UC SAN DIEGO TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER OFFICE (TTO) NEWSLETTER! ! ! ! 1

Dr. Michael Heller was born with an enthusiasm for science. He knew from an early age that he would become a researcher. In high school, he built fuel cells and created energy from algae for science fair projects–taking home several first-place ribbons.

These days instead of ribbons, Heller has collected more than 45 U.S. patents and formed four start-up companies. Not only a faculty inventor, Heller is professor of bioengineering and nanoengineering at UC San Diego. Along with his colleagues, he helped establish the new nanoengineering department at the Jacobs School of Engineering.

Prior to joining the university in 2001, Heller garnered national recognition for his expertise in research, corporate leadership, and entrepreneurship when the Bush and Clinton administra-tions invited him to serve as a panel member for the National Nanotech Initiative. These panel members provided two assess-ment reports to the White House on the impact, opportunities, and challenges of this new field of science.

Heller’s circuitous career path began when he completed his postdoc work at Northwestern University in 1976 and was offered a position at Amoco. While mildly curious at first, Heller was enthusiastic when he

saw that Amoco was interested in conducting genetic engineering research. The company was an early starter in attempting to convert plants and algae into biofuels. Heller began his new job by investigating methods in which oil could be made from algae. He also explored methods in which food-grade yeast could be made from ethanol in order to provide a new protein source for human consumption.

In 1984, Heller moved to San Diego to join Molecular Biosystems, Incorporated (MBI), where he designed tests that used DNA probes to diagnose cancer, infectious diseases, and genetic diseases. During this time, he was invited as a guest speaker at a DNA conference in New York to speak about his work regarding fluorescent and chemiluminescent resonant energy transfer (FRET) DNA probes. As Heller describes it,

invent@UCSDInnovator Spotlight

Michael Heller: Bitten by the NanoEntrepreneur Bug

DECEMber 2011, Vol. XIx

Inside this issue:

2

Entrepreneur and Technology Events

invent.ucsd.edu

Continued on page 4

Michael J. Heller, Ph.D. Professor of Bioengineering and NanoEngineering

5U.S. Patents

2News Round-up on Licensees

6

Featured Technology: Biomarkers and Genetic Tests for Autism and Other Developmental DisordersTech ID: 21873/SD2011-277

• Campus Notice-November 21, 2011 Amendment to UC Patent Agreement

• Background on UC Patent Acknowledgement

• The Patent Amendment

IMPORTANT NOTICES:

Featured Technology: Wirelessly Powered and Controlled Electrical Signal Generator for Lab-on-a-Chip DevicesTech ID: 21902/SD2011-113

3

UC SAN DIEGO TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER OFFICE (TTO) NEWSLETTER! ! ! ! 2

events

Weds., January 18, 2012MIT Enterprise Forum San Diego

Thurs., January 26, 2012CONNECT FrameWorks Workshops: Realizing Value from Innovation–Successful Business Models for New Technologies

Thurs., January 26, 2012CommNexus January - MarketLink - Vodafone & Verizon

Tues., January 31, 2012CommNexus Emerging Threat Vectors

Weds./Thurs., February 1-2, 2012BIOCOM's Global Life Science Partnering Conference

Weds., February 15, 2012MIT Enterprise Forum San Diego

Weds., February 15, 2012BIOCOM: Diagnostic Briefing

Thurs., February 16, 2012CONNECT FrameWorks Workshops: Optimizing Websites, Social Media and Mobile Devices–Risk and Reward in the Wild West of Technology

Thurs./Fri., March 8-9, 2012CALBIO2012

Weds./Sat., March 14-17, 2012AUTM 2012 Annual Meeting-Anaheim, CA

Mon./Thurs., March 26-29, 2012LES Masters Class: Principles and Practices of Intellectual Asset Management

