You are here

Share:

News

TTC Fellowship Openings - Challenging Opportunities, Great Place to Work

February 2, 2017

The NCI Technology Transfer Center (TTC) has fellowship opportunities available to qualified candidates in the fast growing field of technology transfer. This fellowship opportunity combines a science, legal or business background with a new career in technology transfer. The TTC is responsible for negotiating agreements, promoting research partnerships with NCI scientists, and the patenting and licensing of NCI technologies. TTC also has a unit dedicated to marketing and outreach for these research opportunities and their underlying technologies to potential collaborators and licensees. This experience prepares the Fellow for technology transfer positions within universities, industry or the federal government. The TTC has offices in Rockville and Frederick, MD. Applicants should indicate the position(s) and location(s) of interest in their application.  There are current openings for both the Combined and Negotiator Fellowships. 

Technology Transfer Fellowship - Negotiator (Rockville or Frederick, MD Offices)
Candidate will be responsible for:

  • Drafting and negotiating Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) for NCI scientists and their industrial/academic research partners;
  • Drafting and negotiating licenses for NCI technologies;
  • Planning and negotiating Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs), Clinical Trial Agreements (CTAs) and other technology transfer agreements;
  • Managing patent prosecution of inventions and overseeing patent related issues for NCI scientists;
  • Developing technology transfer educational programs for scientists;
  • Working with the Invention Development and Marketing Unit, researchers and outside parties to help foster commercialization of technologies and collaborative/partnering opportunities;
  • Other duties as pertaining to intellectual property management and technology transfer.

Technology Transfer Fellowship - Combined Negotiator and Marketing (Frederick, MD Office only) 
This fellowship opportunity is designed to develop the unique skills associated with both negotiating technology transfer agreements and marketing a large portfolio. Approximately 50% time will be dedicated to each function.
Candidate will be responsible for: 

  • The Negotiator responsibilities described above;
  • Working on marketing strategies/campaigns and descriptive marketing advertisements to attract research partners, and generating leads for technologies; 
  • Developing comprehensive understanding of technology portfolio in order to serve as subject matter expert;
  • Advising intramural researchers on technology development strategies;
  • Monitoring responses to marketing campaigns and develop business relationships with company business development sources; 
  • Acting as one of the liaisons between the NCI and outside parties requesting additional information on collaborative/partnering opportunities. 

 
Minimum Requirements 
•    An advanced degree in the sciences, law, business, economics, or public health.  All candidates must have a background in the sciences;
•    Have received most current degree within the last 8 years; 
•    U.S. citizen or permanent resident (must hold green card) eligible for citizenship within 4 years; 
•    Excellent writing and speaking skills.   

Stipends are determined by the level of education and number of years of experience post-graduation. Starting stipends for those with no experience are: Master's degree $35,500; Ph.D. $50,800. Starting stipends are higher with relevant work experience in technology transfer and/or additional, applicable degrees. Stipends are paid monthly in arrears. Health benefits are provided. Annual stipend increases may be given on the Fellow's anniversary date. 

To apply: Submit a copy of your resume or CV, a statement of interest explaining why you are interested in the TTC fellowship program, and two letters of recommendation by one of the following: 
E-mail to: kgriffin@mail.nih.gov Fax to: Attention: TTC Fellowship Coordinator (fax# 240-276-5504); or Mail to: Attention: TTC Fellowship Coordinator Technology Transfer Center National Cancer Institute 9609 Medical Center Drive., Rm. 1E530 MSC 9702, Bethesda, MD 20892
DHHS/NIH/NCI are Equal Opportunity Employers.  
 

NCI Scientists Recognized by National Academy of Inventors (NAI) – George Pavlakis and John Schiller Elected to 2016 Fellow Status

December 16, 2016

George N. Pavlakis, M.D., Ph.D., head of NCI’s Vaccine Branch and John T. Schiller, Ph.D., deputy chief of NCI’s Laboratory of Cellular Oncology, were recognized as leaders of academic invention by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and were elected to NAI Fellow status in December 2016.  Both Dr. Pavlakis and Dr. Schiller have made significant scientific contributions in their respective fields. Dr. Pavlakis “has authored more than 200 publications and is named as an inventor on more than 50 US and International Patents.” Dr. Schiller, along with NCI’s Douglas Lowy, Ph.D., is known for leading “the initial development and characterization of human papillomavirus (HPV) prophylactic vaccines that ultimately became the commercial vaccines Cervarix and Gardasil.” HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States, and a few types can lead to cervical and other cancers. 

