invent@ucsd
Masthead Photo by Skip Cynar.
September 2009 Volume XVI
Innovator Spotlight
Ian Galton: Juggles Research and Entrepreneurism
Professor Ian Galton, this issue’s featured
innovator, holds several world-records for highspeed/high-accuracy converters and is inventor
on several U.S. patents in this technology area.
Students in Galton’s department—Electrical and
Computer Engineering—also voted him “best
teacher” in 2006. In addition, Galton has several
inventions disclosed to the Technology Transfer
Office at UC San Diego and works with David
Gibbons, assistant director, to commercialize
these new technologies. This long-term
collaboration has resulted in license agreements
for Galton’s analog-to-digital converter
innovations. Working with Galton, Gibbons is
impressed with the inventor: “a no-nonsense
researcher who knows his stuff and doesn’t
waste time.”
and Panigada were honored with an Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) best
paper award in 2008 for their paper on Digital
Background Correction of Harmonic Distortion
in Pipelined ADCs. According to Galton, this
paper was pivotal in outlining the technology
licensed by new start-up, Linear Silicon
Solutions.
In talking about his academic research ventures,
Galton states, “my group’s objective is to develop
enabling technology for highly integrated, lowcost, communication systems. A major challenge
is to overcome analog performance limitations
that have been imposed by processes optimized
for today’s digital circuitry.”
Ian Galton, Ph.D., juggles stress bulbs
from the MaXentric exhibit at the
Salute to Innovations in May 2009.
Galton’s work has impressed San Diego
entrepreneurs as well. Two start-up companies
formed during the last decade using Galton’s technology. More
recently, Dr. Bernard Xavier, one of the founders of Quorum
Systems, Inc. (acquired by Spreadtrum Communications,
SPRD) and Innocomm Wireless (acquired by National
Semiconductor, NSM), began laying the foundation for a new
start-up. Partnering with Dr. Andrea Panigada, then a Ph.D.
student, Xavier and Panigada licensed Galton’s newest
converter technology and formed Linear Silicon Solutions, Inc.
Galton will serve as a scientific advisor for the new company.
Linear Silicon Solutions isn’t Xavier’s and
Galton’s first common endeavor. The two met in
1996 at Pacific Communication Sciences, Inc.,
where Galton was consulting while on leave
from the University of California. Two years
later, Xavier invited Galton to join his newly
formed board of directors at Innocomm Wireless.
Galton and Panigada have been working closely
for several years as well. Galton has served as
Panigada’s Ph.D. advisor since 2005 and the two
have conducted joint research since 2003. Galton
Galton has been teaching and conducting
research at UC San Diego since 1996, initially as
an associate professor and later a professor of
electrical engineering. He also leads UC San Diego’s Integrated
Signal Processing Group. Prior to UC San Diego, Galton
worked at UC Irvine as an assistant professor of electrical
engineering.
In addition to his academic research, Galton regularly consults
at several semiconductor companies and teaches industryoriented short courses on the design of mixed-signal integrated
circuits, as well as serving on corporate Boards of
Directors and corporate Technical Advisory
Boards. He is also active in various capacities
with IEEE, including past Editor-in-Chief of
Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Analog
and Digital Signal Processing, member of the
Solid-State Circuits Society Administrative
Committee, member of the Circuits and Systems
Society Board of Governors, and member of the
International Solid-State Circuits Conference
Technical Program Committee. Galton received
Professor Ian Galton, Dr. Andrea
Panigada (Linear Silicon Solutions)
his Sc.B. degree from Brown University, and his
and Fred Raab (l-r).
M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the California
Institute of Technology.
UC San Diego Technology Transfer Office Newsletter
http://invent.ucsd.edu
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UC San Diego Entrepreneur Challenge—the Winning Teams
Showcases University’s Technologies and Entrepreneurial Talent
In June 2009, teams originating from UC San
Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering swept
the final competition of the UC San Diego
Entrepreneur Challenge, taking first, second,
and third places. Each presented a novel
concept, with topics ranging from a cancerscreening tool to terahertz imaging
microsystems and implanted catheters.
RADIOFAST garnered third place in the
competition with their terahertz imaging
microsystem technology. The technology is
based on a novel circuit-design technique
created by UC San Diego Professor James
Buckwalter (electrical and computer
engineering.) The RADIOFAST team
comprises electrical and computer engineering
graduate student Mehmet Parlak, Natalia
O’Connor, an MBA student with a background
in finance and investments, and Michael
Alston, an MBA student and electrical
engineering Ph.D. experienced in VLSI chip
design.
acquired $10,000 in legal services from the law
firm DLA Piper and an additional $9,500 in
cash from the 2009 UC San Diego
Entrepreneur Challenge. The team plans to
incorporate the high-speed amplifier design
into a new or retrofitted thermal imager to
accomplish proof of concept.
TRITONICS scored second place in the
challenge with a biomedical technology that
prevents clogging in implanted catheters.
Initially aiming for a device to assist with the
treatment of hydrocephalus, the Tritonics
invention can be used for pain pumps,
chemotherapy, and insulin delivery—just about
TRITONICS team at the Entrepreneur Challenge
any treatment plan that utilizes permanent
implanted catheters.
