Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Southern California innovation at USC Stevens




October was a busy month for USC innovators.

The eleven teams selected for the Ideas Empowered Class of 2012 have been immersed in a 12-week innovation boot camp in preparation to pitch their proposals to a granting committee in December for part of $500K in proof-of-concept funding to attract commercial interest in their work. Please read more about their innovations here. We are very thankful to everyone who makes this program possible, including our researchers for their commitment to making impact with their innovations, our donors for their generous financial support, and our reviewers and mentors for their time and expertise.

The USC Coulter Translational Research Partnership Program kicked off its second year by opening up the grant submission window. The program supports and funds translational research centered on the practical clinical application of research results. Project pre-proposals are due December 15, 2012. Please click here to access the Coulter Program Pre-Proposal Funding Application Form and directions for submission.

Applied Integrin Sciences (AIS), a startup company formed to develop technologies developed by Drs. Frank Markland, Steven Swenson and Radu Minea in the Keck School of Medicine of USC, signed an exclusive license to commercialize a synthetic molecule called Vicrostatin based on a key component of copperhead snake venom. In preclinical testing, Vicrostatin has shown promise in combating metastatic cancer and may have uses in drug delivery and imaging and as a bioadhesive. You can read more about the technology by clicking here. AIS is led by USC alumnus Doug Lane, an experienced pharmaceutical industry executive and two-time NCAA All American shot putter while at USC.

Inmobly, Inc., a startup, has signed an exclusive license to commercialize predictive network technology jointly developed by Ohio State faculty and USC researchers Guiseppe Caire and Fei Sha of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and Margaret McLaughlin of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. The technology is able to anticipate wireless and cellular data users' demands in advance and utilize this predictive ability to reduce and optimize the usage of network resources and scarce cellular bandwidth.

TED released the TEDxUSC talk by USC Architecture faculty member Doris Kim Sung on the TED.com home page. In its first week, over 100,000 people viewed Dr. Sung's talk on the use of thermo-bimetals - smart materials that respond dynamically to temperature change - for building applications. You can see her talk here. She joins these other USC innovators in having their TEDxUSC talks from Bovard selected to go global on the TED.com site:  
USC Stevens in partnership with the Diem Shotwell Metcalfe Family Fund at the USC Marshall School of Business hosted the USC Student Innovator Showcase as part of Trojan Family Weekend and awarded $9,000 in prizes. USC Marshall School innovators Reid Pearson ('11) and Ken Chen won the Most Promising Business Concept Award and the Family Choice Award for Cleatskins. Keck School of Medicine of USC students Vamsi Aribindi, Phil Wu, Jonathan Liu, Daniel Naftalovich, and Amitha Ganti won this year's Most Innovative Award for The Automatic Hand-Hygiene Verification device. Dinesh Seemakurty of Lucidity won the Student's Choice Award for Lucidity. You can read more about the Showcase here

These programs and successes would not be possible without the commitment of the USC innovators and the generosity of the community members who volunteer their time and expertise and provide financial support. If you'd like to get involved in helping USC innovators make impact, please let us know. 

FIGHT ON!