The meeting began with welcoming remarks by Dr. Bill Craig and Dr. Shu Chien.

Approval of Minutes from February 24, 2004 Meeting

The minutes were approved as submitted.

"Hands On" Undergraduate Project - Jim Burke and Sean Cahill

Jim Burke spoke of the purpose of this project which is to supplement classroom studies with the real world experience. He noted real life problems are very different from the structured coursework which the school provides. These projects will help achieve company recognition amongst a quality prospective employee base and provide a platform for interaction between faculty and industry, which is a main goal of IAB. The structure consists of a faculty advisor, an industry advisor, a graduate student mentor (as/if needed), and an undergraduate student team (4-5 members). Upper-division undergraduate Bioengineering students are invited to apply for a 200-hr, 8-unit BENG 199 Independent Study project in the area of Orthopaedic Bioengineering. Students on the team used this as an elective. Breg Engineers and UCSD Bioengineering/Orthopaedics Faculty co-advised students on this project. Design and prototype development was conducted at both Breg and UCSD.

Sean Cahill of Breg, Inc. spoke about the activities of students who spent 20+ hours for 2 days per week, and meetings were held 3 to 4 times weekly to discuss updates on where they stood. Steve Flaim mentioned some concerns regarding intellectual property issues and energy barriers in which the students do not actually know what they were doing about the whole project. Jim Burke said that in terms of intellectual property, UCSD is much easier to deal with on the IP issue than it used to be. Neither one side nor the other owns it all; they all share the commitment early on. So far, the projects that have been completed have actually exceeded expectations.

These projects are found to be very inexpensive (about $1000). Breg, Inc. urges companies to participate in this. If a company lacks funding and resources and they want to do a research project, this program can help.

Dr. Gough added that this project has made students more forward and active. They bring a whole new energy into the classroom. Mike Magers asked if this is more technology or engineering defined. Jim Burke replied that it is not defined yet. It is part of the project to figure out if it is Technology or Engineering oriented. The company, the faculty and the students are responsible for this decision.

In an effort to get more companies involved in this project, it was suggested sending out individualized emails and mailers that are more personalized rather than sending out message to the entire group. This message should be very brief and straightforward and will include a link for the website of this project which contains all of the information a company who is interested and will need to know. The website is still under construction according to Jim Burke. The students have project website currently in place. Jennifer Griffin will provide the IAB list to Jim for information dissemination. Joe Bear asked if there are any preselections to the specialization of the team. According to Sean Cahill, among the applicants, 5 came in as a team and the others came in as individuals. The team of 5 was more organized and already knew what they wanted to specialize in while the ones that came in as individuals, who had to find their own group, did not have strong bonds. The teams did not have a leader but they already had their own specialization: computer, electrical, etc.

Bill Craig and Dr. Chien thanked Breg and noted this project is very valuable to the students and to the Department and WIBE.

von Liebig Overview/Bioengineering Projects- Joe Bear and Steve Flaim

Executive Director of von Liebig Center, Joe Bear gave a general overview. The von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Advancement began 3 years ago to provide services related to technology transfer and intellectual property. The center was a result of a $10 million gift from the William J. von Liebig Foundation. The main goal is to take engineering ideas and move them to practical applications.

Among their activities and achievements are: pre-commercialization advisory services with over 80 faculty members involved to date, "gap funding" to deserving projects and provides space for commercialization activities with Jacobs School technologies. Entrepreneurism courses for engineering students are also being offered which teach fundamentals of the enterprise and how to succeed in an entrepreneurial environment. They are designed for engineers by engineers. The Center has two solicitations per year, an external review committee, and center staff and advisors who provide support to both funded and non-funded projects. Their track record includes 80 faculties who received advisory services, 25 Seed Grants awarded totaling $1.2M, 4-6 technologies expected to result in new companies, and 4-5 technologies receiving corporate interest for licensing.

