News

Patent Reform Legislation - AUTM Members Act NOW

AUTM members are strongly encouraged to act NOW to express concern to legislators about Patent Reform legislation currently in the House and Senate Judiciary Committees — mark-ups will occur before the July 4 recess. The proposed bills contain significant changes that would impact academic technology transfer.

Letters and e-mails from universities are needed to encourage legislators to hear from all stakeholders before voting. By working with your Federal Relations colleagues, AUTM members can have an impact. To learn how please visit http://www.autm.net/about/AboutAUTM_patentReform.cfm.

You also can click here to see a Draft Template Letter to express concerns to your legislators.

AUTM urges you to submit your letters before Thursday, June 21 when the Senate Judiciary Committee mark-up is scheduled. Please forward copies of any letters or e-mails you send to legislators on this topic to Vicki Loise at AUTM Headquarters at vloise@autm.net.

BIO International Convention 2007 - Announcements

Special One-Day Registrations For Researchers

BIO is making available to researchers at MATTO Institutions a special one-day limited academic pass. These passes are $100 each and will give academics a day at BIO with access to all the panels and the exhibits but not the general sessions. This is a considerable discount on normal BIO registration fees. If you have researchers who would like to attend BIO for just one day please contact Julia Goldberg at jgoldberg@umassp.edu and the appropriate registration codes will be sent to you.

Biotechnology Entrepreneurship Boot Camp

BIO will hold a Biotechnology Entrepreneurship Boot Camp on May 6 and 7. Registration for this event is $245 in addition to convention registration. (Academics may use a one day limited pass ($100) as their convention registration to attend this event and BIO will allow them to attend both days of the Boot Camp for no additional charge.) For more information on the Boot Camp please visit http://bio2007.org/program/sessiondesc.asp?sid=940.

Other MTTC/MATTO involvement at BIO

Over a dozen MATTO members will form an “Academic Alley” in the Massachusetts Pavilion - please stop by and visit if you are in the exhibit hall. Many thanks to the MTC’s Life Sciences Collaborative for their sponsorship of this area.

Approximately 70 researchers from MATTO members will have posters on display in the Innovation Corridor. Through a sponsorship from Alnylam all of these researchers have been given a full conference pass. If you have researchers in the Innovation Corridor, please make sure that they take full benefit from these full passes and attend as much of the conference as possible.

MATTO Chair, Todd Keiller, will run a panel session on Monday, May 7 at 2:00 titled “Does Size Matter? Working with Differing Research Institutions”. Todd will be joined by Irene Abrams, Brandeis University; Reid Leonard, Ph.D., Merck Research Laboratories; Robert Pucciariello, Evolved Nanomaterial Sciences Inc.; and Frances Toneguzzo, Ph.D, Partners Healthcare.

2/16/07 Workshop for Licensing Officers

The information presented at the 2/16 Workshop for Licensing Officers is now available for download here:

1/18/07 SBIR/STTR Briefing

The information presented at the 1/18 special briefing on SBIR and STTR programs by Ms. Jo Anne Goodnight, SBIR and STTR Program Coordinator for the NIH, is now available for download here.

11/8/06 MATTO Seminar

The information presented at the 11/8 MATTO seminar, as well as the materials mentioned by Michael Pratt, are now available for download here: