THE CATALYST | CBC ALUMNI MAGAZINE
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INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP FROM CBC FACULTY By Jeffrey Pyun & Laura Silva
C
Photo credit: Paul Tumarkin
patents issued, BC is dedicated to innovamaking it a tion, discovery, and entrecampus-wide preneurship in the chemical leader for new sciences. The department has a IP creation. long history of chemical discovery Even more and industrial translation across striking have numerous disciplines in medicinal been the 58 chemistry, drug delivery, analytilicenses and option agreecal instrumentation, bioanalytical ments made Laura Silva, CBC’s services and materials science, embedded TLA senior with the private carried out in close partnership licensing manager sector, along with Tech Launch Arizona (TLA), with the creation of over 10 startup the technology commercialization companies within the past decade. This office at the University of Arizona. incredible output of IP and commerThese activities are part of a significant push by the State of Arizona and the University to bolster the technology sector of the Arizona economy by investment in the R&D translation, along with different approaches taken thus far to advance the fundamental research invented at the University into the marketplace.
cialization point to the success of the CBC-TLA partnership, which continues to enhance the research enterprise of our department.
The work of Prof. Victor Hruby is an excellent testament to this tradition, as over the span of his 50-year career he has made important contributions to the creation and study of peptide hormones and neurotransmitters that affect pain management, disease, and human behavior. Intellectual property (IP) created in the Hruby laboratory from the 1970s and ’80s was then licensed to Selectide Corporation, which Victor co-founded. Selectide was subsequently acquired by Sanofi Aventis, a multi-billion dollar, multi-national pharmaceutical company.
Professor Robin Polt was trained as
a synthetic organic chemist and is an internationally recognized carbohydrate and peptide researcher, expert in the area of drug discovery. He has focused his efforts on the synthesis and study of molecules known to interact with biological membranes. These studies led to key insights that allowed him to convert peptide neurotransmitters, such as endorphin (c.f. chemicals formed in Photo courtesy of Bio5
The College of Science has worked closely with Laura Silva since 2018 as its embedded TLA senior licensing manager; and she has been a tremendous partner for the entrepreneurial faculty of CBC. Since 2013, CBC has led the way with over 335 new invention disclosures, 433 patent applications, and 73
Here, we briefly present the efforts of four CBC faculty currently working with TLA to translate their research into the marketplace.
Robin Polt
the brain that produce “runner’s high”), into glycopeptide drugs for the treatment of pain. Other brain peptides have given rise to new drugs for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as vascular dementia, a form of Alzheimer’s disease, which were licensed by ProNeurogen. Most recently, in collaboration with professors John Streicher (Pharmacology), M. Leandro Heien (CBC) and Torsten Falk (Neurology), Polt created the nexus for testing and development of glycopeptide drugs for the treatment of stroke, traumatic brain injury (TBI) and notably, for treatments to block the progress of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s disease. This team is working with TLA to launch a startup, called Teleport Pharmaceuticals, LLC, to develop new proprietary Teleport glycopeptide drugs for neuroprotection and other problem-specific glycopeptides solutions for the pharmaceutical industry.
Professor Jeanne Pemberton is a
renowned analytical chemist (e.g. ACS Award in Analytical Chemistry, Executive Editor of Analytical Chemistry, etc.). Jeanne is recognized widely for her contributions to analytical materials and interface science and more recently for her work in sugar-based amphiphiles. These materials are attractive non-toxic and biodegradable alternatives to classical nonionic and ionic surfactants which have emerging long-term concerns for the environment and bioaccumulation in living systems. This work began as a multi-PI collaboration with UA researchers through NSF-funded programs that have resulted in an extensive TLA-supported IP portfolio that was the foundation for her recent startup company, GlycoSurf. GlycoSurf is a specialty chemical company that manufactures green “bio-inspired” glycolipids for use in a diverse array of functional