Steve Flaim presented examples of bioengineering research projects which have emerged from the funding. The first one was Dr. Robert Sah who is currently working on the Novel Stratified Cartilage Tissue Implant Growth Methodology. Its commercial application is to develop a soft tissue cartilage implant for defect, repair and drug discovery. The von Liebig provided him support for the development of in vitro methods for tissue generation, the confirmation of tissue retention in vivo, improved second generation methods for extended tissue generation in vivo and confirmation of extended joint repair in porcine model. They hope to get non-exclusive technology licenses to major healthcare companies and a possible start-up company. The second project presented is a study by Dr. Michael Heller on the "Electric Field Induced Fluctuation of Q-Dot & Fluorescent Probes. It will provide high-sensitivity genotyping, gene expression and infectious agent detection. The Center helped him with the development of oligonucleotide derivatives, patent application, optimization of fluorescent "pulsar" hybrid systems and development of prototype Development of prototype microfluidic labchip device and proof-of-concept of "pulsar effect." They are anticipating a license sold to Pulsar Diagnostics. The last project presented is that of Dr. Dave Gough, who is doing research on Trainable Software for Ligand Binding to GPCRs which is a high-throughput virtual screening for discovery of orphan GPCR binding agents. Von Liebig helped him on the development of graphical user interface, identification of interactive databases; define protein and small molecule descriptors, numerical analysis, and development of commercialization plan. And they aim for non-exclusive licenses to pharmaceutical companies.

Dr. Gough commented that mentors like Steve Flaim are absolutely essential and are very valuable. Jim Burke asked if after being licensed, the professors will give back $50,000 to the center so that it may be used again for other projects. Joe Bear said that right now, that is one of the major issues being worked on. The faculty motivation and that of the von Liebig center is to go forward towards commercialization. There is a listing of technologies on the website. There is a seminar program oriented to graduate students. Steve Flaim noted that right now their staging is on internal marketing and their next step is to go outside. Dr. Chien suggested a presentation should be arranged with the Affiliates Program. The website can be found at http://www.vonliebig.ucsd.edu.

UC Systemwide Bioengineering Symposium

The 5th annual UC Systemwide Bioengineering Symposium was hosted by UCI, which took place at the Atrium Hotel in Irvine on June 26-28, 2004. There were 2 plenary lectures on June 27th, which were given by Dr. Bruce Tromberg a UCI Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Surgery and Director of Beckman Laser Institute and Dr. Mina Bissell from the Distinguished Scientist/Life Sciences Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. On the second day, there were sessions on technology transfer working with translational approach, in addition to scientific presentations (oral and posters) on both days. The event was a huge success.

UC Santa Cruz will hold the 6th symposium in 2005, followed by UC Los Angeles in 2006, UC San Francisco in 2007, UC Riverside in 2008, and UC Merced in 2009.

Update on West Coast Regulatory Meeting

Drs. Bill Craig and Shu Chien reported that the MTLF West Coast Regulatory meeting will be held at the UCSD campus in the Eucalyptus Point building on July 29-30, 2004. We are expecting about 70 participants.

The 29th of July will begin with a MTLF board meeting at the Radisson from 12:30-2:00 p.m. Registration begins at 2:00pm at Eucalyptus Pt. and will follow with Session I beginning at 3:00 p.m. A dinner at the Faculty Club with a Keynote Panel entitled, "The Future of Medical Technology & Policy Challenges" will begin at 5:00 p.m. On the following day, at 7:00 a.m. there will be a continental breakfast. Session II will start at 7:30 a.m. and will wrap up at 12:00 p.m. The MTLF's 4 regional work groups (located in Atlanta, Washington, DC, Minneapolis and San Diego) will be having one final teleconference before the July 29th meeting. The deadline for registration is July 1, 2004 with a fee of $350.00. Registration will go up by $100 on site. Anyone who is interested from the IAB is urged to let us know so that they will be offered the discounted rate. Website: http://www.mtlf.org

Other Business

Dr. Shu Chien mentioned that the 10th Anniversary Celebration of the Department of Bioengineering will be held on Saturday, August 14, 2004 at 2:00-3:30 pm at the Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall - Warren Mall in UCSD. Invitations were sent out last week. Chancellor-Designate Mary Anne Fox will be the featured speaker.

Dr. Bill Craig thanked Breg, Inc. and von Liebig Center for their presentations. The next IAB meeting will be scheduled for September/October.

Meeting adjourned at 9:00 a.m.