 Translational Science Day held at the Cove, features research projects and technology development. The annual UCI Institute for Clinical and Translational Science event celebrates medical technology translation through speeches, panels, workshops and presentations.

POP Grants Showcase / May 2019 Dr. Harrison Lin, from the UCI School of Medicine’s Department of Otolaryngology, presents on the development of a new type of cochlear implant during Applied Innovation’s Proof of Product Grants Showcase at the Cove @ UCI.

Wayfinder Workshop: Leadership, featuring Richard Sudek / April 2019 During a Wayfinder Workshop, Richard Sudek, Applied Innovation executive director and chief innovation officer, explains leadership styles within startup companies, dispels stereotypes and describes ideal approaches to leadership within a startup.

UCI Innovator Awards / May 2019 Faculty innovators were recognized during the second annual UCI Innovator Awards Ceremony for promoting commercialization of UCI intellectual property. From left: Gregory Washington, dean of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering; Enrique Lavernia, UCI provost and executive vice chancellor; Richard Sudek, UCI Beall Applied Innovation chief innovation officer and executive director; and Don Beall, chairman of the Beall Family Foundation and chair emeritus of the Applied Innovation board, stand with award winners Christopher C.W. Hughes, Elliot Botvinick and Mo Li. (Read more on page 18.)

Wayfinder Pitch & Match / April 2019Wendy Brown, UCI postdoc fellow, gives a three-minute pitch presentation on her startup Cartilage, the team’s milestones and their next steps during the Wayfinder Pitch and Match event. The event connects Innovation Advisors to Wayfinder startup companies to provide feedback and advice for navigating the startup world.

Applied Innovation Recognized for SBDC Partnership / May 2019Matt Hanson, Applied Innovation director of new ventures, receives the 2019 UCI Engage Great Partner Award for Applied Innovation and the Small Business Development Center @ UCI Beall Applied Innovation partnership.

1 Million Cups DATE: Every Wednesday TIME: 8 to 9 a.m.

Two startups give a six-minute presentation after which the audience asks questions and gives feedback with the intention to help the presenting startups grow.

Free to the public. Coffee and tea are provided.

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32 JULY 2019 / UCI BEALL APPLIED INNOVATION / RISING TIDE

T HE PARTNER ’ S N EW L OCAT I ONW I L L B E A R E S O U R C E F O R G L O B A L L I F E S C I E N C E A N D H E A LT H S TA R T U P C O M PA N I E S A N D E N T R E P R E N E U R S .

Brightlands Maastricht Health Campus, from the Netherlands, have signed an Innovation and Entrepreneurship Collaborative Agreement with UCI Beall Applied Innovation.

Jan Cobbenhagen, CEO, Brightlands Maastricht Health Campus and Applied Innovation’s Richard Sudek, chief innovation officer and executive director, signed the agreement during a ribbon-cutting ceremony recently held at the Cove @ UCI*.

Brightlands will serve as a facilitator for life science and health startup companies and entrepreneurs from the Limburg region of the Netherlands who are interested in expanding into the United States.

R E S O U R C E

International Partner Moves into the Cove @ UCI Beall Applied Innovation

Jan Cobbenhagen, CEO of Brightlands Maastricht Health Campus and Richard

Sudek, Applied Innovation chief innovation officer and executive director, display a

traditional Delft blue pottery plate.

“We feel that UCI Beall Applied Innovation is really helping us in that sense,” said Cobbenhagen. “We are very excited about this collaboration.”

The agreement focuses on joint efforts to find the best paths of success through workshops, network opportunities, investor connections, legal connections and customer introductions.

“We know the impact we are making on the surrounding community and how we can help the startup ecosystem in Southern California grow rapidly through efforts at Applied Innovation,” said Sudek. “We’re very excited about the opportunity to partner with Brightlands Maastricht Health Campus, to work together to build the ecosystem across these countries, and across these regions, and to share best practices and innovate how we work together.”

Marianne van der Steen, director of RegMed XB and director of the Global Scale-up Program, spoke about her connection with Brightlands and Applied Innovation. She indicated in order for companies from the Netherlands to scale and grow, partnership is an important aspect and Applied Innovation is a natural fit as a collaborator and portal to the Orange County ecosystem.

“We know that it is an entrusted and true partnership,” said van der Steen. ///

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*Resources Mentioned in this Story Cove @ UCI innovation.uci.edu/the-cove

Brightlands Maastricht Health Campus team and Richard Sudek, Applied Innovation chief

innovation officer and executive director, celebrate with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

Research Translation Group Senior Director: Life Sciences RonnieHanecak,Ph.D. rhanecak@uci.edu

Associate Director: Physical Sciences & Engineering AlvinViray,J.D. aviray@uci.edu

Assistant Director: Life Sciences CasieKelly,Ph.D. casie.kelly@uci.edu

Senior Licensing Officer: Physical Sciences & Engineering DougCrawford,MBA doug.crawford@uci.edu

Senior Licensing Officer: Physical Sciences & Engineering Richard Tun, J.D., Ph.D. tunr@uci.edu

Senior Licensing Officer: Life Sciences SteveHuyn,Ph.D. shuyn@uci.edu

Senior Licensing Officer: Physical Sciences & Engineering Benjamin Chu, Ph.D. ben.chu@uci.edu

