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Ron Allen, 73

January 9, 2019 Comments (0) Blog, News Like

Ron Allen, PhD, during an Innovation Week event in 2014.

by Joe Runge, UNeMed | January 9, 2019

Ron Allen was a statue of a man. Tall and broad shouldered, he had the resume of an international man of action: medical device executive, decorated veteran, PhD, scientist, engineer, football coach and referee, and internationally renowned expert on vital and life-saving technology.

Ron was a living action figure; a man of imposing accomplishment.

Ron Allen died earlier this year after a brief illness.

His partners at Chrysalis Medical, a UNeMed licensee, gently informed me of his passing. Mixed in with the grief of losing a friend was a sense of bewilderment. Chrysalis’s remaining partners are all experienced professionals, yet, bringing a new medical device to market without Ron seems daunting. Even with all the data compiled and all the reports formatted, everyone just felt a little better about themselves and more confident in the difficult task with Ron in the same room.

Ron brought out the best in people. It was his easy laugh. His complete lack of air or pretense.

He was warm and genuine and so generous. Ron would make time to discuss regulatory strategies for new projects, often sending me notes and links after walking me through his thoughts on the phone. Ron loved to talk with graduate students and entrepreneurs, and would be visibly excited by even the most harebrained scheme or sketchy startup.

Ron’s accomplishments, which could fill three full lives, were not just a bullet list on a resume. They were the results of a life lived in that generous and open state of mind. I am grateful to have met him and for all I learned about the FDA and design controls. I hope that his generosity and excitement will stay with me longest.

South Dakota & llamas lead the way to better flu vaccines

January 7, 2019 Comments (0) News Like

OMAHA, Neb. (Jan. 7, 2019)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” published this morning its latest episode, “Nonplussed llama flu apocalypse.”

In the latest episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss why the flu vaccine only works 30 percent of the time. The crew also talk about how sneaky the flu can be, and a new approach out of the University of South Dakota that might make a much more effective vaccine. The crew also discussed why llamas might also hold the key to better flu vaccines.

Innovation Overground was created to help promote academic innovation and the technology transfer and commercialization efforts at the University of Nebraska and beyond. The podcast intends to examine what it takes to advance academic inventions and discoveries beyond the research bench and into people’s lives as “actual things on a shelf.”

New episodes are published on Mondays, and are available on most podcast channels, including Google Play Music, iTunes, iHeartMusic, Podomatic, Spotify and Spreaker.

Use the below links to subscribe, listen to previous episodes and learn more.






Listen to this podcast on Spreaker
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Year in review: Highlights from 2018

December 18, 2018 Comments (0) Blog, News Like

by Charles Litton, UNeMed | December 14, 2018

It’s time to look back at another year of tech transfer and commercialization at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. We like to take this time to review highlights from last year, and reflect on some of the more important stories, developments and most popular posts from 2018. (Spoiler alert: As an indicator on how great our year was, this list goes to 11.)

Karen Linder (far left) chats with UNMC and UNO Chancellor , Jeffrey Gold, M.D., and her husband, James Linder, M.D., the CEO at Nebraska Medicine, shortly before the 2018 Innovation Awards ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018, at the Stanley Truhlsen Events Center at UNMC.

Karen Linder chats with UNMC and UNO Chancellor Jeffrey Gold, M.D., and her husband, James Linder, M.D., the CEO at Nebraska Medicine, shortly before the 2018 Innovation Awards ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018, at the Stanley Truhlsen Events Center at UNMC.

1. Innovation Week
Innovation Week remains the most well trafficked area at UNeMed.com, and it’s not even close. The event’s popularity is no surprise considering it’s an annual showcase for all of UNMC and UNO innovations and their inventive faculty, students and staff. (It follows, then, that the story announcing the major award winners was among the most popular news stories of 2018.) At the 2018 awards in October, UNeMed honored Catherine Gebhart, PhD, and Varun Kesharwani, PhD, as co-inventors of the Most Promising New Invention, and Centese won the first-ever Startup of the Year award—presented by the University’s incubator program, UNeTech. The top prize of Innovator of the Year went to UNO’s entire Biomechanics Department for their remarkable body of work.