The NCI Technology Transfer Center is proud to continue to support the scientific discovery and invention development efforts for Drs. Pavlakis and Schiller, two of NCI’s leading scientists and prolific inventors. Technologies from their invention portfolios that are available for development through collaboration and/or licensing include:

To learn more about these technologies and others invented by Drs. Pavlakis and Schiller available for development through collaboration and/or licensing, please contact: TTC Invention Development and Marketing.

To learn more the NAI Fellowship announcement, see: National Academy of Inventors Announces 2016 Fellows.

NCI Staff Win Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) "Excellence in Tech Transfer" Award, Featured in Videos

December 7, 2016

Update: The National Cancer Institute is honored by the Federal Laboratory Consortium's 2016 “Excellence in Technology Transfer” Awards. Awardees discuss their award-winning collaborations in these two new videos: 

NCI – Development of First Immunotherapy to Treat Chordoma, a Rare Cancer

Discovery to Commercialization: A New Immunotherapy for a Rare Childhood Cancer, Neuroblastoma

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) was the recipient of two "Excellence in Technology Transfer" awards at the  Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Annual Meeting in April, 2016. The award “recognizes employees of FLC member laboratories and non-laboratory staff who have accomplished outstanding work in the process of transferring federally developed technology,” explains the FLC. To learn more about why NCI received this recognition as well as the individuals behind them, see below.

AWARD WINNER:

“Development of First Immunotherapy to Treat Chordoma, Rare Bone Cancer”

“Development of First Immunotherapy to Treat Chordoma, a Rare Bone Cancer” was selected for exemplifying excellence in technology transfer process because of the complexity and the dedication of the team involved. To help advance NCI’s discovery of a vaccine capable of inducing a specific, targeted immune response against cancer cells expressing the brachyury protein, NCI formed collaborations with three commercial partners to develop brachyury vaccines. These collaborations led to the rapid translation of investigational therapeutic vaccines with the potential to revolutionize how researchers and physicians treat many cancers. Furthermore, the collaborations led to new intellectual property, licensing activities, and the management of several issued patents and pending patent applications. While NCI’s commitment to collaborate with multiple partners is helping to realize the discovery’s full potential, the resulting, rapid scientific process has required careful management of a complex technology transfer process. To learn more about the outcome from one of the collaborations, see: Vaccine Therapy for Unresectable Chordoma.

WINNERS:
Mojdeh Bahar, J.D., U.S.Department of Agriculture (formerly of the NIH Office of Technology Transfer)
Kevin Brand, J.D., Center for Disease Control and Prevention (formerly of the NCI Technology Transfer Center)
Kevin W. Chang, Ph.D., NCI Technology Transfer Center
Sabarni Chatterjee, Ph.D., NCI Technology Transfer Center
James Gulley, M.D., Ph.D., Genitourinary Malignancies Branch, Center for Cancer Research, NCI
Christopher Heery, M.D., Clinical Trials Group,Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology, Center for Cancer Research, NCI
Claudia Palena, Ph.D., Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology, Center for Cancer Research, NCI
Michael Pollack, Ph.D., NCI Technology Transfer Center
Jeffrey Schlom, Ph.D., Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology, Center for Cancer Research, NCI

Branch Vaccine team picture

Pictured left to right: Mojdeh Bahar (winner), Kevin Brand (winner); Paul Zielinski, FLC Executive Board Chair; Christopher Heery (winner); Claudia Palena (winner); Thomas Stackhouse, Ph.D., NCI; Sabarni Chatterjee (winner); Mark Reeves, FLC Vice Chair; Ana Amar, NIH Agency Representative to the FLC

AWARD WINNER:

“Discovery to Commercialization: New Immunotherapy for Rare Childhood Cancer, Neuroblastoma”

Prior to a groundbreaking discovery by scientists supported by the NCI, fewer than 40 percent of children with high-risk neuroblastoma lived five years after diagnosis. Now an immunotherapy 30 years in the making, ch14.18, UnituxinTM (dinutuximab), is providing new hope for infants and children with this rare cancer. On March 10, 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Unituxin™ (dinutuximab also known as ch14.18) as part of first-line therapy for pediatric patients with high-risk neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that most often occurs in young children. On August 17, 2015, the European Commission (EC) also granted Marketing Authorization for Unituxin. “Discovery to Commercialization: New Immunotherapy for Rare Childhood Cancer, Neuroblastoma” was recognized by the FLC for exemplifying T2 excellence. It was a remarkably productive, collaborative effort between the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR), the Children's Oncology Group, and United Therapeutics Corporation (UTC) resulting in commercialization and approval.

