If you work in a TTO or industry engagement office these days, the terms “partnership” and “collaboration” are a big part of your workplace vocabulary – and a big part of your job. In the increasingly partnership-driven ecosystem, discussions with industry-related entities are more often than not geared toward complex long-term collaborations that rely on solid relationships with faculty, whether in industry-sponsored research, licensing, or even in nurturing faculty start-ups.
The most fruitful partnerships are multi-dimensional and can combine research funding, licensing revenue, and critical economic development benefits for your local region, so it’s worth learning about how these collaborations develop and what makes them work most effectively. Stony Brook University has built highly prized partnerships with two companies that started in the university’s own labs: Traverse Biosciences Inc. and MicroRid. Each company’s leadership teams, along with representatives from SBU, will share their story, their lessons learned, and their keys to long-term collaborative success in this during this one-hour webinar:
This webinar that will provide critical insights on how you can craft equally successful industry partnerships — and grow licensing revenues, research dollars, and regional economic benefits for years to come.
Moderator David Hamilton, Director of Programs for Economic Development with SBU, will lead a discussion delving into the complex intersection of university research and industry collaboration. This interactive, Q&A driven session will cover success stories that illustrate how to forge deeper ties between industry and university researchers. Mr. Hamilton will be speaking with Brian McCarthy and Maurizio Del Poeta about their industry/academic partnerships that underlies their exciting start-up, MicroRid, and its licensing of Stony Brook University technology. Brian will discuss the corporate side of this relationship and Maurizio will bring to light the critical academic side.
Joe Scaduto, Founder and CEO of Traverse Biosciences Inc., joins the panel to talk about his strong relationship with Stony Brook University through his role as external BioEntrepreneur-In-Residence (B-EIR), which led to an exciting journey that ultimately brought him to license Stony Brook technology and become Traverse’s founder and CEO.
Here is a look at the agenda:
- Anatomy of a great partnership:
- Identifying the wants, needs of the university, founders, and potential partners
- Tips for breaking the ice and getting the ball rolling
- Navigating expectations, terms and conditions
- Identifying the wants, needs of the university, founders, and potential partners
- Educating corporations on limitations faced by universities in terms of:
- Ownership of IP
- Assignment of rights
- Equity standards
- Overview of MicroRid, how it worked with SBU (goals, mission, objective of relationship, the academic perspective)
- Insight into the creation of Traverse, as well as interactions with SBU throughout its commercialization effort
- Taking a deep dive into each relationship, dos and don’ts, lessons learned
This lively webinar will highlight the complex interactions and efforts required to have a successful industry-academic collaboration, providing thought-provoking guidance on how other universities and companies can emulate these successes.
Meet your team of presenters
David Hamilton
Director of Programs for Economic Development
Stony Brook University
Mr. Hamilton oversees five major program areas within Economic Development, including the Center of Excellence in Wireless Technology (CEWIT), Center in Integrated Electric Energy Systems (CIEES), Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence (SPIR), Manufacturing and Technology Resource Consortium (MTRC), and Advanced Energy Center (AEC). He served previously as Executive Director of the virtual Clean Energy Business Incubator Program (CEBIP). He focuses in clean energy technologies with experience in business development, commercialization of engineering technologies, marketing and sales, as well as an ability to communicate well with early stage entrepreneurs in the clean energy arena.
Maurizio Del Poeta, MD
Distinguished Professor
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook University
Co-Founder, MicroRid Technologies, Inc.
Maurizio Del Poeta, MD, is the Chief Scientific Officer of MicroRid Technologies Inc., a start-up company based in New York developing new and more effective antifungals. At Stony Brook, Dr. Del Poeta co-founded MicroRid, where he continues his effort toward the final stage pre-clinical development of these antfungals.
Brian McCarthy PhD
President and Chief Executive Officer
MicroRid Technologies, Inc.
Dr McCarthy currently serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) with Stony Brook University’s Center for Biotechnology. He has more than 25 years’ experience in the biotechnology space, having served as a senior biotechnology analyst at Merriman Curhan Ford and Noble Financial, in biotechnology investment banking at Ladenburg Thalmann, and in numerous management and board positions at MicroRid Technologies, Adera BioLabs, Influmedix Inc., and as Director of Business and Clinical Development at Viatar CTC Solutions.
Joseph Scaduto, MS, MBA
Co-Founder and CEO of CMTx Biotech Inc.
Founder and CEO of Traverse Biosciences, Inc.
CMTx Biotech Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company working to commercialize incyclinide for the treatment of hospitalized sepsis patients at risk for septic shock, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), including those afflicted with COVID-19. Mr. Scaduto is also the Founder and CEO of Traverse Biosciences Inc., an emerging bioscience company commercializing a proprietary library of novel drug candidates to treat chronic inflammatory conditions affecting humans and animals.
He is also a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Hairpin Technologies Inc., the exclusive licensing agent of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) to expand the commercial distribution and use of small hairpin RNA (shRNA). Mr. Scaduto was previously designated as an external BioEntrepreneur-In-Residence (B-EIR) by the philanthropic Advisory Board of the Center for Biotechnology at Stony Brook University.
He served previously as the Assistant Director of Business Development at the Center for Biotechnology, as well as the founding Executive Director of the Long Island Life Sciences Initiative (LILSI). He has over 20 years of experience providing business development expertise, strategic planning services and technology commercialization guidance to emerging and expanding bioscience companies.