Sachin Pawaskar, leader of UNO’s IS&T Capstone program, addresses the gathering following his team’s WeChart presentation on June 1, 2018.

2. Food for thought: UNO capstone program can drive UNMC innovations
UNeMed’s most popular blog post of 2018 touched on the growing collaborations between UNMC and UNO campuses. This post focused on UNO’s College of Information Science and Technology, but UNO’s innovative culture and deep involvement continued to grow in what became a recurring theme for 2018, as you will note below.

3. Product Pipeline
In April, UNeMed produced a new feature, UNeMed’s product pipeline, which proved to be a popular landing spot, a pleasant surprise. The pipeline highlights selected technologies and where they fit in the development cycle, whether they’re a device still in the prototyping phase, a pharmaceutical entering Phase I clinical trials or a finished product currently available in the marketplace.

4. UNMC solves big data problem in EHRs
UNMed negotiated a licensing deal that could bring to the market a solution to a continuing problem with modern electronic health records. The solution helps make cancer test results more accessible, making physicians and care providers more efficient with their diagnoses and treatments.

5. Biomechanics student will pitch at entrepreneur conference
UNO’s biomechanics department made news again when one of its own was selected to pitch at a regional entrepreneur conference, Pipeline’s The Innovators on Jan. 25, 2019, in Omaha.

The first UNMC-UNO Innovation Accelerator Gathering was held earlier this week, an event that was organized in part by the UNMC Department of Emergency Medicine's Research Coordinator, Thang Nguyen (at left). UNeMed's Michael Dixon (upper right) and Deepak Khazanchi, Associate Dean of UNO's College of Information Science and Technology. were also on hand.

The first UNMC-UNO Innovation Accelerator Gathering was organized in part by the UNMC Department of Emergency Medicine’s Research Coordinator, Thang Nguyen (left). UNeMed’s Michael Dixon (upper right) and Deepak Khazanchi (lower right), Associate Dean of UNO’s College of Information Science and Technology, were also on hand.

6. UNMC-UNO Innovation Accelerator meets for first time
A small meet-and-greet between the UNMC College of Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine and UNO’s College of Information Science and Technology garnered a lot of attention back in February. This meeting was partly spurred by the success of collaboration found within the capstone program (see No. 2).

7. Taconic inks license deal for Easi-CRISPR
Taconic, a provider of rodent models for researchers, signed a licensing agreement for the use of Easi-CRISPR, a genetic insertion protocol that could shave six months off of critical research project timelines.

8. Skin holds off nearly all infections, but no match for biofilms
An interesting blog post—and fun infographic—noting the skin’s remarkable ability to ward off infections.

9. UNeMed launches tech transfer podcast
In the summer, UNeMed staffers Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton launched their first tech transfer-related podcast as the Innovation Overground. By the end of the year, the trio had voiced nearly two dozen episodes and plan to continue airing new episodes in the foreseeable future.

10. UNO, UNeMed expand tech transfer relationship
Finally, UNO again made headlines with UNeMed, thanks to this new services agreement. The arrangement made UNeMed the exclusive tech transfer office for UNO, which opened the door to a flood of new invention disclosures.

11. MidWest Drug Development Conference is a ‘homerun’
If it had more time, this would surely climb higher on this list. UNeMed finished it’s revision of Demo Day, and pulled together the MidWest Drug Development Conference as a way to bring together most major Midwestern universities and their most promising drug-related innovations. Industry and investment groups converged on Omaha for a two-day conference that blew the doors off all expectations. Planners are already busy planning a return in 2019, and expect to announce critical details in the early weeks of 2019.

Classics
Several posts from previous years remain popular and relevant:
1. The importance of technology transfer
2. How to determine who is an inventor on a patent: Unraveling inventorship vs. authorship
3. Technology transfer 101: Defining research commercialization
4. Veins and arteries are just pipes, right?
5. What you need to know about royalty distribution

Behavior modification ends the year on Innovation Overground

December 17, 2018 Comments (0) News Like

OMAHA, Neb. (Dec. 17, 2018)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” published this morning its latest episode, “People are complicated.”

In the latest episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss fad diets, faculty startups and surgical robots. The crew also talk about the technologies behind A-Wrist-A-Trac, Prommune, and Virtual Incision.