To learn more see: https://techtransfer.cancer.gov/aboutttc/successstories/dinutuximabunituxin and FDA Approves First Therapy for High-Risk Neuroblastoma

WINNERS:

Sherry Ansher, Ph.D., Regulatory Affairs Branch, Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program, Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, NCI
Donna Bialozor, NCI Technology Transfer Center
Jan Casadei, Ph.D., Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program, Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, NCI
Beverly Keseling, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc., Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR)
Karen Muszynski, Ph.D., Biological Resources Branch, Developmental Therapeutics Program, Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, NCI
Samir Shaban, M.S., Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc. Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research
Malcolm Smith, M.D., Ph.D., Clinical Investigations Branch, Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program, Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, NCI
L. Mary Smith, Ph.D., United Therapeutics Corp.
Alice Yu, M.D., Ph.D., University of California in San Diego Medical Center

Unituxin team picture

Pictured from left to right: Malcom Smith (winner); L. Mary Smith (winner); Paul Zielinski, FLC Executive Board Chair; Donna Bialozor (winner), Alice Yu (winner); Tom Stackhouse (NCI Associate Director); Beverly Keseling (winner); Karen Muszynski (winner); Mark Reeves, FLC Vice Chair; Ana Amar, NIH Agency Representative to the FLC; Samir Shaban (winner)

NCI Technology Transfer Center Receives Director’s Award

November 3, 2016

The National Cancer Institute’s Technology Transfer Center (TTC) received a Group Award for “The Establishment of a Patenting and Licensing Program at the National Cancer Institute.”  The award was presented to Karen Maurey, Director of the NCI Technology Transfer Center, at the NCI Director’s Awards Ceremony on October 20th, 2016 on the NIH Campus in Bethesda, MD. 

The citation merits special honor since patenting and licensing of inventions is a primary mechanism to translate NIH discoveries into health care products in support the NIH.  For over 25 years, the NIH Office of Technology Transfer has conducted patenting and licensing for NIH and its Institutes and Centers.  On October 1, 2015, these patenting and licensing functions were decentralized into nine offices embedded in the NIH Institutes, including NCI’s TTC.  The staff of TTC are commended for their extraordinary achievements in successfully launching the first patenting and licensing program at the National Cancer Institute.

Specifically, the NCI TTC assumed responsibility for 5,883 active patents and patent applications and 120 open license negotiations on behalf of NCI and nine Client Institutes within TTC’s service center (serving NCCIH, NEI, NIA, NICHD, NIDA, NIMHD, NIHCC, NIHCIT, and NLM).  Combined, this constitutes the largest of the decentralized docket, comprising 55% of the total NIH program.  Transitioning operations for this complex portfolio – while concurrently meeting statutory deadlines and maintaining agreement negotiations – required sustained and exceptional performance and teamwork.  TTC’s administrative staff and contractors worked together to implement critical operational components for the expanded functions.  

Within the first six months of the re-organization, NCI’s patenting and licensing program achieved exceptional milestones, including:

  • ~700 new task orders initiated for patent related work;
  • completed over 1,000 new technology transfer agreements including 56 new licenses;
  • developed and implemented a more efficient process for review of new inventions and for patent applications reaching review milestones that integrates information from Licensing and Patenting Managers, Technology Transfer Specialists, contract law firms, marketing and NCI’s Technology Review Group; and
  • established a new Invention Development and Marketing Unit to provide resources and specialized expertise in opportunity analysis that helps to produce more informed patenting decisions and costs.  This new Unit will also increase the visibility of NCI’s inventions for partnering through digital marketing, the Startup Challenges program, the Invention Development Program.