Licensing Officer: Life Sciences MariaTkachuk,Ph.D. mtkachuk@uci.edu

Licensing Officer: Physical Sciences & Engineering Michael Harpen, J.D. mharpen@uci.edu

Industry Sponsored Research Industry Contract Officer: Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences & Beckman Laser Institute ChrisAbernethy christopher.abernethy@uci.edu

Industry Research & Material Transfer Officer: All UCI Departments KellyCarlson kelly.carlson@uci.edu

Industry Contract Officer: Medicine & Pharmaceutical Sciences Angie Karchmer, J.D. angie.karchmer@uci.edu

Industry Contract Officer: Engineering & Information and Computer Sciences NatalieTedford natalie.tedford@uci.edu

Industry Contract Officer: Medicine James Wang jamesw9@uci.edu

FindallUCI-availabletechnologiesatinnovation.uci.edu/tech

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Coming Down the Pipeline

Tech ID #: 28922

PRESSURE-BASED MECHANICAL FEEDBACK TO SAFELY INSERT CATHETERS

Apressure-sensingdevicethatprovidesfeedbackduringtheinsertionofaureteralaccesssheathtopreventunwanteddamagetothewalloftheureter.Withsuchadevelopedtool,urologistswouldbeablereducekidneystonesurgicalcomplications.

RalphClayman,M.D. / UCI Health

Licensing Officer AlvinViray,J.D. aviray@uci.edu

Tech ID #: 26007

DIAGNOSIS OF MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, AUTOIMMUNE DISORDERS AND DISEASES RELATED TO GLYCAN DYSREGULATION

Certain diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune disorders, are associatedwithdeficienciesinspecificmetabolitesthatinfluenceproteinglycosylation. Thisinventionisaspecializedmethodtodetectlevelsofthesemetabolites,whichcan then be used to diagnose disorders and guide personalized treatments.

Michael Demetriou, M.D., Ph.D. / UCISchoolofMedicine

Licensing Officer MariaTkachuk,Ph.D. mtkachuk@uci.edu

Tech ID #: 30343

SIMPLE IMAGING TOOL FOR ORAL AND OROPHARYNGEAL CANCER DETECTION AND MONITORING

UCIresearchershavedevelopedaminiature,flexibleintraoralcamerathatallowsearlydetectionandmonitoringoforalpre-cancerandcancerindifficult-to-see,high-riskareasofthemouthandthroat.Thetoolallowsforalow-cost,noninvasiveprocedurethatcanbeeasilyusedbyhygienistsordentists,andinnonspecialistmedicalorcommunitysettings.

PetraWilder-Smith,D.M.D.,Ph.D. / BeckmanLaserInstitute

Licensing Officer DougCrawford,MBA doug.crawford@uci.edu

The Research Translation Group manages over 1,000 inventions from UCI researchers spanning the areas of engineering, medicine and life sciences, physical sciences, communications and computer sciences. These innovative technologies are available for licensing.

SOME O F U C I ’ S TO P AVA I L A B L E T E CHNO LOG I E SC URAT ED B Y U C I B E A L L A P P L I E D I N NOVAT I ON ’ SR E S E A R C H T R A N S L AT I O N G R O U P

5JULY 2019 / UCI BEALL APPLIED INNOVATION / RISING TIDE4

AG Tools – a UCI Beall Applied Innovation Wayfinder* startup that brings big data, analytics, reports and forecasts to the agriculture supply chain – believes that starting at the source, with the farmer, is the best bet for a sustainable future.

THE CURRENT STATE

“I always say that farmers are like painters,” said Martha Montoya, CEO of AG Tools and board member of the California Department of Agriculture. “Just like painters who go into their studio to create beautiful paintings, farmers run amazing farms, but they do not always see the bigger picture of the world outside of where they operate.”

There are a multitude of variables that affect the agriculture supply chain from farmer to buyer, and there is a vast disconnect between everyone involved. And, in this era of industries becoming more and more data-driven, it’s important to stay informed on the latest consumer trends all over the world so that smart decisions on the farm level can be made proactively, rather than reactively.

Farmers typically rely on a free online portal provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that offers a few data sets but does not come close to the level of information needed to make truly informed logistics decisions. Furthermore, if a farmer were to compile the data themselves, it would require multiple man-hours and spreadsheets to have an impact – an unrealistic feat for farmers who have little time to sit behind a computer and conduct

research in an industry where changes that affect the supply chain can happen fast.

Supply chain issues can be as simple as a truckload of produce waiting at a closed border – truck and refrigeration system running – due to a holiday that was not taken into account. Carbon footprint aside, the extra days at the border cost money and, because it is largely a consignment industry, the cost comes out of the farmer’s paycheck.

INDUSTRY INTELLIGENCE

Montoya spent years sourcing goods for the processed food market in the Americas, which helped her understand every aspect of the supply chain, including buyers, suppliers, farmers and shippers.

Her experience in global logistics gave her insights into the intricacies of processing procedures that influenced shipments. Through those experiences, she came to realize that no amount of processing could make bad produce taste as good as high-quality produce.

Soon after, Montoya was asked by friend Aslam Khan – accomplished franchisee and CEO of Falcon Holdings Management, a business management company – to help his company procure fresh produce directly from producers. Montoya then began her transition to fresh produce.

