WIB-Connecticut & WIB-Greater Boston: The ABCs of Tech Transfer

Have you ever wondered how inventions and innovations go from academic labs to commercialized products? Join WIB-Connecticut and WIB-Greater Boston to learn from different perspectives about the tech transfer process, ranging from licensing intellectual property to corporations to creating start-up companies. And maybe even get some ideas for a future career path!

Questions/topics

• How does tech transfer work?
• IP considerations
• Working with your institution
• Working with interested partners (business development)
• Tech Transfer as a career (business development, academic tech transfer office)

Speaker Bios

Judith Adair McCorry, Moderator

Judith Adair McCorry is Vice President of Quality at Vibalogics, a contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) with expertise in virotherapy manufacturing. She has a Master’s in Leadership Development (MLD) and is currently pursuing her MBA at the Pennsylvania State University.

She began her career in the pharmaceutical industry performing QC testing and leading transformational changes to quality systems. Throughout her career, she has had increasing leadership roles, where she discovered her passion for mentoring (peers, co-workers, and students). She promotes the importance of work/life synchronization and demonstrating empathy & kindness in the workplace. After enjoying the first 17 years of her career in the Philadelphia region; her most recent opportunity is in the Boston area.

Lisa Haile, Partner at DLA Piper

Dr. Lisa Haile is a partner in the intellectual property and technology practice group and resident in the San Diego, California office of DLA Piper. Her practice focuses on strategic counseling relating to all areas of biotechnology, pharma and life sciences intellectual property law. She has prepared and prosecuted thousands of patent applications in the United States and worldwide for many different technologies, including diagnostics, therapeutics, including vaccine development and has extensive experience in patentability, non-infringement and validity opinions, due diligence work in connection with venture capital, private and public financing, mergers and acquisitions in the biopharma industry, licenses and collaborations, regulatory strategies and strategic counseling for comprehensive life sciences patent portfolio management.

Over the course of her nearly 30-year legal career, Dr. Haile has worked on matters involving an array of technical areas including vaccines for pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19), cancer vaccines, antibody technologies and therapies, cell and gene therapies, immunotherapies including CAR-T and immuno-oncology, regenerative medicine, gene editing, diagnostics, and many other technical areas in the biopharma industry.

With a PhD from Georgetown University School of Medicine in Microbiology and Immunology, she has been trusted with patent matters by eight Nobel Prize winners. She is an advisor to many leading global life sciences research institutions as well as companies seeking to develop life-saving technologies. Dr. Haile is often listed on lists of top Lawyers, for example, Dr. Haile was featured among the “Lawdragon 500’ by Lawdragon Magazine in its annual list of “the nation’s leading lawyers” and by the National Law Journal as one of the top 75 women lawyers in the US in all practice areas. She is also listed in Chambers as a top life sciences and IP lawyer (2011-2021); named to Managing Intellectual Property’s list of “Top 250 Women in IP,” which recognizes the top female intellectual property lawyers in the United States; named among IAM Patent 1000’s list of The World’s Leading Patent Practitioners; and recognized by Law360 as a female powerbroker and featured in a profile discussing breaking into an “old boys network” and offering advice to women lawyers. Dr. Haile was named to a list of Top 100 Professionals (in all fields) in San Diego, California in 2019.

In addition to many awards, Dr. Haile is on the board of directors of Biocom, a leading industry group in the US, and also serves as their General Counsel. She is also a board member of the Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center (FCOLC) which is dedicated to protecting and preserving our planet’s waters, coastal areas, and marine habitats.

Lisa Beck, SVP Business Development and Portfolio Strategy at Brii Biosciences

Lisa Beck is Senior Vice President of Business Development and Portfolio Strategy for Brii Biosciences, with responsibility for transactions, alliance management, and strategy. Ms. Beck has nearly 30 years of pharmaceutical and biotech experience across several therapeutic areas including infectious diseases, metabolic diseases, respiratory, dermatology, and rare diseases. She has leadership experience in business development, portfolio management, corporate strategy, alliance management, project management, and clinical development.

Prior to joining Brii Bio, Ms. Beck served as Executive Director, Transactions and Alliance Management at Alexion Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Alexion, she spent 26 years at GSK in roles spanning clinical development to project management, business development, and portfolio management. She has business development transactions experience across multiple therapeutic areas and led and executed well over 55 significant business transactions. Ms. Beck received a B.S. in biology from Vanderbilt University.

Donna Cyr , Director of Technology Licensing at UCONN

Donna is currently the Director of Licensing at the University of Connecticut. She received a BS in Chemistry from Syracuse University, a PhD. in Physical Chemistry from Yale University, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Columbia University. She was a senior scientist and group leader at the Rohm & Haas Company before joining UConn in 2001.

Donna supports the tech transfer activities of UConn’s researchers through invention evaluation, patent process, marketing, licensing, and agreement management and negotiation. She supports university startups by providing guidance on intellectual property and information regarding agreement expectations. Donna also provides valuable connections between internal and external stakeholders to support UConn tech commercialization.

Ashley Kalinauskas,  Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Torigen, Inc.

Ashley is the Founder and CEO of Torigen Pharmaceuticals—a startup that resulted from her graduate thesis project at the University of Notre Dame. Ashley graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2012 with an undergraduate degree in Pathobiology and then chose to continue her education. Torigen and its first product, VetiVax, are based upon the research of former University of Notre Dame professor Dr. Mark Suckow.

Torigen focuses on providing veterinary cancer care solutions for companion animals. Torigen’s first product, VetiVax, is an autologous cancer immunotherapy that uses the patient’s own tumor cells to create a personalized treatment to fight the cancer. With over 50% of companion animals over the age of 10 dying from cancer and with other treatment modalities being both expensive and having negative side effects, VetiVax is an innovative new treatment that is quickly gaining traction with veterinarians across the country.

Torigen is located at the Technology Incubation Program at the University of Connecticut and is focused on making a difference in the lives of pet owners.