Projects

Following are examples of projects led by UC Discovery Fellows.

Venture Acceleration Initiative (VAI)

http://www.vai.ucsb.edu/index.php
University of California, Santa Barbara
Fellows: Don Oparah and Rafi Simon
Mentors: Matt Tirrell and Steve Gaines

The Venture Acceleration Initiative (VAI) was formed to support faculty in the pursuit of new ventures based on technology breakthroughs at UCSB. The VAI provides services that are designed to proactively accelerate the venture start-up process including entrepreneurial consulting, business networking, and seed-funding.

VAI at the University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB) was conceived in September 2006 as UC Discovery Fellow Don Oparah set out to examine the gap between research and technology innovation in academia and venture creation and commercialization. In other words, how can one facilitate the process of taking the results of basic university research and create a product that benefits society? UC Discovery Fellow Rafi Simon joined Don Oparah in this project in September 2007.

The university faculty in charge of leading research programs are generally concerned with advancing science in their field and educating/developing students. They typically do not have the resources or business expertise to take their research breakthroughs and move them in the direction of commercialization. On the other hand, in many cases the providers of capital and business managers consider the opportunities that are developed through university research too abstract or immature to be viable ventures. The VAI focuses on bridging this gap by assisting with nucleation, validation, and development of these early stage opportunities.

After researching the idea, building a team, and operating in a pilot phase for about a year the VAI was officially launched in January 2008.

Foods for Health Institute (FFHI)

http://ffhi.ucdavis.edu
University of California, Davis
Fellow: Melanie Funes
Mentor: M.R.C. Greenwood

The Foods for Health Institute (FFHI) at the University of California at Davis is a major campus initiative that includes research, outreach and teaching programs in the arena of food and health. It builds on UC Davis' strengths and integrates departments, schools and colleges to create multi-disciplinary research programs, as well as research partnerships. FFHI interests cover a broad range spanning from agriculture and food science to the clinical assessment of food components.

Currently the FFH includes over 90 participating faculty from the School of Medicine, the School of Veterinary Medicine, the College of Engineering, the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the College of Biological Science, the College of Letters and Science, the USDA Western Human Nutrition Center, and interfaces actively with other related institutes on the Davis campus such as the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, the Nutritional Genomics Center, the Clinical and Translational Science Center, the Agriculture Sustainability Institute, the M.I.N.D. Institute, and the Humanities Institute.

UC Discovery Fellow Melanie Funes, PhD is Executive Associate Director of the Institute. Dr. Funes works at two interfaces promoting: 1) inward – facing relationships between the numerous FFHI related academic units at UC Davis, enhancing cross-disciplinary awareness and 2) outward – looking projection and promotion of the FFHI overall vision and goals to the scientific community, potential partners and external funding agencies.

Internal – Strategic Coordination
The FFH regards the development and implementation of an effective strategy for cross-campus coordination of Food – Health – Wellness efforts as crucial to the continuing success of research platforms in these areas.  As the Executive Associate Director, Dr. Funes is responsible for: developing and implementing a strategy that facilitates a greater level of collaboration between academic units involved in FFHI related areas of research at UC Davis.

External – Building and Managing Strategic Alliances
Dr. Funes is also responsible for supporting core FFHI priorities through the establishment of new relationships with key industry organizations, foundations and government agencies.  Thus, building key external strategic partnerships that enhance FFHI programs by fostering early-stage research collaborations, promoting long-term research collaborations, facilitating research agreements, navigating technology transfer and other university issues for FFHI associated faculty and partners, as well as other mechanisms.

Bench to Biotech Program

University of California, San Diego
Fellow: Kathryn Nguyen
Mentor: Larry Brunton

The Bench to Biotech Program at the UC San Diego School of Medicine aims to facilitate greater collaboration and cooperation between UC San Diego and local biotech/ pharmaceutical companies through:

• Education: workshops and classes through which graduate students develop the skills and knowledge necessary for R&D and/or biobusiness
• Internships: graduate students directly experience basic research in industry
• Networking opportunities: academic researchers build relationships and partnerships with San Diego’s biotech/pharmaceutical leaders.

As Director of the Bench to Biotech Program, Dr. Kathryn Nguyen is developing the necessary foundation/ infrastructure for a sustainable program. The first step in strengthening industry relations is to facilitate a strong internal cooperation between UCSD’s technology transfer, development, and contracts & grants offices. Dr. Nguyen is currently leading the efforts to build and cultivate these essential relationships.