In an effort to keep her finger on the pulse of her supply chains, Montoya began making a list of variables after she noticed a weekly shipment of bananas from Ecuador

would routinely be late for a variety of reasons. Among the reasons were problems at the Panama Canal, workers not showing up the day after payday, little-known local holidays observed on business days and changes in fuel prices. The list of variables became so exhaustive that Montoya eventually hired staff whose main role was to call and verify that nothing on that list had changed to ensure a timely delivery. And it worked.

Montoya had eliminated so many of the pain points in her supply chains that her work became relatively predictable in an industry plagued with unpredictability. That was until a new variable made its way into the process: human error when verifying the list of variables. In the fast-paced, high-stress world of buying and sourcing food, a single human error can result in big losses.

Always looking to improve the process, Martha Montoya sought help from her brother Gustavo Montoya, now chief technology strategist at AG Tools, to build a program that automatically sent alerts when there were changes in the supply chain. The alerts quickly became overwhelming and Montoya realized she needed a new approach.

Martha asked Gustavo to observe the supply chain from the ground level to see if there was potential for a more robust solution beyond alerts. After examining the processes for two seasons, he knew it was possible from a technology standpoint, but the most important piece of the puzzle was simplifying it, since those who might benefit from this proposed tool do not have time to learn a new software.

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T H E S TA R T U P U S E S B I G D ATA T O S O LV E ONE O F T H E I N DUS TRY ’ S B I G G E S T P R O B L E M S .

According to a study published in 2011 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, nearly one-third of the global production of food for human consumption is wasted – most of which occurs before getting to the consumer.

With the global population projected to increase almost 30 percent by 2050, meeting the needs of developed nations, let alone those currently afflicted by poverty and hunger, will become an even harder task for the agriculture industry.

S TA RT U P

AG Tools Elevates the Agriculture Industry from the Ground Up

I’M A STUDENT AGAIN AND I LOVE IT ... THE INNOVATION ADVISOR PROGRAM IS PRICELESS AND A HUGE ADVANTAGE ...”

– Martha Montoya

Food waste is a huge problem in the agricultural industry and AG Tools aims to combat it by empowering everyone in the supply chain with the data to make smarter decisions.

7JULY 2019 / UCI BEALL APPLIED INNOVATION / RISING TIDE6

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A SMARTER SOLUTION

Gustavo Montoya began recruiting his team of software engineers by searching in his area of central Washington and found that many prime candidates were children of farm workers. He also found engineers with similar backgrounds in the city of Zamora – known for its berry farming – in Michoacán, Mexico.

This combined experience gave the team a unique advantage, as everyone involved understands how farmers can benefit from the software and has a deep passion for their work.

The AG Tools software aggregates real-time data from around 40 trusted entities, including government agencies, as well as other metrics in an easy-to-use portal. The service empowers farmers, shippers and buyers by providing daily reports full of actionable information about their specific commodities, including market insights and supply chain logistics.

This means that a time-strapped worker can make informed decisions, from getting the best price to diverting shipments that would otherwise be wasted due to storms or labor strikes at the final destination.

While the technology side of the company is spearheaded by Martha’s brothers Gustavo and Oscar Montoya, where they focus on developing the AG Tools software and work to bring more functions to users, Martha focuses on the business side, including sharpening her business acumen at the Cove @ UCI Beall Applied Innovation*.

There Martha uses the services of the Small Business Development Center @ UCI Beall Applied Innovation*, attends Wayfinder* workshops, and takes advantage of as many Innovation Advisors* as possible.

“I’m a student again and I love it,” said Montoya. “And the free business guidance from industry leaders offered with the Innovation Advisor program* is priceless and a huge advantage for AG Tools.”

A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

While the AG Tools software is currently focused on specialty crops – fruits, vegetables, nuts, herbs and flowers – the software architecture is built to expand to other commodities in the future, which will only increase its worth to the agriculture industry. The software is competitively priced, too.

Martha Montoya knows that a farmer can recoup the cost of their annual membership after using it to make an informed decision on just one shipment. But money is not the goal; a sustainable future for farmers, the entire supply chain and the world’s agriculture production is. By ensuring a smarter supply chain, everyone from the farmer to the consumer aims to benefit.

“We start our weekly conference calls with one question: ‘Who is number one,’” said Martha Montoya. “And that’s the farmer. If we can help farmers, everyone else in the supply chain is safe. Because without the farmers, we have no food.”

To learn more about how AG Tools is connecting the agriculture industry, visit agtechtools.com ///

*Resources Mentioned in this Story Cove @ UCI innovation.uci.edu/the-cove

Innovation Advisors Program innovation.uci.edu/programs/innovation-advisors

SBDC @ UCI Beall Applied Innovation innovation.uci.edu/sbdc

Wayfinder innovation.uci.edu/programs/wayfinder-incubator

Montoya’s deep understanding of the industry’s needs come from her

vast experience in logistics and agriculture supply chains.

The AG Tools app delivers daily reports and real-time data, like commodity

pricing, weather monitoring and freight costs, directly to users’

smartphones, tablets or desktops.

W E S T A R T O U R W E E K L Y

C O N F E R E N C E C A L L S

W I T H O N E Q U E S T I O N :

‘ W H O I S N U M B E R O N E ? ’

A N D T H A T ’ S T H E F A R M E R .

I F W E C A N H E L P F A R M E R S ,

E V E R Y O N E E L S E I N T H E

S U P P L Y C H A I N I S S A F E .

