UChicagoTech to showcase regional technology at BIO International Convention

The University of Chicago, in partnership with five of the region's top research institutions, will showcase Chicago-area innovation through May 6 at the 2010 BIO International Convention at Chicago's McCormick Place.

UChicagoTech, the University's Office of Technology and Intellectual Property, has teamed up with Argonne National Laboratory, Children's Memorial Research Center, Loyola University, Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Chicago to premiere the Chicago Innovation Pipeline, a tool that allows industry members to view more than 120 licensable technologies in one database and shop for technologies of interest. The pipeline prototype, which UChicagoTech developed, will be demonstrated at the Illinois Pavilion, Booth 3302.

"We are very excited to demonstrate our database publically for the first time," said Nina Paciotti, Associate Director of Commercial Development at UChicagoTech. She added that UChicagoTech will soon launch a version of the pipeline on its website, but it hopes to incorporate feedback from industry members into its final model.

Designed to be "industry-friendly," the pipeline groups technologies by product type, therapeutic area and development stage. The development stage of each technology is represented graphically, allowing users to rapidly assess the potential use and status of each technology. Users can view products of interest, click on one-page summaries of the products in the pipeline and add them into a shopping cart. The shopping cart allows users to collect summaries of interest that will be e-mailed after the meeting.

"For too long, the Midwest has been a fly-over zone for investors in new technology," said Alan Thomas, Director of UChicagoTech. "The fact is Chicago is a major center for biotech innovation."

The University of Chicago alone has filed more than 2,500 patents, executed 261 license agreements and formed more than 48 companies since 1987. Its portfolio includes breakthroughs in drug discovery, new cancer therapeutics and detection tools, software and seed product development.

On a regional level, organizations such as the Chicago Biomedical Consortium, funded by the Searle Funds at the Chicago Community Trust, are furthering collaboration, especially among member institutions: UChicago, Northwestern and UIC. The CBC boasts more than 3,000 biomedical principal investigators, more than $500 million a year in NIH research support, as well as three NIH Clinical and Translational Science Awards.

"Through initiatives like the pipeline, we are working to ensure that Chicago becomes a stop-over destination for technology scouts and investors," Thomas says.

As part of the BioSecurity Conference, Joe Kanabrocki, Associate Professor in the Biological Sciences Division and Assistant Dean for Biosafety Microbiology, will moderate the "Mitigating Risk: Personnel Reliability and Infrastructure Security" panel discussion from 9:30 to 11 a.m. May 6.