News Round-up on LicenseesNeoprobe Receives FDA Acceptance of Lymphoseek® (tilmanocept) New Drug ApplicationDUBLIN, Ohio—(10/19/11)—Neoprobe Corporation (NYSE Amex: NEOP), a diversified developer of innovative oncology surgical and diagnostic products, today announced that its New Drug Application (NDA) for Lymphoseek® (tilmanocept) has been accepted for review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Neoprobe submitted the Lymphoseek NDA on August 10, 2011.Neoprobe seeks U.S. clearance to market Lymphoseek for use in Intraoperative Lymphatic Mapping (ILM), a surgical oncology procedure in which lymph nodes draining the area around a tumor are identified and biopsied to determine if cancer has spread to the lymph nodes. According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 230,000 new cases of breast cancer and 70,000 new cases of melanoma are expected to be diagnosed in the United States in 2011. The Lymphoseek NDA has proposed use of the agent in anatomic delineation of lymphatic tissue. (read more)

Neoprobe Licenses AstraZeneca’s Alzheimer’s Plaque Imaging Agent (12/13/11)Neoprobe paid AstraZeneca $5 million up front for a license to the latter’s late-stage radiopharmaceutical imaging candidate AZD4694, for use in positron emission tomography (PET) diagnostic imaging of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease patients. Under terms of the deal Neoprobe will take on clinical development and commercialization of the fluorine-18-labelled radiotracer, and expects to start a Phase III clinical program during early 2013.AstraZeneca could receive another $6.5 million in development and regulatory filings, plus up to $11 million on achievement of regulatory approvals and the start of commercial sales. The firm retains the right to use AZD4694 in clinical trials supporting the development of potential treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. (read more) 

Sanofi Pasteur Acquires Exclusive, Worldwide License for Acne Vaccine and Treatment (9/21/11)- The pre-clinical vaccine was developed by researchers at the University of California, San Diego -Lyon, France – September 21, 2011 – Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY), announced today a research and development collaboration with the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) on an immunological approach to acne prevention and treatment targeting the specific neutralization of Propionibacterium acnes factors in inflammation. (read more)

UC San Diego Invention Saving Consumers Trillions of Watt Hours and Millions of DollarsSan Diego, CA, September 6, 2011 — A University of California, San Diego technology that significantly reduces the amount of energy wasted by chips in computers, mobile phones and other electronic devices has recently passed the trillion watt-hour milestone in energy savings, according to the technology’s current licensee, Tela Innovations. With residential energy costs at just over 11 cents per kilowatt hour, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Energy

Continued on page 3

UC SAN DIEGO TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER OFFICE (TTO) NEWSLETTER! ! ! ! 3

Information Administration, the savings are significant and growing, so far totaling well over $100 million that consumers haven’t been charged on their electricity bills.Electronics are constantly leaking power, and that energy is wasted without having contributed anything to performance. This is especially true of devices that consumers tend to leave turned on even when they aren’t being used, such as personal computers, cell phones, and cable and Internet connections. (read more)

Window into the BrainNeurAccel’s patented imaging technology aids research into the central nervous systemSan Diego Union-Tribune, (9/5/11) — NeurAccel Biosciences is on the cutting edge of the effort to find new cures for brain diseases.

The 2-year-old, privately owned La Jolla company uses a patented technology invented at the University of California, San Diego to test the effects of experimental drugs in the brains of laboratory animals.

The contract research organization, which runs studies for companies that develop new drugs, is headed by its founder, president and chief executive, Quoc-Thang Nguyen, and its vice president and chief operating officer, Thomas Fouquet.

They recently discussed the company’s work with the Union-Tribune.

Q: What does NeurAccel do?

A: Fouquet: Our mission is to accelerate the finding of cures for brain diseases through the use of biophotonics, which is the novel science of using light to interrogate and manipulate cells. We help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as research institutions, to understand the causes of central nervous system diseases and discover and develop compounds against these diseases. Our core business is in vivo (inside the body) imaging, and our expertise is in advanced biophotonics. We have developed very innovative imaging techniques based on two-photon microscopy and bioengineered fluorescent cellular sensors (known as neurofluocytes).