B E C A U S E W I T H O U T T H E

F A R M E R S , W E H A V E

N O F O O D . ”

– Martha Montoya

98 JULY 2019 / UCI BEALL APPLIED INNOVATION / RISING TIDE

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Abe Lee is no stranger to pursuing ambitious research and reaching goals. The distinguished professor has over 40 issued patents – several of which have been licensed to major corporations – and he is a William J. Link Professor, the Director of the Center for Advanced Design and Manufacturing of Integrated Microfluidics and chair of UCI’s biomedical engineering department.

Following an illustrious career path and arriving at UCI in 2001, Lee’s decades of collaboration to solve the problems linked to neurodegenerative diseases and pharmaceutical efficacy all stems back to microfluidics and his early ability of combining engineering and biological systems. Through collaborations on and off campus, Lee helped grow everything big and small at UCI, from the biomedical engineering program, to several startup ventures, to developing tiny organs to help progress drug development and precision medicine.

REWIND: BEFORE UCI

Originally trained as a mechanical engineer with his Ph.D. focusing on microelectromechanical systems, from 1992 to 1999, Lee worked at Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) where he worked on the stroke initiative and developed clinical tools to treat strokes.

“There was a lot of emphasis on heart diseases and cancer, but stroke was probably the number one in terms of cost, because of the effect of stroke resulting in people losing work or losing jobs and being bed ridden or even comatose.”

This led him toward a field that, at the time, was brand new to the science scene: biomedical engineering.

“It was an exciting time for national labs in general to spin off technology to the commercial or private sectors,” said Lee. “It was a new era. It changed a little afterward, but it still started the trend.”

After LLNL, Lee spent three years working at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) where he worked as a program manager in the Micro Technology Office. He established a program coined “Biofluidic Chips or BioFlips,” with the goal of developing a “physiological status monitoring” system for troops that monitored their wellbeing and combat preparedness. Eventually, he worked with generals to develop this tech as a form of national security and defense.

In addition, while at DARPA, Lee utilized his experience to develop the $60 million BioFlips program, which would incorporate the same principles and technologies behind mechanical engineering into living systems.

“I realized you need to deal with fluids in the devices we developed because the body is primarily water and I also realized it’s not just the doctors that need to get down to the biology,” said Lee.

Then, around the time of the Human Genome Project completion, an international scientific research project that mapped all of the human genome, Lee also began to think about diagnostics and treatment in conjunction with the human genome project.

“We were starting to get to the core of what are the few molecules or a few cells or a few bad pathogens that are triggering this whole thing,” said Lee. “So, going back to the root cause – people refer to it today as precision medicine. That was kind of the stage of where I think a lot of these technologies were starting to form.”

After a short stint at the National Cancer Institute, Lee learned more about the biology of cancer and although he was originally planning to go back to LLNL, he decided to come to UCI in 2001.

“That experience made me feel that I really want to be the one involved in the projects, instead of managing a portfolio of projects,” said Lee. “So, I applied for a faculty position at UCI.”

COLLABORATE WITH THY NEIGHBOR

After moving to Irvine, several children’s playdates and conversations led Lee to discover a potential collaboration with fellow faculty and neighbor, Lisa Flanagan, Ph.D., associate professor of neurology at UCI Health. From his previous profession, Lee brought a microfluidic pump he developed at LLNL, and after much discussion with Flanagan, the two discovered the technology was applicable to her research, which required ways to enrich and sort neural stem cells for treating neurodegenerative diseases.

“My microfluidic pumps and devices can start to separate cells that are of your target interest with molecular basis. I thought maybe we can give it a try,” said Lee.

T H E A C C O M P L I S H E D R E S E A R C H E R A N D E N T R E P R E N E U R H E L P S E S TA B L I S H A U C I D E PA R T M E N T, S TA R T U P V E N T U R E S A N D P I V O TA L R E S E A R C H .

Abe Lee’sJ O U R N E Y T O L A B - O N - A - C H I P

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FAC U LT Y S P O T L I G H T

“ O U R P L A T F O R M I S U N I Q U E

A N D P O W E R F U L C O M P A R E D

T O T H E C O M P E T I T I O N . . . T H E

[ P H A R M A C O M P A N I E S ] S T A R T

T O S E E T H I S A S A P O W E R F U L

W A Y T O P R E D I C T I F T H E I R

D R U G S A R E G O O D O R B A D . ”

– Abe Lee, Ph.D.

11JULY 2019 / UCI BEALL APPLIED INNOVATION / RISING TIDE10

“I think it’s pretty exciting because we are establishing a very good track record of working with top pharma companies in the world,” said Lee.

So far, the company’s device can recreate 16 VMOs with each VMO taking several days to grow. They have also successfully recreated micro organs such as heart, liver, pancreas and brain to help speed up drug discovery and save money on personalized medicine.

The startup also developed vascularized micro tumors (VMT), which are used to recreate tumor cell types. With VMTs, a pharmaceutical company would be able to test the toxicity of a drug and a drug’s interactions with healthy tissues and other body parts.

“This will be a platform where pharma can quickly say ‘I can check mark this off, check mark that off, toxicity, efficacy and other types of side effects,” said Lee.

Lee recently received a Proof-of-Product* grant for Aracari through UCI Beall Applied Innovation in addition to a $250,000 Small Business Innovation Research* grant. Additionally, his former students have also formed startup companies, such as BioPico, a startup that developed a closed automated system for therapeutic stem cell cultures.

