Nanotechnology and Life Sciences: Program

4th UTEN Workshop 2011 - Nanotechnology and Life Sciences
Increasing Commercialization Outcomes for University Nanotechnology Laboratories
Universidade Nova de Lisboa - 26 September 2024
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Program

September 26 - Monday

9:00 – Workshop Registration

9:15 – Welcome Remarks and Introduction

• António Rendas, UNL
• Fernando Santana, FCT-UNL
• Elvira Fortunato, UNL
• José Manuel Mendonça, UTEN Portugal
• David Gibson, UTEN Austin

9:40 – Positioning University Nanotechnology Research for Commercial Success

This program hopes to capture best practices around creating nanotechnology laboratories within a university ecosystem which can focus on industrial challenges and solutions early on. This session will discuss what outcomes from university nanotechnology labs industry tends to focus on and how they can impact the university ecosystem.

• Bruce Gnade, UT Dallas
• Rodrigo Martins, CENIMAT, FCT/UNL

10:40 - Debate

11:00 - Coffee break

11.30 - Impact of Collaboration in Nanotechnology Research – An Industry Perspective

A recent study (“An econometric analysis of the effect of collaboration on academic research productivity“) has shown that collaboration, whether it be undertaken with universities, industries or institutions, may indeed increase researchers’ productivity, whether or not the collaborators have an intellectual symmetry. It was found that collaboration between researchers and industry had significantly more impact on productivity than collaborations between researchers and their peers or researchers and other institutions. Productivity varies according to both the scientists’ geographical closeness to their partners and on their field of research. The authors also state that since collaboration contributes to the increase of scientific productivity, government decision makers and university administrators ought to encourage researchers to forge collaborative relationships.

In this session we will have the opportunity to address the other side of the equation. Two companies will share with us how collaboration has impacted their own organizations.

• Brian A. Korgel, UT Austin
• Rafael Antunes, Hovione
• João Calado, InovNano (CUF)

12:30 - Debate

13:00 – Lunch at FCT-UNL

14:30 - Leveraging Nanotechnology Regional Competency to Increase Regional Development

This session will focus on demonstrating ways in which university linked nanotechnology and life sciences focused operations can promote and position development capabilities of laboratories as engines of economic development and industrial interface.

• Juan Morante, Barcelona University
• Servando Aguirre Tostado, Nuevo León, Mexico
• Mariana Brandão, Biocant

15:30 - Debate

16:00 - Coffee break

16:30 - Uncovering New Partnership Opportunities - Roundtable

This session will focus on exchanging current R&D results with industrial applications between invited speakers and Portuguese researchers and industry to uncover potential future areas for technology transfer and commercialization.

• Nuno Correia, Paper-e – Green electronics for the future
• João Paulo Borges, NovaTissue – Redefining Tissue Regeneration
• Valentina Vassilenko, DPL-Screen – Early & painless diabetes diagnosis for a better life
• Vera Moura, Treat U - Targeted therapies for cancer treatment

Discussants: Bruce Gnade, UT Dallas; Brian Korgel, UT Austin

17:30 - Wrap-up

18:00 - Close Session

Technologies

The following technology cases will be discussed in the final session, Uncovering New Partnership Opportunities.

Paper-e

Paper-e® is a technology for applying field effect transistors on and with paper as well as non-volatile memory paper transistors based on the gate floating concept, where the active materials deposited on both sides of the paper sheet are at the most one hundred nanometers thick. It is unique in that the paper is not only the structural support, but is the dielectric, an active and integral part of the function of the transistor. FET components are fabricated onto both sides of the paper sheet. This new structure is called an “interstrate” device.

Tests indicate the paper transistor performed river with the amorphous silicon transistors and even approaches the performance of state-of-the-art oxide thin-film transistors. It can be made at room temperatures (as opposed to the extreme temperatures required for silicon transistors) and since paper is a lighter and a lower-cost substrate than silicon, Paper-e opens the way for inexpensive, or even disposable and biodegradable paper displays, smart labels, RFID technology, logic circuits with and without memory effects, and disposable non volatile memory circuits, among others. It should enable more ubiquitous technology integration in future products.

NOVATISSUE

The business project “NOVATISSUE” has as its purpose the development of products for regenerative medicine. Its unique technology is based on the creation of 3D porous structures that include a pre-vascular network capable of delivering nutrients to cells. Products derived from this technology will allow a faster regeneration of human tissues, allowing a shorter recovery time for patients.

DPL-Screen

Diabetes is a major cause of disease and premature death, currently affecting over 220 million people worldwide. The DPL-Screen project was conceived and developed as an innovative device for the early diagnosis of diabetes and non-invasive, which will promote a strong decrease of the many consequences that come with diabetes, as it will act even before the first manifestations of the disease.

Unlike existing solutions in the market that examine only one biomarker - blood glucose - DPL-Screen measures, quantifies and analyzes both a set of specific biomarkers in exhaled air, and other markers of blood vessels, thus providing a deep knowledge metabolic and physiological profile of the individual. In addition, it is portable, easy to use and requires no specialized personnel, which greatly reduces the cost of using this new method. The test is also painless, low cost and provides immediate results in an asymptomatic population, including children.

Treat U

The mission of Treat U is to improve patient health and reduce costs with health care in oncology. Conventional cancer treatment is generally characterized by the incidence of adverse side effects as a result of unspecific toxicity, which implies the administration of anticancer chemotherapeutics at sub-optimal doses. This often results in the eventual failure of therapy and on the development of drug resistance and metastatic disease.

Treat U has developed a novel and versatile platform for targeted drug delivery (PEGASEMP), allowing an increased concentration of a therapeutic agent to be effective only where it is necessary, hence increasing safety.

Treat U’s main customer is the pharmaceutical industry, which has not been able to address efficiently tumor-specific treatments. Our customers require new technologies and products to keep their revenue growth rates, which implies a shift in their business model towards more personalized therapies with higher specificity such as PEGASEMP.