Q: Why are you focused on central nervous system diseases?

A: Nguyen: Most brain and spinal cord diseases are uncurable, crippling and often fatal. It is one of the greatest challenges in this century to find an effective cure for these conditions. Fortunately, we are at a point where newly developed biomedical technologies can help us better understand and fight these diseases.

(read more)

Genomatica Files Registration Statement for Proposed IPOSAN DIEGO, August 25, 2011San Diego, CA, August 25, 2011 — Renewable chemicals developer Genomatica announced that it has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relating to a proposed initial public offering (IPO) of shares of its common stock. Genomatica spun out of the Bioengineering Department of the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. (read more)

* * *

News Round-up: continued from page 2

Wirelessly Powered and Controlled Electrical Signal Generator for Lab-on-a-Chip DevicesTech ID: 21902 / UC Case 2011-113-0

Lab-on-a-chip microfluidic devices have facilitated shrinking biological instruments onto chips that produce results faster while reducing consumables and waste and presenting the advantages of low cost, high portability, and easy operation. DC and AC power are widely used in these lab-on-a-chip devices to control the bioparticles suspended in microfluidic channels (e.g., localized heating, fluid mixing, and bio-particle handling). Interactions between electrical signals and cells and biomolecules also enable unique functions for diagnosis and cellular engineering (e.g., cell impedance measurements, electroporation, control of ion channels and membrane potential, and neural excitation and detection). In various types of such interactions, electrical signals of specific amplitudes, waveforms, and frequencies are needed to produce the desired effects. This has necessitated the use of several connecting wires between the lab-on-a-chip device and external instruments (power supplies, waveform, and function generators), thus adding to the cost and size of a system and, more importantly, increasing operational complexity and chance of error when clinicians with little electrical training use the device. For lab-on-a-chip devices to be more widely used in point-of-care settings, the devices need to offer additional functionalities and performance while keeping their operation simple. This innovation enables simple operation by providing wireless solutions for powering, signal generation, and control. Photoconductive switches, photovoltaic device, and/or RF circuits are used to produce DC and AC signals. These signals, in turn, control the behaviors of suspended particles and biological samples in the microfluidic channels of a lab-on-chip device and provides various architectures to achieve wireless electrical signal generation.

Non-Confidential Disclosure online.

UC SAN DIEGO TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER OFFICE (TTO) NEWSLETTER! ! ! ! 4

InterDigital and Calit2 Collaborate on Innovation Challenge

“They [the audience] were impressed, but you could tell they didn’t think it would lead to anything. Sometimes I’m early, almost too early.” Within five years, fluorescent DNA probes were the current state-of-the-art and Heller’s work is behind some of the earliest patents filed in this field.

Bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, Heller left MBI to strike out on his own. He and a colleague from the University of Iowa formed a start-up company, Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT), to create antisense therapies. In a DNA double helix, the strand opposite to the mRNA strand is called the antisense strand and antisense therapy interferes with the expression of disease-causing proteins by preventing their genetic code from being properly read. IDT’s novel approach was to find mechanisms that turn these genes on and off in order to treat disease, versus the existing approach of using classical drugs to treat cancer and other diseases.

While the company was successful, Heller always had new ideas forming. He later decided to leave IDT to pursue microarray technology research and envisioned a lab-on-a-chip device that could run multiple tests in parallel. After convincing his wife to relocate back to San Diego, Heller ran his own lab for two years. He describes this time

period as, “I knew what I wanted to do and I knew how far I wanted to take it.” And he did just that.

In the early 1990’s, Heller contacted some friends to solicit interest in a new start-up, which resulted in the formation of Nanogen and then later the subsidiary Nanotronics. Always busy, he concurrently held an adjunct appointment at UC San Diego and worked with researchers on various projects. By 2001 he was ready to move into academic research full time.