“When I started the company in 2011, I shared my idea for field potential based flow cytometry,” said John Collins, Ph.D., CEO of BioPico. “Abe was the first one to endorse the idea, which resulted in some funding. He was even willing to rent his lab to do initial feasibility studies.”

FAST FORWARD: FUTURE

Looking ahead with Aracari, Lee and team will continue to develop their platform as well as develop a clientele base that includes top pharma companies.

“Our platform is unique and powerful compared to the competition, so we’re trying to promote and market this to the pharma companies so

they realize what we can do for them,” said Lee. “They start to see this as a powerful way to predict if their drugs are good or bad.”

Additionally, Lee hopes to gain more capital to increase the staff size within the company so the team can start to develop other platforms that are more focused on personalized medicine. He plans to work with hospitals to help doctors decide the best drug for their patient.

“I continue to enjoy fundamental research and publishing our results to push the forefront of technology,” said Lee. “Now, I feel like I don’t have to publish for the sake of publishing … rather, if I can make one difference in getting a technology out of the lab that can help a lot of people – that motivates me all the more.”

By separating the cells, Lee and Flanagan were able to better identify stem cells by their individual electrical signatures, and Flanagan is continuing this research toward the ultimate goal of treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The coincidental collaboration fostered 10 years of research, publications and patents.

INTRODUCING ANTEATERS TO BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

Alongside Lee’s collaboration, the biomedical engineering center expanded into a department at UCI in 2002. Lee, in addition to a few other faculty members, helped grow the small-but-mighty curriculum, which later became one of UCI’s most popular majors.

“There was a lot of interest and excitement because this area [Irvine] is home to a large number of biomedical device companies,” said Lee. “There’s a need for a strong biomedical engineering program here to build out an ecosystem of innovative research and to educate and train future employees.”

Microfluidics, in particular, took hold and has since branched out into multiple research endeavors and collaborative organizations on campus, including the Center for Advanced Design and Manufacturing of Integrated Microfluidics (CADMIM), which moves microfluidics and other technologies from the university laboratories toward industry and commercial applications.

“The projects are defined by companies and they tell us the general need in the industry,” said

Lee, CADMIM director. “We explore solutions to the problems defined by the companies and, based on their requirements, we respond with research concepts and projects.”

Previously, the CADMIM team and UCI have collaborated to build an agricultural microfluidics system for Corteva Agriscience, a subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Company that specializes in agricultural chemicals and biotech solutions.

PRESENTLY: ARACARI

A little over two years ago, Lee, Steve George, M.D., Ph.D., director of UCI Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Technology and Chris Hughes, UCI professor and chair of molecular biology and biochemistry, co-founded Kino Biosciences, now known as Aracari, a startup company based on developing tools that sharpen and revolutionize drug discovery and development with a long-term goal of creating personalized medicine platforms and databases.

The palm-sized technology, often referred to as a “lab-on-a-chip,” incorporates a proprietary vascularized micro organ (VMO) device that recreates complex 3D cellular structures where oxygen and nutrients are transported through formed blood vessels. The cells that build the VMOs are currently harvested from cord blood, but efforts are in place to harvest using a patient’s stem cells with the end goal of personalized medicine.

UCI professors Abe Lee and Chris Hughes working together

in the Center for Advanced Design and Manufacturing of Integrated

Microfluidics (CADMIM) at UCI’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering.

*Resources Mentioned in this Story Proof-of-Product innovation.uci.edu/programs/pop-grants

SBIR innovation.uci.edu/programs/sbir-sttr

MIC•RO•FLU•I•DICS / noun

Theengineeringoruseofdevicesthatapplyfluidflowtochannels smaller than 1 millimeter in at least one dimension.

(source: nature.com/subjects/microfluidics)

. . . I F I C A N M A K E O N E

D I F F E R E N C E I N G E T T I N G

A T E C H N O L O G Y O U T O F

T H E L A B T H A T C A N H E L P

A L O T O F P E O P L E –

T H A T M O T I V A T E S M E . . . ”

– Abe Lee, Ph.D.

Organ-on-a-chip

A: Gel loading portB: Cell loading portC:MicrofluidicchannelD: Tissue ChamberE: Media reservoir port

E

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A microfluidic chip that holds a multi-unit array, and is used as a platform for large-scale drug screening applications.

Lee’s organ-on-a-chip under the microscope. These tiny organs aim to help develop medicine

best suited for the patient.

13JULY 2019 / UCI BEALL APPLIED INNOVATION / RISING TIDE12

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This avid hiker and climber solves common business challenges through ENP’s collaborative services that unite minds from across the entrepreneurial community.

ENP is a network of business leaders who hold meetings and forums to review promising innovations in business and leadership strategies throughout the United States. For UCI Beall Applied Innovation, ENP connects Wayfinder* teams with established companies through events at the Cove* – Applied Innovation’s headquarters. ENP aims to establish entrepreneurial mindsets within larger companies and encourage forward thinking in startups. Their efforts in this endeavor earned ENP a nomination for the 18th Annual Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award this year.

“These larger enterprises have resources, mentors, capital to support what the Wayfinder companies, for example, are doing,” said Hamilton. “This is all what we are trying to do.”

Hamilton, a seasoned entrepreneur, first moved to the West Coast from Georgia to work with Golden State Foods, an American foodservice company. From there Hamilton progressed toward other corporate leadership roles, including vice president of DIRECTV, where he implemented strategic planning, marketing and organization effectiveness – especially in large industries and enterprises.

