There are over 73 million infertile couples globally, with 40% of the infertility being associated with the male. Despite current standards by which male fertility is assessed - sperm count, motility or morphology - approximately half of all male infertility is of an unknown origin and is only diagnosed by failed cycles of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Having the ability to diagnose sperm functional defects would allow clinicians to direct their patients toward a technology of assisted reproduction that is appropriate for their function. Unfortunately, most existing attempts to design functional assays are not clinically practical, as they take days to conduct, require special technical skill and/or equipment, and are uncontrolled.

Cornell researchers have discovered that they can assess the fertilizing ability of sperm by following the pattern of distribution of the ganglioside GM1 in response to exposure to stimuli for sperm capacitation. This provides a reliable and practical method to assess sperm quality and hence male fertility. Moreover, the pattern of GM1 redistribution appears to be conserved across many mammals, from mice to bulls to humans, providing opportunities for applications in human medicine, veterinary medicine, and production of agricultural animals.

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Contact Phillip Owh, po62@cornell.edu, 607-254-4514

The Microfabricated Catheter is a device that can be used in convection enhanced delivery (CED) of drugs to treat disorders of the brain and other neural tissue. Instead of relying on diffusion to transport drugs throughout tissue, CED uses direct infusion of drugs under pressure into tissue so that convective transport can increase drug penetration distance. The direct infusion of drugs under pressure also enables drugs to cross the blood-brain barrier. In addition to serving as a drug delivery system, the Microfabricated Catheter can be equipped with recording/stimulating electrodes, flow meters, sensors, or MEMS devices to serve as a probe to measure local tissue characteristics such as temperature, pressure, pH, and ion-specific concentrations.

Potential Commercial Applications: The Microfabricated Catheter can be used as a drug delivery device for neurological drugs. It can also be used as a tool for academic research and pharmaceutical drug discovery.

Advantages: Unlike the stainless steel needles that are traditionally used in CED, the Microfabricated Catheter has a smaller cross-sectional area, which reduces the trauma to tissue when it is inserted into the brain. The small size of the Microfabricated Catheter also reduces reflux along the outside of the inserted part, allowing for higher rates of drug delivery and preventing blockage of the channel during insertion into the brain. Additionally, the Microfabricated Catheter is designed so that multiple parylene channels, each conducting a distinct fluid, can be integrated into the silicon shaft. Not only do these channels allow for simultaneous or sequential delivery of multiple compounds, they can also be used to increase flow rate since they create multiple pathways for the compound to exit the system.

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Contact Jeff Fearn, Ph.D., jcf55@cornell.edu, 607-254-4502

Professors Doug Ballon and Henning Voss of the Weill Cornell Medical College have invented a novel design for magnetic resonance coils based on high pass two dimensional ladder networks. They have built prototype head coils and a body coil, as well as a novel, flexible "blanket coil." The coils can be formed in tight curves that bring them closer to the tissue being imaged - an important consideration for higher power, higher frequency MR imaging.

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Contact Bruce Toman, bet2006@med.cornell.edu, 212-746-6186

Dr. Theodore Schwartz, a neurosurgeon at the Weill Cornell Medical College, is an expert in optical imaging techniques that can be deployed in the surgical suite. He has teamed up with Hongtao Ma, an expert in optical components, to develop novel implantable devices that combine electrical sensing and optical imaging components. The devices can be incorporated into deep brain stimulation devices to provide sensing for closed-loop control systems; they also be implanted to monitor patients who have suffered stroke or traumatic brain injury, or who are going to undergo ablative procedures to treat epilepsy.

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Contact Bruce Toman, bet2006@med.cornell.edu, 212-746-6186

Dr. Christopher Towe, a surgical resident at the Weill Cornell Medical College, has invented a device to solve the problem laparoscopic surgeons face when trying to remove bulky excised tissue through the small incisions used in minimally invasive surgeries. Typically these tissues "bunch" on the inside of the incision, rather than coming smoothly out. Our device binds the excised tissue in an elongated form for easier removal.

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Contact Bruce Toman, bet2006@med.cornell.edu, 212-746-6186

Light therapy is one of the many holistic therapeutic regimens that have increased in popularity over the last thirty years. Its use by physicians has been limited, for the most part, to treatment for skin diseases, like psoriasis, and for certain psychiatric disorders, such as Seasonal Affect Disorder (SAD).