Innovation Overground was created to help promote academic innovation and the technology transfer and commercialization efforts at the University of Nebraska and beyond. The podcast intends to examine what it takes to advance academic inventions and discoveries beyond the research bench and into people’s lives as “actual things on a shelf.”

New episodes are published on Mondays, and are available on most podcast channels, including Google Play Music, iTunes, iHeartMusic, Podomatic, Spotify and Spreaker.

Use the below links to subscribe, listen to previous episodes and learn more.






Listen to this podcast on Spreaker
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Linder is Pipeline’s first Legacy Award winner

December 14, 2018 Comments (0) News Like

James Linder, M.D., then-President of the University Technology Development Corporation at the University of Nebraska, delivers the keynote address at UNeMed’s 11th annual Research Innovation Awards Banquet on Oct. 26, 2017. Dr. Linder is the current CEO at Nebraska Medicine, the former President and CEO of UNeMed, and also served as Interim President of the University in 2014.

Former UNeMed President to be honored for devotion to entrepreneur community

OMAHA, Nebraska (Dec. 12, 2018)—Former UNeMed President and CEO James Linder, M.D., is the first-ever winner of the Pipeline Legacy Award, Pipeline announced today.

Dr. Linder is CEO at Nebraska Medicine, the former President and CEO of UNeMed, and served as Interim President of the University of Nebraska in 2014.

“You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in the Nebraska entrepreneurial community who hasn’t been helped by him,” Pipeline President and CEO Joni Cobb told Silicon Prairie News.

Pipeline is a regional entrepreneurial organization where Dr. Linder has long served as a mentor to startups and entrepreneurs in the Midwest.

Cobb added: “He gives you his honest opinion, he connects you. I think he is the ultimate entrepreneurial ally.”

According to the Silicon Prairie News, the Legacy Award is presented to those who have made “exceptional contributions of time, talent, financial resources, advocacy and innovation over their lifetime.”

Dr. Linder will receive the award at Pipeline’s annual celebration, the Innovators. The Innovators is set for Jan. 25, 2019 at The Slowdown in Omaha.

Panelist and Tethon 3D CEO Karen Linder meets with guests immediately after the event.

As CEO of Tethon 3D—an Omaha startup that prints ceramics—Karen Linder was part of Innovation Week 2016 when she served as a member of a three-person panel discussion about biomedical 3D printing.

In addition to his mentoring work with Pipeline, Dr. Linder and his wife, Karen, founded Linseed Capital to support area startup companies.

In 2007, Dr. Linder was CEO at UNeMed, and led an overhaul of the technology transfer structure at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The overhaul merged the technology transfer office, UNeMed, with the Intellectual Property Office into a single entity.

He also previously served the University of Nebraska as Chief Strategist and as the Director of the University Technology Development Corporation or UTDC. The UTDC oversees all technology transfer and commercialization efforts throughout the University of Nebraska system.

More recently, Dr. Linder returned to UNeMed as the keynote speaker of the 2017 Research Innovation Awards Banquet.

Drug development conference hailed as ‘home run’

December 11, 2018 Comments (0) News Like

Matt Boehm, UNeMed’s Director of Licensing, meets with an industry representative during a partnering session at the MidWest Drug Development Conference in October 2018. Boehm also organized the event.

UNeMed planning to repeat popular regional event in 2019

OMAHA, Nebraska (December 11, 2018)—The final results are in, and the inaugural MidWest Drug Development Conference was an unqualified success, UNeMed announced today.

“No question about it,” said Michael Dixon, CEO and President at UNeMed, the event’s primary host. “Taking a swing at something major like this is more than a little nerve-wracking. Will anyone show up? Are we wasting our time? But this was a home run, no doubt—and not just for us.”

Dixon added that he received positive feedback at every turn during the conference, which was held on October 1-2 at the Capital District Marriott in downtown Omaha. Even weeks later, at other national and regional events, Dixon reported feedback from other university and industry representatives.

“People kept asking me how they could help next year,” he said, “or how to be more involved. A lot of them were just really impressed with the event and got a ton of value out of it.”