Hamilton has woven his diverse leadership experience into a singular attitude – which he encourages in businesses that use ENP resources. Before ENP, CEOs and other business leaders were unhappy because they brainstormed solutions within their peer groups, but lost access to various perspectives and ideas.

“It would be the same people over and over, their peer group – CEOs talking to CEOs and CFOs talking to CFOs,” said Hamilton. “There’s a time and place for that … however, if you’re benchmarking against others or talking to yourself, so to speak, you’re not really learning anything.”

Hamilton’s passion for entrepreneurship gives him a keen eye for promising inventions and concepts. He enjoys that startups are inherently innovative and especially appreciates their original technologies and solutions. With this enthusiasm for early-stage companies, Hamilton and the ENP team educate startups about scalability, market value, infrastructure and growth, among other things, to guide them in the right direction.

Hamilton believes Applied Innovation’s collaborative space gives ENP more educational opportunities with startups – like collaborations with large-scale companies, informational events and business consultations. At the Cove, ENP hosts workshops like the Growth U Summit, an event that features top development experts who discuss building and sustaining market dominance for companies.

“We tend to tell our startups to think big and the enterprise companies to think small,” said Hamilton.

Visit enpinstitute.com to learn more about their services or to attend a workshop. ///

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Scott Hamilton, president and chief executive officer of Executive Next Practices Institute (ENP), never shies away from a challenge – whether it is Half Dome at Yosemite National Park or helping large and small companies in Orange County.

Scott Hamilton, president and chief executive officer of Executive

Next Practices, emphasizes the importance of collaboration between startups and large-scale companies

to help each other progress.

Scaling Businesses Large

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*Resources Mentioned in this Story Cove @ UCI innovation.uci.edu/the-cove

Wayfinder innovation.uci.edu/programs/wayfinder-incubator

W E T E N D T O T E L L O U R

S T A R T U P S T O T H I N K B I G

A N D T H E E N T E R P R I S E

C O M P A N I E S T O

T H I N K S M A L L . ”

– Scott Hamilton

WAYFINDER TEAMS

ESTABLISHED COMPANIES

• Entrepreneurial mindset• Innovative• Promising concepts• Original technologies

• Forward thinking mindset• Experienced• Resources• Capital

New perspectivesand ideas

15JULY 2019 / UCI BEALL APPLIED INNOVATION / RISING TIDE14

sketch approveddesign coming

CONSUMER GOODS AND

SERVICES

BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS

(B2B)

#5CONSUMER

MEDIA

FINANCIALTECHNOLOGY

(FINTECH)

#4

#3

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HEALTHCARE

L I S T I C L E

Top 5 Most Popular Startup Sectors

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Startups – regardless of what they do or the industry in which they operate – are all based on the principle of creating a scalable company that provides customers with new or better goods or services than what currently exists. Some industries, however, are more popular than others.

Popularity can be defined in a number of ways. But, examining popularity based on venture capital interest and industry investments provides insights most beneficial to entrepreneurs and early-stage startups.

This specific type of popularity was determined by examining a breakdown of startups selected by Y Combinator, one of the top startup accelerators in the U.S., with the five most common industries selected from Y Combinator’s two recent groups of admitted startups – Summer 2018 and Winter 2019. This represents a total of 321 startup companies. The five most common industries from Y Combinator’s summer and winter groups were then compared against data compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers, a multinational professional services network, which confirmed that those industries consistently rank in the top 10 for receiving the most investments. Read on to see the top five most popular startup sectors in this area.

E X P L O R E T H E I N D U S T R I E S T H AT A R E G A R N E R I N G T H E M O S T E X C I T E M E N T I N T H E S TA R T U P W O R L D .

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Summer 2018 group (Y Combinator): blog.ycombinator.com/yc-summer-2018-batch-statsWinter 2019 group (Y Combinator): blog.ycombinator.com/yc-winter-2019-batch-statsPricewaterhouseCoopers:pwc.com/us/en/industries/technology/moneytree/explorer.html#*RichardSudek’spitchingseries:innovation.uci.edu/2019/01/how-to-pitch-to-investors-pt-1-portray-passion

While these five sectors might be the most popular, it’s important to note that a great idea can transcend any popularity shortcomings. For more information on how to present your idea to investors in the best way possible, read Richard Sudek’s series on how to pitch to investors*. ///

Startups that operate in the B2B Software and Services space made up 30 and 40 percent of the Summer 2018 and Winter 2019 Y Combinator groups. This sector creates services for companies to better manage their business or interact with their customer base.

Examples Include: Slack messagingplatform

Asana projectmanagementsoftware

Startups that operate in the Healthcare space made up 28 and 14 percent of the Summer 2018 and Winter 2019 Y Combinator groups. Startups in this sector typically offer new and more convenient ways for people to manage and track their well-being.

Examples Include: Flo Health helpswomentracktheirmenstrualcycles,ovulationandfertilitydays

Keeps offersasimplifiedprescriptionanddeliveryprocessforhair-lossmedication

Startups that operate in the Consumer Goods and Services space made up 9 and 13 percent of the Summer 2018 and Winter 2019 Y Combinator groups. Startups in the Consumer Goods and Services sector provide fresh spins on existing goods and services, or bring entirely new ones to consumers.

