Technology Development Fund

Resources

I. Business

HighTech Rochester (HTR)

High Tech Rochester is a non-profit economic development organization driving growth in the Rochester/Finger Lakes region through the Creation, Mentoring, and Incubation of high-tech startup businesses, and through advanced consulting services provided to small manufacturing firms through its NYSTAR-funded Regional Technology Development Center.

High Tech Rochester Inc. Lennox Tech Enterprise Center 150 Lucius Gordon Drive, Suite 100 West Henrietta, New York 14586 585-214-2400 info@htr.org

HTR's Website has multiple federal, state, and local business resources involving commercialization and economic development:

II. Chemistry / HTS / Drug Discovery

Drug Discovery Portal (Strathclyde, UK)

The focus of the Drug Discovery Portal is matching academic chemists and academic biologists through intelligent virtual screening performed by experienced researchers. Services provided by the Drug Discovery Portal are:

Hit identification
hit-to-lead optimization (computational support and/or synthetic medicinal chemistry output)
library analysis and design
allosteric site identification.

The Drug Discovery Portal: a resource to enhance drug discovery from academia

Pages 679-683 Rachel L. Clark, Blair F. Johnston, Simon P. Mackay, Catherine J. Breslin, Murray N. Robertson, Alan L. Harvey

Califia Bio Inc. – A startup that offers lead optimization, SAR, and other chemistry services.

http://www.califiabio.com/neuroaids.htm

Albany Molecular Research (AMRI)

Provides a broad spectrum of lead discovery services and are integrated with our chemistry business and can be accessed independently, or as part of a program involving chemistry-driven lead optimization. Based on your needs, AMRI forms highly responsive teams led by experienced researchers to deliver a customized package of services through its locations in Albany, NY, Bothell, WA, Singapore and Hungary. http://www.amriglobal.com Services include:

BioFocus http://www.biofocus.com/

Offers a comprehensive suite of discovery products and services. These are available separately or as an integrated drug discovery solution, backed by a centralized project management system. Offerings:

Contract Synthesis Companies

Cayman Chemical: Cayman Chemical Company helps researchers by supplying scientists worldwide with biochemical tools in disciplines such as cancer, nitric oxide, neurochemistry, apoptosis, oxidative injury, endocrinology, and much more. Custom biochemical and organic synthesis is also available upon request, and we grant additional discounts for bulk orders.
Albany Molecular Research – (see above)
ChemPartners (Shanghai): ChemPartner Co. Ltd. has become one of the leading contract research organizations providing chemistry, biology, Pharma-cology, DMPK, process R&D, pre-formulation, and analytical development services to global pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

Other Screening & Chemical Biology Links

NIH Common Fund - Molecular Libraries and Imaging Overview: Overview of molecular libraries program in context of NIH roadmap including funding opportunities.
Molecular Libraries Program: Introduction to resources available through molecular probe centers.
Molecular Libraries Program - Probe Production Centers: List of NIH screening centers, contacts, and capabilities.
NIH Chemical Genomics Center: The center provides access to a wide variety of resources related to screening. There screening guidance manual is very useful for investigators new to screening.
Institute for Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard Medical School: Very useful site for general screening and also will allow non-Harvard screeners.
Center for Chemical Genomics at University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute: Comprehensive screening center that will collaborate with outside investigators to do large scale screening.

III. Pharmaceutical Academic Programs

Eli Lilly PD2 program: A phenotypic drug discovery process designed to identify compounds that modulate cellular processes by screening novel molecules in disease-relevant assays. https://pd2.lilly.com/pd2Web/
PD2 at a glance: Lilly will provide no-cost access to phenotypic assay panel for external investigators
PD2 panel includes disease-relevant assays
Confidential compound submission via web-based interface
Full data report provided to investigator
Promising findings can serve as basis for a collaboration agreement

Johnson and Johnson’s COSAT Program:: The Corporate Office of Science and Technology (COSAT) was created in 1978 to foster our company's long-standing focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. It was formed by assembling a team of senior scientists and clinicians whose primary objective is to identify, nurture, and guide emerging technologies and products, ensuring that Johnson & Johnson's long history of success continues well into the future. https://www.jnjcosat.com/cosat

IV. University Resources

Office of Technology Transfer

The Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) is responsible for managing the intellectual property assets of the University of Rochester. Our mission is to help turn scientific progress into tangible products for the betterment of society, i.e. to "transfer technology" from the researcher to the end-user. In the process of doing so, we attempt to generate revenue to support further research and to share with the inventors.