The conference pulled together a dozen Midwestern universities, which represented more than $4.6 billion in research expenditures and 1,787 new inventions in 2016, according to the most recent data available. Those 12 universities presented 41 new, drug-related technologies in short, 10-minutes packages. The audience was a collection of pharmaceutical executives, venture capital groups and other potential partners who could help further develop those new technologies.

The participating universities included Colorado State, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Purdue, South Dakota, and Washington University in St. Louis.

All told, 113 people attended the two-day conference, including representatives from 24 companies and investment groups. About 146 one-on-one partnering meetings were scheduled, including 15 with UNMC and UNO representatives alone.

A post-event survey yielded glowing reviews.

One industry representative rated it a “10 out of 10” and another said it was a “[g]reat collection of universities, enabling access to a vast geography.”

Another respondent commented:

“This event was a great mix of opportunities to meet industry folks, but also to meet academic folks. I actually met an individual that may be interested in forming an academic collaboration. Also having VC firms, accelerators/incubators present allowed for a unique networking opportunity for academia, industry, and entrepreneurship.”

For UNeMed, the conference yielded 27 new opportunities for UNMC technologies, including 33 new contacts and 13 new company and investment groups.

“An opportunity is anytime we have a conversation with an interested third-party that wants to learn more about a technology for potential investment,” said Matt Boehm, UNeMed’s Director of Licensing and principal planner of the event. “Those new opportunities are conversations that can lead to agreements and partnerships that help these early-stage innovations become new treatments one day.”

There might be a problem with Thomas Edison

December 10, 2018 Comments (0) News Like

OMAHA, Neb. (Dec. 10, 2018)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” published this morning its latest episode, “Get over Thomas Edison.”

In the latest episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss Runge’s apparent problem with famed inventor. The crew also, somehow, links batteries and English muffins with the common thread of…contact lenses.

The episode featured supercapacitor technologies out of Bristol University and NASA.

Innovation Overground was created to help promote academic innovation and the technology transfer and commercialization efforts at the University of Nebraska and beyond. The podcast intends to examine what it takes to advance academic inventions and discoveries beyond the research bench and into people’s lives as “actual things on a shelf.”

New episodes are published on Mondays, and are available on most podcast channels, including Google Play Music, iTunes, iHeartMusic, Podomatic, Spotify and Spreaker.

Use the below links to subscribe, listen to previous episodes and learn more.






Listen to this podcast on Spreaker
Player FM
Pocket Cast
Luminary

Innovation Overground: Phages might solve antibiotic resistance

December 3, 2018 Comments (0) News Like

OMAHA, Neb. (Dec. 3, 2018)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” published this morning its latest episode, “Bacterial Dilemma.”

In the latest episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss bacterial infections, the rise of antibiotic resistance, and efforts to stay ahead of adaptation.

The episode featured two inventions that focus on phages as a way to solve the problem. The Rockefeller University technology uses phage lysins and the University of California in San Diego is working solutions in their Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics.

Innovation Overground was created to help promote academic innovation and the technology transfer and commercialization efforts at the University of Nebraska and beyond. The podcast intends to examine what it takes to advance academic inventions and discoveries beyond the research bench and into people’s lives as “actual things on a shelf.”

New episodes are published on Mondays, and are available on most podcast channels, including Google Play Music, iTunes, iHeartMusic, Podomatic, Spotify and Spreaker.

Use the below links to subscribe, listen to previous episodes and learn more.






Listen to this podcast on Spreaker
Player FM
Pocket Cast
Luminary

Boehm promoted to director role

November 28, 2018 Comments (0) News Like

OMAHA, Neb. (November 28, 2018)—Matt Boehm, PhD, will lead UNeMed’s licensing team, officials announced today.

“We’re obviously pleased to have Dr. Boehm lead our licensing team, but we’re also a little relieved, honestly,” said UNeMed president and CEO Michael Dixon. “He’s been with us for 10 years, and this new role is perfect for him, and probably overdue. We won’t miss a beat with his expertise, experience and leadership. I hope the faculty, students and staff realize how big of a win this is for them, because retaining talent like Matt benefits the whole university.”

Boehm, a product of Lincoln, was named Vice President and Director of Licensing at UNeMed, filling the role previously held by Steve Schreiner, PhD

“We already had a great team in place, so this should be a pretty smooth transition, but I’m looking forward to the new challenges involved,” Boehm said. “This will give me the chance to work closer with the licensing team, but I’m glad that I’ll be able to continue working with University inventors.”

Boehm now oversees the marketing and licensing team, in addition to his duties commercializing therapeutic innovations and new medical device inventions. He handles the evaluation of new inventions, technology marketing, formation of industrial collaborations and partnerships and license agreement negotiations.

He takes over just as UNeMed saw a record number of new inventions. UNeMed, which serves inventors at UNMC and UNO, reported 111 new inventions in the fiscal year ending in 2018. It’s the most in UNeMed’s 27-year history. The previous record was 106 disclosures back in 2012.

Last year, the licensing team also secured 21 patents for University of Nebraska inventions. Of those, Boehm and his team produced 15 licenses with industrial partners—a remarkable 71 percent that’s well above technology transfer industry standards.

Boehm first joined UNeMed in 2008 as an intern while completing his doctoral work in cancer biology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. After completing his dissertation, he continued at UNeMed as a licensing associate in UNeMed’s post-doctorate fellowship program. He eventually moved up to Licensing Manger before accepting his current position.

Tech transfer podcast dives into ‘actual things’

November 26, 2018 Comments (0) News Like

OMAHA, Neb. (Nov. 26, 2018)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” published this morning its latest episode, “Actual Things.”

In the latest episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss how universities strive move innovations from the laboratory to the market as “actual things.” The crew use the malaria treatment that Jonathon Vennerstrom, PhD, is developing into a one-dose cure.

Innovation Overground was created to help promote academic innovation and the technology transfer and commercialization efforts at the University of Nebraska and beyond. The podcast intends to examine what it takes to advance academic inventions and discoveries beyond the research bench and into people’s lives as “actual things on a shelf.”

New episodes are published on Mondays, and are available on most podcast channels, including Google Play Music, iTunes, iHeartMusic, Podomatic, Spotify and Spreaker.

Use the below links to subscribe, listen to previous episodes and learn more.






Listen to this podcast on Spreaker
Player FM
Pocket Cast
Luminary

Biomechanics student will pitch at entrepreneur conference

November 19, 2018 Comments (0) News Like

OMAHA, Neb. (Nov. 19, 2018)—Walker Arce, an electrical engineering student in the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s biomechanics program, was selected as the University of Nebraska’s top choice to deliver his business plan to a regional entrepreneurial conference on Jan. 25, 2019.

The chance to pitch his proposal to a room full of entrepreneurs, startup companies, and investor groups was the top prize of a business plan competition throughout the University of Nebraska system. Judges selected Arce’s plan among four finalists.

Walker Arce

Arce will join two other “Pipeline Spotlight Entrepreneurs” who will pitch their ideas during Pipeline’s annual awards celebration, The Innovators, on Jan. 25, 2019, in Omaha. Other Spotlight Entrepreneurs will represent the University of Kansas and Washington University in St. Louis.

Pipeline is an entrepreneurial mentoring program in the Midwest that offers a handful of highly selective entrepreneurial fellowships each year. Fellows in the Pipeline program received hands-on training from successful entrepreneurs and mentors from around the region and across the nation. The program helps fellows refine their business plans, raise money and dramatically improve their chances for ultimate success.

The three students selected as Pipeline Spotlight Entrepreneurs will receive similar guidance, with regional and national mentors helping the entrepreneurs refine their company pitches. The final test will come during The Innovators. There, the student entrepreneurs will get the rare opportunity to propose their ideas to a room full of potential investors and partners.

Arce, the UNO biomechanics student, will present his startup company, M³ Robotics, which hopes to make robotic design and innovation more accessible to people everywhere. Arce’s plan involves creating a mail-order discovery box subscription service that teaches and inspires youth to build and code robotics.

Customers would initially receive a base package of simple robotics tools and coding instructions. Then, as the subscribers increase their knowledge and skills, the package will increase in corresponding complexity. Eventually the customer will have built some kind of robotic device, hopefully one that solves a real problem that could benefit others.

Networking event planned for medical 3D printing applications

November 13, 2018 Comments (0) News Like

UNeMed's annual Innovation Week continued Oct. 4 with a panel discussion about the biomedical applications in healthcare. Above, R. Gabe Linke, the 3D printing coordinator at Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha, shows guests a 3D-printed model of a newborn's heart. Surgeons used the model to study abnormalities, and planned an eventually successful procedure to correct the problems.