Winners Announced - National Cancer Institute and Center for Advancing Innovation Launch Nanotechnology Startup Challenge in Cancer (NSC2)

July 31, 2016

Update July 2016: Winners of Nanotechnology Startup Challenge in Cancer Announced

*************************************************************************************************************

The National Cancer Institute has partnered with the Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI) to launch the Nanotechnology Startup Challenge in Cancer or NSC2. The Challenge is centered on commercially viable, nanotechnology cancer-related inventions conceived by the NCI. Once accepted into the Challenge, international teams will compete by selecting one of these intramural inventions, and creating a business plan to launch a startup. Alternatively, teams may also elect to bring other commercially viable, nanotechnology cancer-related inventions into the challenge that are not from NCI. The primary goal of the Challenge is to stimulate the creation of start-up businesses to advance development and commercialization of these nanotechnology inventions. NSC2 started accepting entries on October 12, 2015 and will continue to accept them until March 14, 2016. Those teams will then move into the second phase of the challenge and work to create and present their business plans and pitch to a panel of judges spanning industry, venture capital, serial entrepreneurship, government and more . To learn more about NSC2, the inventions, and how to enter, visit http://www.NSCsquared.org.

NSC2 is the third NIH Startup Challenge and is based upon the award-winning model created by the Breast Cancer Startup Challenge, followed by the Neuro Startup Challenge (see Challenge.gov Celebrates Five Years of Open Innovation).

READY FOR PARTNERING! NCI Technologies Related to Liver Cancer – Annual Report to the Nation Highlights Increase in Liver Cancer Death Rates

April 1, 2016

In March 2016, the NCI, in collaboration with the American Cancer Society, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, released its Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975 - 2012.  

The report reflects progress and improving trends in the survival rate for most cancers; however, it highlights an increase in the death rate for liver cancer.   

NCI has technologies ready for collaboration with commercial partners that could positively impact the fight against liver cancer.  Contact us to learn more about these technologies and how to partner with us.

AVAILABLE TECHNOLOGY:  Monoclonal Antibodies for the Treatment of Cancer
 

AVAILABLE TECHNOLOGY:  Novel Diagnostic Marker for Improving Treatment Outcomes of Hepatitis C

NCI Recipient of 2015 Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Mid-Atlantic Region Awards

November 25, 2015

The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer(FLC) of the Mid-Atlantic Region recognized outstanding efforts in the field of technology transfer, including honoring NCI TTC with two awards, at its November 2015 annual meeting in Maryland. NCI TTC received the “Excellence in Technology Transfer” honors for its work supporting two efforts, entitled: “First FDA approval:  combination therapy for rare childhood cancer, Neuroblastoma,” and “Development of First Immunotherapy to Treat Chordoma, Rare Bone Cancer.” http://www.flcmidatlantic.org/awards/2015/

The FLC for Technology Transfer (FLC) is the nationwide network of federal laboratories that provides the forum to develop strategies and opportunities for linking laboratory mission technologies and expertise with the marketplace. The FLC “Excellence in Technology Transfer” award “recognizes employees of FLC member laboratories and non-laboratory staff who have accomplished outstanding work in the process of transferring federally developed technology.”

To learn more about the “First FDA approval:  combination therapy for rare childhood cancer, Neuroblastoma,” see:

To learn more about “Development of First Immunotherapy to Treat Chordoma, Rare Bone Cancer,” see:

 

SBIR-Technology Transfer: Extramural Funding for Small Businesses to Support Commercial Development of NCI Inventions

November 9, 2015

NIH recently announced that the Small Business Innovation Research-Technology Transfer (SBIR-TT) extramural grants mechanism is available for the commercial development of inventions of the National Cancer Institute intramural research program.  The NCI SBIR and the NCI Technology Transfer Center (TTC) look forward to helping small companies and NCI researchers with project selection and research plan development.

SBIR-TT is a relatively new program whereby inventions from the NCI Intramural Research Program are licensed to qualified small businesses with the intent that those businesses develop the inventions into commercial products that benefit the public.  These inventions would be commercially promising but for identifiable research gaps that have delayed their commercialization.  The SBIR-TT grantee awarded under this Program Announcement will address these research gaps under a license from NIH, working closely with the NCI inventor(s), who will provide limited assistance during the award period.

The Program Announcement encourages small businesses to submit grant applications for projects to transfer technology out of the NCI intramural research labs into the private sector. Under the SBIR-TT grants mechanism, an NCI Principal Investigator can develop a research plan with a company interested in commercializing the technology. If selected for SBIR Phase I funding, the company will be granted a royalty-free, non-exclusive patent license agreement for internal research use for the term of and within the field of use of the SBIR Phase I award (generally 6 months) to technologies held by NIH, with the intent that the company will develop the invention into a commercial product to benefit the public. Companies that are successful in SBIR Phase I may apply for larger amounts of SBIR funding (from NCI SBIR) and for a commercialization license (from NCI TTC) offering the rights to sell the product over the long term.