Information for Inventors; How to File an Invention Disclosure

This is the Office of Technology Transfer information page for inventors. It contains documentation for policies and processes for the technology transfer process.

The University of Rochester Virtual Drug Discovery Center

To accelerate research by investigators at the University or Rochester who are working on new drug discovery. A resource to provide assistance with each step during the drug discovery process, and to provide access to local expertise and investigators who can provide advice and assistance with drug development projects, at all stages - including:

A directory of faculty with expertise in areas relevant to drug development, including funded research projects
Target validation and high-throughput screening of molecular libraries
Medicinal chemistry and structure-activity relationship (SAR) analysis
Structural determination, molecular modeling and affinity measurements
Intellectual property (the invention disclosure and patenting processes)
Technology development and "gap" funding
A listing of UR spinoff companies with interests in drug development
FDA regulatory compliance and filing of an Investigational New Drug application

High-Throughput Screening Core

The University of Rochester High Throughput Screening (HTS) Core has been set up to provide University investigators with relatively low cost access to screening chemical libraries for identification of novel molecules that can be used to perturb biological systems.

Structural Biology and Biophysics Core

The Structural Biology & Biophysics Core offers support services and access to state-of-the-art instruments to determine macromolecular X-ray crystal structures, and to investigate protein-protein, protein-nucleic acid, or protein-small molecule interactions.

CTSA: Support for FDA Regulatory Compliance and IND (Investigational New Drug) Applications

The Office of Regulatory Support (ORS) offers services to support clinical and translational research investigators with the navigation of and compliance with specific FDA-regulated processes, including research involving experimental drugs and devices, as well as pre-clinical laboratory studies.

CHET (Center for Human Experimental Therapeutics); Support for Early Phase Clinical Trials

The University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) has established a Center for Human Experimental Therapeutics (CHET) whose mission is to conduct hypothesis-driven, rigorously designed, initial investigations of novel therapeutic interventions for human diseases.

UR CTSI (Clinical Translational Sciences Institute)

The University of Rochester Clinical and Translational Science Institute is a national leader in the expanding field of clinical and translational research. With funding from the National Institutes of Health, the CTSI is assembling the people and resources that will help scientists and physicians at the University of Rochester and across upstate New York collaborate to produce innovative science and technology that improves health.

V. Meetings & Conferences

Specific Meetings: ICAAC
Society of Biomolecular Screening Meeting
Conference Series with drug discovery topics: Keystone Symposia
Gordon Conferences
Sites listing drug discovery meetings: ASM
Society of Biomolecular Screening
Nature Chemical Biology homepage