Today Heller still wears many hats. From 2005 to 2009, he oversaw the research of his graduate student Raj Krishnan and is one of the co-inventors for the resulting start-up Biological Dynamics. Another Heller student, Ben Sullivan, licensed pulsar technology from the university to form the start-up company OcuSense, now known as TearLab. Heller guides his incoming student researchers with the statement, “whatever we do, it has to ultimately be cost-effective. There is a very high-

performance criteria in the health industry today.”

Looking back, Heller states, “We took lots of chances and I have been very lucky that things always have come out well.”

* * *

“What ever we do, it has to ultimately be

cost-effective.”

Continued from Heller page 1

UCSD News12/13/2011InterDigital (NASDAQ: IDCC) announced the InterDigital Innovation Challenge (I²C), a wireless technology research contest in collaboration with the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) at the University of California, San Diego. To be formally launched in early 2012, the I²C will nurture and accelerate innovation in advanced wireless technologies and shall be open to students and faculty of any North American University.Under its extensive university relations program, InterDigital is making a multi-year charitable donation to Calit2, funding the engineering contest. The I²C will enable Calit2 at UC San Diego to further its mission and strategic plan to extend its influence and reach into innovations in wireless technology in academia and industry. In alignment with the forward-thinking mindset of both organizations, the contest is aimed to discover breakthroughs in radio signal propagation and processing, radio modem innovations, radio network management and systems innovations, compression and data management techniques, energy improvement in radio processing, and wireless and network virtualization. The

submissions will be evaluated by a judging panel comprised of participants from academia and industry and $175,000 in cash prizes will be awarded to the top entries, including $100,000 for the winning team or individual.“We see this contest as a great way of stimulating innovation in the wireless arena, similar to the currently underway DARPA Shredder Challenge,” remarked Calit2 Divisional Director Ramesh Rao. “We have an outstanding group of wireless researchers and I’m sure they’ll be looking forward to competing in this national competition. The promise of a $100K award is bound to capture the imagination of our students, researchers, and faculty."“As a leader in the development of advanced wireless technologies, InterDigital is proud to work with Calit2 – widely recognized as one to the world’s premier academic research institutions – on creating a platform that will bring together some of the best and brightest in the field,” said William J. Merritt, InterDigital's president and chief executive officer. “Given the strong support and leadership of Calit2, we are confident that the InterDigital Innovation Challenge will generate a number of technical breakthroughs and fresh thinking that will help shape the future of wireless.”

(more)

UC SAN DIEGO TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER OFFICE (TTO) NEWSLETTER! ! ! ! 5

U.S. Patents Issued Since July 2011An important part of licensing technology is protecting the university’s intellectual property by filing and prosecuting patents. From a company’s perspective, acquiring patent protection is often crucial when raising venture financing and commercializing technology.

In the previous fiscal year, over 80 U.S. patents were issued to UC San Diego innovators. In the current fiscal year, more than 20 U.S. patents have issued as of December 6, 2011. Listed below are the patents issued in FY2012 with those in each division or school grouped together.

Division of Biological Sciences 8,053,563: YKL-40 monoclonal authority–Price, Paul et al.

7,977,060: Mammalian sweet taste receptors–Zuker, Charles et al.

Division of Physical Sciences 7,981,695: Diagnostic methods using plasmon resonant particles–Schultz, Sheldon et al.

8,008,510: Metalloprotein inhibitors–Cohen, Seth et al.

Division of Social Sciences 7,981,047: EEG feedback controlled sound therapy for tinnitus–Viirre, Erik et al.

Jacobs School of Engineering8,020,122: Circuit splitting in analysis of circuits at transistor level–Cheng, Chung Kuan et al.

8,063,713: Differential transmission line having a plurality of leakage resistors spaced between the transmission line–Cheng, Chung Kuan et al.

7,969,576: Optical sensing based on wavelength modulation spectroscopy–Buckley, Steven et al.

7,986,250: Nonlinearity robust successive requantizer–Galton, Ian et al.

7,987,702: Tear film osmometry–Sullivan, Benjamin

7,999,622: Adaptive phase noise cancellation for fractional-N phase locked loop–Galton, Ian et al.