Gabe Linke, the 3D printing coordinator at Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha, shows guests a 3D-printed model of a newborn’s heart during an event UNeMed hosted back in 2016. Surgeons used the model to study abnormalities, and planned an eventually successful procedure to correct the problems.

OMAHA, Neb. (Nov. 13, 2018)—Leaders in Omaha’s 3D printing scene are planning a special networking event that will bring together printing experts from academia and industry throughout the area.

Open and free to all, the event is called the 3D Printing TekTalk, and will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, at DoSpace on the southwest corner of 72nd and Dodge Streets. The event will also include refreshments and a series of demonstrations and seminars that will begin at 1 p.m. until 5 p.m.

The primary focus of the small conference will focus on how 3D printing is currently used to advance medical devices and patient care. Among the featured speakers are Justin Cramer, M.D., an assistant professor at UNMC’s College of Medicine, Gabe Linke, the 3D printing coordinator at Omaha’s Children’s Hospital, and Travis Vanderheyden, a research development engineer at the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s biomechanics department.

To register and learn more, direct your browser to: https://marketing.advancedtek.com/acton/media/17578/3d-printing-tektalk-healthcare-and-commercial-manufacturing.

The event is sponsored by AdvancedTek in collaboration with 3DHeals.

Innovation Overground: Anyone can be an inventor

November 12, 2018 Comments (0) News Like

OMAHA, Neb. (January 28, 2019)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” published this morning its latest episode, “Anyone can cook up a happy accident.”

In the latest episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss the wisdom of the late Bob Ross—”There are no mistakes, only happy accidents”—impacts tech transfer and commercialization. The crew also talk about inventors more often “back into” their best innovations.

The episode featured the self-pacing treadmill.

Innovation Overground was created to help promote academic innovation and the technology transfer and commercialization efforts at the University of Nebraska and beyond. The podcast intends to examine what it takes to advance academic inventions and discoveries beyond the research bench and into people’s lives as “actual things on a shelf.”

New episodes are published on Mondays, and are available on most podcast channels, including Google Play Music, iTunes, iHeartMusic, Podomatic, Spotify and Spreaker.

Use the below links to subscribe, listen to previous episodes and learn more.






Listen to this podcast on Spreaker
Player FM
Pocket Cast
Luminary

Podcast: Internet is democratizing education

November 5, 2018 Comments (0) News Like

OMAHA, Neb. (January 21, 2019)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” recently released a new episode titled, “Basement anesthesiology or garage science.”

In this episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss the growth of education through the internet, and if we need to worry about garage or basement scientists. The crew also talk about E-learning in the 15-minute episode.

The episode also featured UNMC’s E-learning program.

Innovation Overground was created to help promote academic innovation and the technology transfer and commercialization efforts at the University of Nebraska and beyond. The podcast intends to examine what it takes to advance academic inventions and discoveries beyond the research bench and into people’s lives as “actual things on a shelf.”

New episodes are published on Mondays, and are available on most podcast channels, including Google Play Music, iTunes, iHeartMusic, Podomatic, Spotify and Spreaker.

Use the below links to subscribe, listen to previous episodes and learn more.






Listen to this podcast on Spreaker
Player FM
Pocket Cast
Luminary

UNO Biomechanics named Innovator of Year

October 29, 2018 Comments (1) Innovation Week, News Like

Founding chair of the department, Nick Stergiou, PhD, accepts the 2018 Innovator of Year award on behalf of UNO’s Biomechanics Department, which was awarded the honor during the 2018 Innovation Awards on Oct. 25, 2018.

OMAHA, Nebraska (Oct. 29, 2018)—The University of Nebraska at Omaha highlighted the 12^th installment of the annual Innovation Awards Banquet Thursday night at the Stanley Truhlsen Events Center. In a break from tradition, UNO’s Biomechanics program became the first department to claim the Innovator of Year award.

Sponsored and hosted by UNeMed, the technology transfer and commercialization office for the University of Nebraska Medical Center and UNO, the awards ceremony also honored a Most Promising New Invention Award and a Startup of the Year. An estimated audience of 183 attended the event.