Examples Include: DoorDash fooddeliveryservice

Airbnb home-sharingservice

Startups that operate in the FinTech space made up 6 and 8 percent of the Summer 2018 and Winter 2019 Y Combinator groups. FinTech startups leverage technology to make financial services more accessible and convenient.

Examples Include: Venmo mobilepaymentservice

Robinhood financialservicescompanythatmakesinvestinginstocksmoreaccessible

Startups that operate in the Consumer Media space made up 7 and 6 percent of the Summer 2018 and Winter 2019 Y Combinator groups. Consumer Media startups provide new ways for people to interact with and enjoy media.

Examples Include: Twitch livestreamingplatform

Reddit onlinecommunitiesandforums

1716 JULY 2019 / UCI BEALL APPLIED INNOVATION / RISING TIDE

Capillary Biomedical, Inc.Capillary Biomedical, Inc. is ready to start clinical trials of its SteadiSet infusion set for people with diabetes who use insulin pumps. The growing team recently leased a facility in the Irvine Spectrum Technology Park.

S P E C I A L E V E N T

UCI Innovators Recognized at Second Annual Innovator Awards Ceremony

The second annual UCI Innovator Awards ceremony was held at the Cove @ UCI Beall Applied Innovation to celebrate UCI researchers and faculty from campus.

Acknowledging and supporting the work of researchers and faculty is vital to the success of Applied Innovation and UCI’s mission to make a positive impact. ///

E L E V E N C A M P U S I N N O VAT O R S W E R E N O M I N AT E D F O R T H E A W A R D C AT E G O R I E S .

Gate 5 Energy Partners, Inc.Gate 5 Energy Partners’ innovative process that transforms sewage into clean water, renewable energy and sterile ash is being considered for use by both South Orange County Wastewater Management Authority and the city of Amersfoort, Netherlands. This scalable, energy-positive process, which runs without fossil fuels, has been developed with UCI’s Advanced Power and Energy Program in the Henry Samueli School of Engineering.

R E S I D E N T S O F T H E C O V E @ U C I B E A L L A P P L I E D I N N O VAT I O N AT A G L A N C E .

C OV E T E NA N T S

In the EcosystemMonet NetworksAnurag Bist, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Monet Networks, the Humanized Data™ platform, was honored by the University of Hawai’i with the Dean’s Award of Excellence for “achievements in academic and research excellence and outstanding service and leadership.” Bist was one of two recipients of the 2019 award along with Juniper Networks co-founder and chief scientist Pradeep Sindhu.

Learning OvationsThe Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) named Learning Ovations’ A2i Professional Support System as a 2019 SIIA CODiE Award finalist in the Best Emerging Instructional Technology Solution category. The SIIA CODiE Awards are the premier awards for the software and information industries and have recognized product excellence for more than 30 years.

METAseismicNoemi Bonessio, Ph.D., PE, founder of UCI startup METAseismic, was recently featured in the Orange County Business Journal (OCBJ) and was a nominee for OCBJ’s 2019 Women in Business Awards.

AG ToolsAuctus Global CapitalBase 11Beckman Coulter Brightlands Maastricht Health CampusCapillary BiomedicalCellular NanomedCove FundCybernaut Zfounder VenturesDocbotExecutive Next PracticesElyda PharmaceuticalsGate 5 Energy PartnersGreenTech CaliforniaJeniVisionKadhoKolkinLaser Associated SciencesLearning OvationsLextrum, Inc.Mark IV CapitalMETAseismicMonet NetworksNew Enterprise AssociatesNexus OpticalNovoheartNXT BiomedicalOCTANePolgenixRebeccaTech RTConfidenceSBDC @ UCI Beall Applied InnovationSustain Southern CaliforniaSyntrTech Coast Angels

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Formoreinformationon communitypartners,visit: innovation.uci.edu/the-cove/ecosystem

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Sophia Lin is a Research Translation Specialist at UCI Beall Applied Innovation. Lin helps faculty, student and postdoctoral researchers translate their work into marketable entities by utilizing Applied Innovation’s POP Grants, I-Corps and BioEngine programs. An avid hiker and rock climber, Lin lets us in on her favorite off-the-beaten-path hike and who she would add to Mount Rushmore.

Q What’s your favorite place to go hiking and rock climbing?

Honestly, I think it depends on the year, but I would say my favorite place is Tuolumne. It’s part of Yosemite but the less touristy part of it. I’ve gone hiking and climbing there, it’s just a little more secluded and the scenery is just more remote.

Q If you were stranded in the wilderness what two things

would you want with you? A jacket… or a sleeping bag! I’d probably die without a sleeping bag because I’m prone to getting cold, so a very nice sleeping bag even though that’s kind of unrealistic. And, maybe an emergency beacon.

Q If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?

It would be interesting to see what New Zealand is like. I feel like you have mountains and ocean, that or Norway because you have the same, it’s just a little colder.

Q What’s a talent you wish you had?

Are these real-life talents? Because I would love to teleport, but I guess that’s a superpower. I guess to speak many languages or to be able to pick up languages easily. I can’t even imitate accents.

Q If you could add a person to Mount Rushmore who would it be and why?

Mount Rushmore?! Well this is a random question! So whose face would I want to see in rock form? Could it be an animal? That would be so cute! A dog … I don’t have one, I just like them, they’re cute. I would want it to be a goofy-looking one but not Goofy; he’s scary. He’s huge, he’s tall and gangly! ///

U C I B E A L L A P P L I E D I N N O VAT I O N S AT D O W N W I T H S O P H I A L I N T O L E A R N A B O U T W H AT S H E W O U L D D O T O S U R V I V E T H E W I L D E R N E S S A N D W H AT W O U L D B E H E R S U P E R P O W E R .