Considerable scientific research has been conducted to understand the relationship between light and circadian rhythms - the biological cycles of sleeping, waking, eating, etc. that govern much of human physiology. Most researchers assume that the eyes are the only parts of the human body that are receptive to light, so most experiments have required subjects to sit and stare into bright lights for extended periods. While these experiments have shown that circadian rhythms can be adjusted by the application of light, the commercial potential of such research is limited, as people find it boring, unproductive, and uncomfortable to stare into a bright light for long periods of time.

However, it has been shown that many animal species respond to extra-ocular light. For example, lab rats that had their eyes completely removed shifted their circadian rhythms in response to changed cycles of light and darkness.

Cornell investigators have shown that human circadian rhythms can be regulated and REM sleep can be enhanced by the application of certain amounts and kinds of light to any highly vascularized area of skin, such as the area behind the knee. Two US Patents have issued that cover methods of putting these discoveries into practice.

Potential Commercial Applications: This technology opens the door for development of scientifically sound treatments for jet lag, adaptation to work-shift changes, sleep disturbances, REM sleep enhancement and memory or productivity improvements.

Contact Carol J. Dempster, Ph.D., cjd2004@med.cornell.edu, 212-746-6186

Post operative tissue adhesion can cause significant complications and often results in additional surgical procedures to remove the adhesions. Current solutions to prevent adhesion formation are limited due to their inflexible handling characteristics and inconsistent efficacies. This invention provides biopolymers that can be used for prevention or reduction of tissue adhesion, offering desirable flexibility in the surgical environment.

This biomaterial can also serve as an alternative for the two FDA approved polymers for drug delivery, polymers based on lactic acid and glycolic acid. With this new material, one can develop delivery systems, avoiding complicated IP landscape and enjoying long term patent protection and competitive market edge.

The new polymeric biomaterial is based on the monomeric unit of 1,3-propane-2-one, commonly known as dihydroxyacetone (DHA). DHA is an intermediate in human glucose metabolism, which means that the breakdown products of polyDHA will easily be incorporated into normal cellular processes, thus minimizing toxicity.

Potential Commercial Applications

• Prevention or reduction of post operative tissue adhesions.
• Controlled drug delivery.
• Tissue engineering scaffolds, blood clotting meshes, hernia repair meshes.

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Contact Alice Li, Ph.D., xl11@cornell.edu, 607-254-4487

In an effort to treat and prevent Alzheimer's disease, the invention relates to the discovery of a family of small molecules that can inhibit the aggregation of beta-amyloid peptides. Aggregation of beta-amyloid peptides causes plaque formation in the brain and is strongly associated with Alzheimer's disease. Compared to other beta-amyloid peptide inhibitors in clinical trials, this invention offers molecules that are over 100 times more efficient to inhibit beta-amyloid aggregation. The vast number of derivatives of these molecules also offers a large selection of prospective drug candidates from which to choose. In addition, some of the molecules have been through toxicity studies in other applications, with no indication of toxicity. Furthermore, these molecules can easily cross the blood brain barrier, eliminating the possibility of problems with drug delivery. In vivo studies are currently being conducted with these molecules using a transgenic mice model.

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Contact Alice Li, Ph.D., xl11@cornell.edu, 607-254-4487

Background: Diseases of the immune cells encompass broad categories of disorders including inflammation (e.g. asthma), autoimmune diseases (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis, type I diabetes, psoriasis and multiple sclerosis), and B cell tumors (e.g. Hodgkin's lymphoma, CLL, multiple myeloma, diffuse large cell lymphoma). The drugs for immune disorders have a combined $40 billion market. Corticosteroids have been widely used for treating immune disorders. However, corticosteroids cause severe systemic side effects that preclude their chronic administration. While antibody therapies have recently been introduced for immune disorders, they are very expensive and require injection in doctor's office. There is a need for anti-inflammatory and cancer therapies that are relatively inexpensive and can be safely administered for chronic use. Inhibitors of c-Rel, a member of the NF-kB/Rel family of transcription factors that is only expressed in immune cells, appear to have potential to meet that need.