The Program Announcement that describes the cross-NIH SBIR-TT program is available online.

Browse to the NCI TTC website to view licensing opportunities, or call NCI TTC for more information on research opportunities.

Please call NCI SBIR for information on SBIR grants.

Contact information:

  • John D. Hewes, Ph.D., Technology Transfer Specialist, Technology Transfer Center, Tel. 240-276-5515, Email: john.hewes@nih.gov
  • Christie Canaria, Ph.D., Program Director, SBIR Development Center, Tel.: 240-276-5720, E-mail: christie.canaria@nih.gov

Kite Pharma Signs New License with NIH

October 21, 2015

Kite Pharma Inc. announced on Oct. 20 that it had entered into another exclusive commercialization license with the National Institutes of Health. This license covers T cell receptor immunotherapy technologies developed in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute's Surgery Branch, led by Dr. Steven Rosenberg, MD, PhD, for the treatment of lung, gastric, pancreatic and breast cancer. As part of the licensing agreement, Kite Pharma will give the NIH an upfront payment and royalties on product sales and clinical and regulatory milestone payments.

The National Cancer Institute, under a cooperative research and development agreement with Kite, is conducting two clinical trials of candidates for T cell immunotherapies that would target melanoma-associated antigens.

Neuro Startup Challenge Winners Advance

June 1, 2015

Thirteen winners of the Neuro Startup Challenge (NSC), an open innovation competition designed to bring promising neuro-related inventions to market, were announced on May 21. The second challenge of its kind, the NSC was established by a collaboration formed by NIH, the Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI) and Heritage Provider Network, based on the successful framework of the Breast Cancer Startup Challenge (BCSC). The winning teams were selected based on their business plans, financial models and live pitches and will move forward to phase three of the challenge to launch new businesses to commercialize 16 NIH-conceived and developed inventions. These inventions include therapeutics, diagnostics, prognostics and medical devices designed to improve brain health. Three of the NSC inventions are from the National Cancer Institute technology portfolio.

More than 578 students and entrepreneurs in 70 teams competed in the challenge that launched in August 2014. Teams competed in two phases during which they were mentored by experts to produce business plans, financial models and live pitches. In the final phase, the winning teams will be mentored to launch their startups, incorporate their business, apply for licensing and execute development and regulatory requirements. The winning teams are:

Challenge #1: A novel compound for treatment of disorders with cognitive dysfunction for example attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
Winner-Tulane University 1A
Finalist-Wake Forest University 1,2A

Challenge #2: A novel therapy for neurodegenerative diseases for example Alzheimer's disease
Winner- Johns Hopkins University 2A

Challenge #3: A method of treating an enzyme deficiency disorders which causes neurodegeneration with small molecule
Winner- California Institute of Technology 3A

Challenge #4: Novel Dopamine D2 Receptor Antagonists and Methods of Their Use
Winner- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 4A

Challenge #5: A device to simulate the impact of brain trauma for explosive blast-induced Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and early stage TBI diagnosis
Winner- University of Pennsylvania 5A

*Challenge #6: A novel drug delivery method for treatment of brain injury and disease - focusing on Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders, such as stroke, hemorrhage, or TBI
Winner-Northwestern University 6A

*Challenge #7: A novel treatment for vascular disease/injury/inflammation in vasculature such as carotid artery that supplies blood to the brain
Winner-Tulane University 7A

*Challenge #8: A brain cancer specific target that can be used in diagnostics and potentially therapeutic applications
Winner- University of Pennsylvania 8A

Challenge #9: A tumor diagnostic marker for new blood vessels formation that can be used for early detection of brain tumors
Winner-Medical College of Wisconsin 9A
Finalist-Cambridge CCN 9A

Challenge #10: A new compound for treatment of Neurofibromatosis Type 1
Winner-University of Texas at Houston 10A

Challenge #14: A motion correction method to reduce MRI artifacts during brain inspection
Winner-Buckeye SmarterImage 14A

Challenge #15: A novel MRI contrast agent to improve the visibility of internal body structures during MR imaging
Winner- Duke University 15A

Challenge #16: Multiplex Assay for Detection of JC Virus
Winner- Washington University in St. Louis 16A

For more information on the challenge, please see: http://www.neurostartupchallenge.org/ and Neuro Startup Challenge Winners Announced press release.

To learn more about NCI technologies for collaborative development, please see: https://techtransfer.cancer.gov/availabletechnologies.

*Inventions from the NCI invention portfolio.

Pages