VI. UR Start-up Companies and Other Collaborating Biotech

AndroScience Corporation: AndroScience uses intellectual property from the University of Rochester Medical Center and University of North Carolina as well as its expertise in natural product chemistry to discover compounds that target different stages of the androgen activation pathway. The Company is developing compounds into new medicines to facilitate wound healing and for the treatment of acne, androgenic alopecia, benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostate cancer, and other androgen or androgen receptor-related disorders. Founder: Chawnshang Chang, Ph.D.
Califia Bio, Inc.: Collaborating on HIV associated neurocognitive disorders with Handy Gelbard, Steve Dewhurst and Sanjay Maggirwar of URMC
Calorics, LLC: Calorics is a drug discovery platform company based on a high throughput screening life-span assay; a cell-based, phenotypic assay that affords a significant advantage over other approaches in drug discovery. The technology features: (i) an automated and quantitative high throughput screening (HTS) techniques, unlike previous tedious microscopic techniques, that lead to faster drug discovery and development for age related diseases; (ii) applicability to drug discovery for a wide range of age-related disease; and (iii) validation in several animal disease models. This platform has broad applications in discovery of new therapeutics for the treatment of age related diseases: cancer, diabetes, Arthritis, Altzeimer’s, Parkinson’s, and heart disease. Founder: Davis S. Goldfarb, PhD.
OyaGen, Inc.: OYAGEN is a biotechnology company formed on September 5, 2003, for the purpose of discovering, developing, and commercializing novel pharmaceutical therapies that seek to exploit RNA editing and DNA editing enzymes. OyaGen holds exclusive rights to important technologies originating from the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), the Thomas Jefferson University (TJU), Vybion and Oregon Health Science Center. Founder: Harold Smith, Ph.D.
Socratech: Collaborating with Berislav Zlokovic and Joe Miano on small molecule therapeutics to treat neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. Fields in which Socratech is working include new vascular gene targets for treatment of vascular brain disorders and cognitive impairment, and development of small molecule compounds which improve blood flow to the brain.
Vaccinex, Inc.: Vaccinex is a privately held biotechnology company engaged in the discovery and development of human therapeutic monoclonal antibodies and other biologic products to treat serious diseases with unmet needs, including cancer, multiple sclerosis, and other autoimmune diseases. We conduct discovery research in-house and in collaboration with world-class academic institutions and biotechnology companies, and have an experienced in-house drug development management team to advance our pre-clinical and clinical stage biopharmaceutical development programs. Founder: Maurice Zauderer, Ph.D.

VII. Foundations

Although most foundations will claim not to fund for-profit organizations, many of these listed work with university founders on translational grants that can involve commercial entities.

Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation: Supports the advancement of drugs to prevent, treat, and cure Alzheimer’s disease, related dementias, and cognitive aging.
Muscular Dystrophy Association: Sponsoring the research seeking the causes of and effective treatments for neuromuscular diseases
Michael J. Fox Foundation: Parkinson's Research / Finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease
Fidelity Foundation: Founded by Edward C. Johnson II, funds research and nonprofit management projects in biomedical science; proposals by invitation only
NARSAD: The World's Leading Charity Dedicated to Mental Health Research Supporting research on brain and behavior disorders
Lymphatic Research Foundation: Funds research of the lymphatic system and to find the cause of and cure for lymphatic diseases, lymphedema and related disorders
Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation: Supporting research projects in neuroscience, genetics, animal behavior, the social sciences, history, criminology, and the humanities (violence, aggression, and dominance)
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association: Directs and funds the most comprehensive, global ALS research program ever organized
Polycystic Kidney Disease: Promotes programs of research to discover treatments and a cure for Polycystic Kidney Disease and improve the lives of all it affects
Autism Speaks: Dedicated to funding global biomedical research into the causes, prevention, treatments and cure for autism
Susan G. Komen: Supports breast cancer research
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: Supports multiple research programs in the domain of world health
International Neuroscience Network foundation: Facilitates research and development in the multidisciplinary science and technology of the brain
JDRF: Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International supports the mission to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research
CHDI Foundation: Encouraging and supporting cooperation and collaboration among Huntington disease (HD) researchers
Hereditary Disease Foundation: Aims to cure genetic illness by supporting basic biomedical research
David and Lucile Packard Foundation CKARD: Involved with improving the lives of children, enabling the creative pursuit of science, advancement reproductive health, and conservation and restore earth's natural systems
Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation: Accelerating the development of a treatment for Spinal Muscular Atrophy
Alzheimer’s Association: Works to accelerate the development of new treatments
Parkinson's Disease Foundation: Funding scientific research to find the causes of and a cure for Parkinson's
Intel Corporation: Intel Labs Germany, Intel Corporation’s research and innovation organization located Germany, is seeking ambitious ideas for research cooperation in Europeto challenge design walls of the next decade. Contact the Grants Office for details.