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with Sophia Lin

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Mo Li received the Emerging Innovation/ Early Career Innovator of the Year award. Her research focuses on advancing infrastructure engineering through discovery of innovative materials and through understanding and enabling the interfaces between materials, structures and advanced manufacturing methods.

Elliot Botvinick received the Entrepreneurial Leader of the Year award. He is a leader in advancing medical device research and development and bringing his research to commercialization. Current devices from his lab are aimed at the diagnosis and treatment of trauma and Type 1 diabetes.

Christopher C.W. Hughes received the Innovator of the Year award. His research will help develop true precision medicine and lower drug development costs by improving the accuracy of drug discovery and validation.

19MAY 2019 / UCI BEALL APPLIED INNOVATION / RISING TIDE

Venture capital is money invested in startup businesses that funds activities that will lead to growth in value of the business. Let’s start at the beginning where the dollars start moving.

Certain investors choose to invest in venture capital because of the potential for very high returns. Although there is a very high risk, venture capital investments in startup companies have the potential to see 10 times more than their initial investment.

So, how do investors actually get their venture capital investment dollars into startup companies? While some investors may directly invest in startups (these are known as angels), investors often invest in venture capital funds (VC funds) and have experienced investment managers choose and manage their investments. These managers, known as Venture Capitalists (VCs), pool investors’ money into VC funds.

When VCs decide to make an investment into a startup company, they will make a “capital call.” This means the VCs ask the VC fund investors for the money to make the investment. The VC fund then uses the money to purchase stock in the startup company.

The startup company uses the money to develop its product and increase its sales. Startup companies very rarely pay dividends to their stockholders, so at this point, the VCs and the VC fund investors must simply wait until the startup company is acquired or their stock is publicly listed and sold in an initial public offering (IPO).

When a startup company does distribute money following an acquisition or IPO, the money flows back to its stockholders, which includes the VC funds. Some VC funds may allow the VCs to recycle a portion of the money into new investments, but for the most part, the money flows back to the VC fund investors.

But, not all the money ends up with the VC fund investors. In typical VC funds, the VC fund investors pay the VCs an annual management fee, which is usually two percent of the total fund size. Furthermore, the VCs also get a share of the VC funds’ profits. As a typical example, if a VC fund generates $100 million in profits, the VCs get $20 million and the VC fund investors get $80 million.

In the next venture capital installment, we’ll look at different types of VC fund investors. ///

U C I S T O R I E S

Across CampusS O M E O F T H E L AT E S T S T O R I E S F R O M T H E U C I C A M P U S

UCI HEALTH

Dr. Li-Mei Lin treated the victim of a near-fatal car accident

with the newly FDA-approved mesh brain stent – part of a technique called “flow

diversion.” Dr. Lin is the first person on the West Coast to use such a technique for brain aneurysm treatment.

ucihealth.org

DONALD BREN SCHOOL OF INFORMATION &

COMPUTER SCIENCES

Nithin Jilla’s nonprofit AppJam+ allows college-level

information and computer science students to mentor Southern California middle school students on game design and development.

ics.uci.edu

SCHOOL OF LAW

Keynote speaker L. Song Richardson, dean of the UCI School of Law, joined local Girl Scouts chapters and representatives from the Orange

County Department of Education for the Voice for Girls 2019 event at the Newport Beach Country Club. Richardson discussed unconscious bias with a focus on diversity and gender equality.

law.uci.edu

SCHOOL OF THE HUMANITIES

UCI Professor Julia Lupton has created the first online, interactive Shakespeare class in the UC system. It features guest lecturers,

theatrical performances and actor voice-overs. The class is part of the UC Innovative Learning

Technology Initiative, which aims to enhance student experience through technology.

humanities.uci.edu

HENRY SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Materials scientists often struggle with structural instability in the materials they work with, which

limits scientific development. Two UCI researchers discovered

methods to control a defect to benefit self-assembly, a method often used

in nanoscale structure studies.

engineering.uci.edu

T I P S

Follow the Money through the Venture Capital Process I N T H I S F I R S T I N S TA L L M E N T, W E T R A C K T H E D O L L A R S T H R O U G H T H E V E N T U R E C A P I TA L I N V E S T M E N T P R O C E S S .

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Luis Vasquez has 15 years’ experience in the startup and venture capital space. He has worked with a startup, a VC firm, a venture development organization and a venture studio/venture firm. He is now UCI Beall Applied Innovation’s Associate Director of Venture Capital Collaboration.

IPO / nounshortforinitialpublicoffering; acompany’sflotationonthestockexchange

AC·QUI·SI·TION / nounanactofpurchaseofonecompanybyanother

Where does the money flow?

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VC FUNDS

INVESTORS

STARTUPS

The venture capital process moves money through to

help fund startup companies succeed and investors profit.

JULY 2019 / UCI BEALL APPLIED INNOVATION / RISING TIDE 2120

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UCI Beall Applied Innovation is a dynamic,innovativecentralplatform fortheUCIcampus,entrepreneurs,inventors,thebusinesscommunity and investors to collaborate and move UCIresearchfromlabtomarket.

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