The University of Montana has hired a director of technology transfer whose job is to commercialize research done on campus.
Joe Fanguy came to UM from the Office of Research and Economic Development at Mississippi State University, where he was assistant director of the Office of Technology Commercialization.
Daniel Dwyer, UM vice president for research and development, says Fanguy has the perfect background to help UM license intellectual properties.
One of the research projects taking place on campus now is a study of the use of pharmaceutical-grade methamphetamine in the treatment of stroke victims. Human studies are scheduled to begin next year.
University of Montana associate professor Dave Poulsen and former Missoula neurosurgeon Nick Chandler developed the meth treatment for stroke victims.
"I know if I ever had a stroke or traumatic brain injury, I'd want to be treated with this stuff," Poulsen said.
Pharmaceutical-grade meth is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved drug that has been used for decades to treat narcolepsy, attention deficit disorder and obesity.
Poulsen, who is licensed to use the drug for research, has found that, in mice, meth effectively protects brain cells from dying off and returns the animals to near-normal function.
If the treatment works on people, it will be Fanguy's job to market it. His work also involves connecting with funding sources and angel investors to help UM's scientists and inventors get their work out of the laboratory.
"There's not a lot of awareness of how we do technology transfer or why it's important," Fanguy said. "This is a new thing and my job is to make people more aware that it's UM's priority to do this."
Currently, UM research has 28 patents, 23 active licenses and 14 companies spun out of those licenses.
In Bozeman, Montana State University has 110 patents, 11 patented agricultural-based inventions, eight trademarks, 115 patents pending and 182 licenses, of which 103 have become Montana companies.
"From a technology transfer standpoint, we are about 10 years behind them," Poulsen said. "They've had a pretty good program going on for a while."
One company spun out of MSU research is LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which develops vaccines. The Bozeman-based company employs more than 50 people who have an average salary of over $50,000.
"Those are the kinds of jobs we want to build for graduates of all our universities," said Becky Mahurin, director of MSU's technology transfer office. "More than half of the employees at LigoCyte are MSU grads."
Poulsen said UM's commitment to hiring a full-time technology transfer director comes at the perfect time.
"A lot of projects that have been evolving over the past decade are reaching the point where they are ripe for commercial development," Poulsen said. "We are now at a critical point where we can really capitalize on this technology and move it into the public domain where people can actually benefit."
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Information from: Missoulian, http://www.missoulian.com