8,018,658: Fluidic adaptive lens systems and methods–Lo, Yu-Hwa

7,978,797: Method and system for near optimal iterative detection of the 2-dimensional ISI channel–Marrow, Marcus

Health Sciences7,977,320: Method of increasing efficacy of tumor cell killing using combinations of anti-neoplastic agents–Ball, Edward et al.

7,981,694: Solid phase isolation of proteins, nucleic acids and other macromolecules–Boss, Gerry et al.

7,994,226: Methods of treating non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) using cysteamine products–Dohil, Ranjan et al.

7,981,615: Compositions and methods for treating diseases associated with T-box and N-Myc–Evans, Sylvia et al.

8,017,135: Lipid-drug conjugates for local therapy of eye diseases–Freeman, William et al.

8,030,297: Controlled release corticosteroid compositions and methods for the treatment of OTIC disorders–Harris, Jeffrey et al.

7,994,143: Metabolically stable alkoxyalkyl esters of antiviral or antiproliferative phosphonates, nucleoside phosphonates and nucleoside phosphates–Hostetler, Karl et al.

7,972,601: Method of promoting delivery of an antioxidant agent to a cell expression neuroligin–Taylor, Palmer et al.

7,985,401: Peptides whose uptake by cells is controllable–Tsien, Roger et al.

7,993,879: Fluorescent protein sensors for detection of analytes–Tsien, Roger et al.

8,071,761: Substrates for beta-lactamase and uses thereof–Tsien, Roger et al.

8,071,789: Synthetic molecules that specifically react with target sequences–Tsien, Roger et al.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography

8,023,116: Resolving quadrature fringes of interferometer signals in real time–Zumberge, Mark et al.

* * *

Scan the code above with a QR code reader on your smartphone to search our database of available technologies.

UC SAN DIEGO TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER OFFICE (TTO) NEWSLETTER! ! ! ! 6

Biomarkers and Genetic Tests for Autism and Other Developmental DisordersTech ID: 21873 / SD2011-277

One way to combat autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) would be to discover biomarkers for these illnesses, which potentially could revolutionize their rational diagnosis and management. Biomarkers could facilitate diagnosis, lead to earlier identification and intervention, and possibly suggest treatable targets for medicinal chemistry and drug-discovery research.

Scientists at UC San Diego have developed biomarkers to assist with identifying genetic pathways, networks, and processes altered in autism at the age of first clinical signs. Specifically, this innovation allows the DNA analysis of an individual for copy number variations (CNVs) and gene analysis of detected CNVs for the presence of excess number of deletions or duplications of genes that regulate cell cycle, DNA damage detection and response, and apoptosis functions. The cell cycle genetic test of autism of this invention further comprises a step of obtaining a look-up table of a specific set of defective genes with a statistical test of how many of these genes are deleted or duplicated in the individual's CNVs and determining a threshold or greater number of such gene defects to further identify a person as being at progressively greater risk for autism.

Non-Confidential Disclosure online.

UCSD Technology Transfer OfficeMcGill Hall, 2nd Floor

invent@ucsd.edu(858) 534-5815

OutreachAs part of our outreach mission TTO welcomes visitors from around the globe to discuss best practices of technology transfer and economic development. A delegation from Canada, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, visited our office in September 2011.

In November 2011, representatives from the King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology (KACST) BADIR technology incubator program, Saudi Arabia, participated in a three-week fellowship program organized by Global CONNECT. During their visit, this group visited TTO to learn about San Diego’s innovation network.

* * *

From left to right: Frank Cano, Bill Decker, Shihong Nicolaou (TTO staff), Linda Melnick (University College of North Manitoba), Peter Guay (PWL Capital Inc. Quebec), Jody Rice Gallager (Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia), and Daniel Charron (Octane Strategies and Communications, Quebec).

Jane Moores AVC Technology Transfer (fifth from left) and Global CONNECT directors Greg Horowitt (second from left) and Sanford Ehrlich (far right) participated in the site visit.