Inhibitors Of c-Rel: Dr. Hsiou-Chi Liou and colleagues in Weill Medical College's Department of Medicine, Division of Immunology have extensively investigated the function of c-Rel, predominantly through the studies of c-Rel knock-out mice. C-Rel proto-oncogene is one of the immediate early transcription factors induced in lymphocytes and myeloid cells during an inflammatory response. Atypical constitutive c-Rel activation is highly associated with the development of leukemia, lymphoma, and solid tumors such as breast cancer. The inflammatory and tumorigenic potential of c-Rel is mediated by its target genes, which include multiple inflammatory cytokines, growth factors, cell cycle regulators, and anti-apoptotic molecules.

Dr. Liou's studies on the c-Rel knockout mice. Blocking c-Rel activity in mice ameliorates allergic asthma, multiple sclerosis, type I diabetes, and arthritis. Moreover, the c-Rel knockout mice tolerated allografts in both cardiac and pancreatic transplantation models. The therapeutic benefits of c-Rel inhibitors include (i) proof-of-concept efficacy in animal models; (ii) a combined benefit of blocking multiple cytokine production simultaneously; (iii) a broad application to diseases treated by corticosteroids including lymphomas; and (iv) favorable safety profile, as knocking out c-Rel activity in mice (c-Rel-KO) does not elicit systemic toxicity or any other readily recognizable abnormality.

Dr. Hsiou-Chi Liou and colleagues have screened for small molecule inhibitors of c-Rel function. They are developing proprietary compounds from the hits they have identified. They have also developed siRNA against c-rel that induced the regression of tumor cells with constitutive c-Rel activity.

Contact Carol J. Dempster, Ph.D., cjd2004@med.cornell.edu, 212-746-6186

Dr. Geoffrey Abbott of of the Weill Cornell Medical College Department of Pharmacology is developing novel ion channel modulators based on DABCO, a quaternary ammonium ion with physical similarity to TEA, a reagent commonly used in ion channel studies. Potassium channels have been the primary targets to study, but this family of molecules appears to have utility for a range of other channels. Primary indications are pain, epilepsy, MS, and cancer.

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Contact Bruce Toman, bet2006@med.cornell.edu, 212-746-6186

Professor Fred Maxfield, Chairman of the Biochemistry Department at the Weill Cornell Medical College, has identified a series of compounds that may provide future treatments for Niemann-Pick C, a lipid storage disorder. The compounds may also have utility to reduce phospholipidosis and to reduce cholesterol levels. Cornell has filed a broad, pharma-style patent application on novel derivatives that stakes out the ground for a startup company to exploit.

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Contact Bruce Toman, bet2006@med.cornell.edu, 212-746-6186

Anthony Sauve of the Weill Cornell Medical College is one of the leading scientists in the study of sirtuins, which are key enzymes involved in longevity. Dr. Sauve has developed the first scalable method to synthesize nicotinamide riboside, an unexploited B vitamin, and can be used to manufacture dietary supplements. The synthetic method can also be used -- and has been used, to develop novel analogs that both interfere with and promote the activity of sirtuins. Inhibitors can be used alone as cancer therapeutics, or as adjuvants to sensitize cells to chemotherapeutics. Activators can be used in a range of protective indications or as adjuvants protecting cells from toxicity, allowing higher dosing.

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Contact Bruce Toman, bet2006@med.cornell.edu, 212-746-6186

Lonny Levin and Jochen Buck of the Weill Cornell Medical College discovered a new enzyme -- a soluble adenylyl cyclase (sAC)- and are interested in starting a company around this target. sAC is a bicarbonate sensor; mammals use it as a primary metabolic sensor, as do microbes. The primary market would be anti-infectives, targeting microbial analogs of the enzyme that drive key pathological activities of bacteria, fungi, and protozoa. Further down the line, sAC could be targeted to develop male contraceptives and drugs to treat glaucoma, diabetes, and obesity.

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Contact Bruce Toman, bet2006@med.cornell.edu, 212-746-6186

An important goal in milk production is the development of techniques that can reduce pasteurization time without compromising the safety and integrity of the finished product. One way to reduce pasteurization time is to lower milk pH - higher acidity during pasteurization leads to higher rates of microbial death. However, current legislation prohibits the addition of mineral or organic acids to milk, as the acids are not removed and become part of the final product. We present a new technology that lowers milk pH during pasteurization without the addition of acid to the finished product. The process involves the addition of carbon dioxide (CO2) during pasteurization, which is removed after pasteurization by vacuum. Thus, the CO2 does not act as a direct additive, and it does not become part of the final product.

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Contact Jeff Fearn, Ph.D., jcf55@cornell.edu, 607-254-4502