Filling a critical funding gap for faculty research, UCLA has created a special investment fund aimed at accelerating the conversion of laboratory discoveries into commercial uses.
The UCLA Lab2Market Investment Fund, the first of its kind among University of California campuses, provides up to $25,000 to individual faculty whose research shows promise in the marketplace, but who lack funding for additional experiments needed to help demonstrate commercial viability.
“By providing funding to faculty for research to aid in product development, the UCLA Lab2Market Investment Fund facilitates the transfer of technology to the marketplace and eliminates a significant barrier in the development of marketable ideas and products,� said Andrew Neighbour, associate vice chancellor for research, who directs UCLA’s Office of Intellectual Property Administration.
The first recipient of a grant from the UCLA Lab2Market Investment Fund is Dr. Farhad Parhami, an associate professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine. Parhami’s groundbreaking research has shown that certain oxysterols — byproducts of cholesterol oxidation — stimulate bone-forming cells that may help in the future treatment of osteoporosis, a disease that makes bones brittle and prone to injury.
In bringing this discovery to market, Parhami hopes to form a company to develop medications based on his oxysterol research. But investors first want to see positive test results when oxysterols are introduced to live animals rather than bones and bone cells in petri dishes. Parhami said National Institutes of Health grants may become available for these studies, but the application and approval process likely would take a year or more — a timeframe not conducive to entrepreneurial product development. Enter the Lab2Market Investment Fund.
“The grant from the Lab2Market Investment Fund basically jump-starts us by providing initial funding immediately,� Parhami said. “With completion of the experiments funded by the Lab2Market Investment Fund, we’ll be able to bring in additional investors and we’ll be one step closer to clinical trials to demonstrate the effectiveness of oxysterol-based medication in relieving the suffering of osteoporosis patients.�
The $300,000 UCLA Lab2Market Investment Fund was created with equal contributions from three California venture capital firms: Cycad Group of Santa Barbara, Draper Fisher Jurvetson of Menlo Park and Zone Ventures of Los Angeles. The firms receive the first option to invest in start-up companies resulting from UCLA research projects supported by the fund. Neighbour and his team benefit from their input on which ideas hold the most commercial promise. And faculty receive funding that otherwise is difficult to identify.
“To the benefit of all parties, this unique arrangement increases the flow of knowledge and information to help facilitate the conversion of discoveries to commercial applications,� Neighbour said.
No other University of California campus manages an investment fund from venture capital sources for the explicit purpose of funding faculty research aimed at improving the transfer of technology to private industry, he said.
Neighbour said he is discussing potential contributions with additional firms and evaluating several additional requests for grants from the fund. The special fund is only one method for supporting the entrepreneurial interests of faculty. Neighbour emphasized that the venture capital firms contributing to the Lab2Market Investment Fund do not receive exclusive access to UCLA research results.
The Lab2Market Investment Fund is part of a reorganization of the Office of Intellectual Administration over the past several years. Under Neighbour’s leadership, the office added staff with private-industry experience in research and development and began more actively to promote its services as a liaison between faculty and commercial interests.
UCLA researchers have a long history of producing technology with commercial applications. The Office of Intellectual Property Administration manages more than 700 active inventions, and more than 160 are licensed to companies such as Novartis, Procter & Gamble and Samsung. In 2003 alone, UCLA received 68 U.S. and foreign patents.
In addition, UCLA research has provided groundwork for several start-up companies, including the biopharmaceutical firm Agensys Inc., which develops therapeutic and diagnostic products for prostate cancer, and Pro-Duct Health (now Cytyc Health), which is based on a catheter developed for early detection of breast cancer.
UCLA receives more than $750 million a year in research contracts and federal and state grants and consistently ranks among the top five universities and colleges nationwide in total research-and-development expenditures.