Each year UNeMed celebrates the discoveries and creations that emanate from UNMC and UNO with an awards ceremony that honors all faculty, students and staff who submit a new invention, secure a United States Patent or sign a licensing agreement with an industrial partner during the previous fiscal year.

This year, UNeTech also presented its first-ever award, the Startup of the Year. UNeTech is the university’s startup accelerator and incubator program, which was established about a year ago to help nurture early stage technologies and fledgling startup companies with university ties.

UNMC and UNO Chancellor Jeffry Gold, M.D., (far left) and UNeMed CEO and President Michael Dixon (far right) are seen here with inventors of the 2018 Most Promising New Invention, Catherine Gebhart, PhD, and Varun Kesharwani, PhD, during the 2018 Innovation Awards on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018, at the Stanley Truhlsen Events Center at UNMC.

Centese, Inc., was named the Startup of the Year. Led and co-founded by Nebraska native Evan Luxon, Centese is poised to bring to market Thoraguard, a medical device that automatically clears chest tube blockages. Centese is awaiting final FDA approval, which could soon put Thoraguard on the market.

Collaborators Catherine Gebhart, PhD, and Varun Kesharwani, PhD, took home the Most Promising New Invention award. They developed a test that detects four types of human herpes virus. Their approach also minimizes the risk of false negatives.

The test has already attracted outside interest with Omaha’s Streck, a local biotech company specializing in medical testing systems. Streck and UNeMed will soon sign a sponsored research agreement that will help advance the technology.

Each year the Most Promising New Invention is awarded to “an innovation with the highest potential to benefit the public good.”

The top prize was claimed by Nicholas Stergiou, PhD, who accepted the Innovator of the Year award on behalf of his Biomechanics Department at UNO.

Evan Luxon (middle) was presented with the first-ever Startup of the Year Award as the co-founder of Centese, Inc.

Dr. Stergiou is the founding chair of the Biomechanics Department, which has produced a remarkable portfolio of innovations that could all have significant impacts in healthcare in the coming years.

Among those innovations is a gait analysis system that can look at the way people walk and determine the risk of falls in the elderly or other frail patients. Another innovation uses the subtle fluctuations as person balances themselves to detect concussion and potentially other traumatic brain injuries. Another program is building low-cost, 3D-printed prosthetic limbs and cybernetics. And yet another program could predict sudden onset of life-threatening symptoms for sufferers of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder or COPD.

Former pharmaceutical executive, Prabhavathi Fernandes, PhD, delivers an insightful seminar, “Moving into the pharmaceutical industry—can the dark side be bright for you?” during 2018 Innovation Week.

The Innovation Awards is a part of UNeMed’s Innovation Week, which began with a Kick-off event on Monday in the DRC. There UNeMed staffers handed out T-shirts, doughnuts, first aid kits and other freebies. Innovation Week concluded on Friday with a free seminar about alternate science careers in the pharmaceutical industry and the 3D-printing Invent-a-thon.

Learn more about all the awardees and the 2018 Innovation Awards in the official Awards program below.

2018 Innovation Awards Program by on Scribd

Dixon joins the Overground, tells the story of creatine

October 29, 2018 Comments (0) News Like

OMAHA, Neb. (January 14, 2019)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” recently released a new episode titled, “Sick lift, brah.”

In this episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss creatine ethyl ester, an actual thing, actually begin sold in stores as Con-Cret. The crew brings in their first-ever guest, UNeMed president and CEO Michael Dixon, PhD, who tells the story of Vireo Systems, and their fight to keep fraudulent (and potentially unsafe) knock-offs out of the market.

Innovation Overground was created to help promote academic innovation and the technology transfer and commercialization efforts at the University of Nebraska and beyond. The podcast intends to examine what it takes to advance academic inventions and discoveries beyond the research bench and into people’s lives as “actual things on a shelf.”

New episodes are published on Mondays, and are available on most podcast channels, including Google Play Music, iTunes, iHeartMusic, Podomatic, Spotify and Spreaker.

Use the below links to subscribe, listen to previous episodes and learn more.






Listen to this podcast on Spreaker
Player FM
Pocket Cast
Luminary

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