RADIOFAST team at the Entrepreneur Challenge
Using a technology described as “a hand-held
device with security and medical diagnostic
applications,” the team’s innovation uses nonionizing (non-damaging) technology to detect
black-body radiation in the terahertz frequency
range. For example, in a security setting, the
hand-held device could detect a knife hidden
within a folded newspaper. In a medical office,
the device could be used
for inexpensive, early
cancer detection.
A key feature of the
invention is that it
should enable more
cost-effective thermal
imaging. According to
team member Michael
Alston, “The
amplifier’s operating
Michael Alston
specs in the terahertz
frequency-range should enable thermal
imaging using all silicon rather than gallium
arsenide microchips. This will trigger
significant cost savings in thermal imaging.”
UC San Diego’s Technology Transfer Office
filed a patent application on Buckwalter’s
invention earlier this year. RADIOFAST
BIOLOGICAL DYNAMICS took home the
grand prize in the competition with their
cancer-screening tool and it translates into
$15,000 in legal services and $27,000 in cash.
The multi-disciplinary Tritonics team includes
Veronica Neiman, Jun Shin, Saleh Amirriazi,
and Kathryn Olson—all bioengineering
graduate students, Kabir Gambhir and Jonathan
Dunbar—both
MBA students at
the Rady School of
Management, and
Jayant Menon,
M.D. With
credentials as a
bioengineering
graduate student,
Saleh Amirriazi and
and a neurosurgery
Veronica Neiman
resident at UC San
Diego Medical Center, Menon’s clinical
experiences allowed him to propose important
medical problems for the team to solve.
According to team member Amirriazi, “Our
device addresses a problem Jayant faces daily
in his residency. Hydrocephalus shunt catheters
clog on a regular basis—about 40 percent of
them within the first year. If that happens, you
need to replace the implant. This device
eliminates the clogging problem.”
Tritonics is working on prototype development
with two components. The first is a
mechanically “active” component that declogs the catheter; the second is a “passive”
component that prevents the catheter from
clogging. Discussions are in progress with a
collaborative partner to pursue the passive
model invention.
UC San Diego Technology Transfer Office Newsletter
BIOLOGICAL DYNAMICS (l-r) David
Charlot, Raj Krishnan, and Roy Lefkowitz
The project began nearly two years ago as the
thesis and research project of the team’s leader,
Raj Krishnan. In addition to Krishnan, the team
includes bioengineering graduate students
David Charlot and Roy Lefkowitz, and MBA
student Maya Agarwal. The four have formed
their start-up company—Biological Dynamics
—and the UC San Diego Technology Transfer
Office filed a patent
application for the
technology which it has
licensed to the start-up.
When questioned about
the winning invention,
Krishnan offered the
following explanation.
“Other people have called
Raj Krishnan
it other things, but it’s a
cancer screening tool. It is a device that
separates any particle in a solution. So it can be
used for cells, DNA, proteins, RNA, you name
it—any biological or non-biological particle.”
Using Biological Dynamics’ tool, licensees will
be able to separate cancer biomarkers directly
from blood, allowing for a quick, accurate, and
more cost-effective method than other
techniques currently available. Other coinventors of this technology include Professors
Michael Heller, Dennis Carson, Sadik Esener
and graduate student Benjamin Sullivan.
Dominic Montisano, the TTO licensing officer
who manages the technology commented, “The
Biological Dynamics team has put a lot of
effort into moving this technology forward and
can be proud of their accomplishment. This
technology has the potential to make a
significant impact on the diagnosis of cancer
and other diseases.”
Not missing a step, the next item on the
Biological Dynamics agenda, is the Qualcomm
Ventures “QPrizeTM” to be held in November
2009. Qualcomm Ventures awards the winner
$250,000 in early-stage capital.
http://invent.ucsd.edu
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U.S. Patents
Twenty-seven U.S. patents were issued to UC San Diego researchers during the six-month
period from January to June 2009.
Division of Biological Sciences
Martin F. Yanofsky
7,485,772 – Methods of suppressing
flowering in transgenic plants
Martin F. Yanofsky et al.
7,528,294 – Brassica INDEHISCENT1
sequences
Charles S. Zuker
7,479,373 – A novel family of taste
receptors
Charles S. Zuker et al.
7,507,793 – Mammalian sweet taste
receptors t1r3
Division of Physical Sciences
Michael J. Sailor
7,482,168 – Photoluminescent
polymetalloles as chemical sensors
Sheldon Schultz et al.
7,501,288 – Plasmon resonant particles,
methods and apparatus
Division of Social Sciences
Jaime A. Pineda et al.
7,546,158 – Communication methods
based on brain computer interfaces
Jacobs School of Engineering
Anthony Acampora et al.
7,486,641 – Mobility management in
wireless internet protocol networks
Anthony Acampora
7,551,939 – Power-grid-powered agents
for wireless communication systems
Sangeeta Bhatia et al.
7,510,637 – Microelectronic arrays for
cell-based functional genomics/high
throughput phenotyping by electrokinetic
assembly
Chung-Kuan Cheng et al.
7,555,416 – Efficient transistor-level
circuit simulation
Nathan J. Delson
7,503,410 – Dynamic legged robot
Amarnath Gupta et al.
7,533,107 – Data source integration
system and method
Robert L. Sah et al.
7,476,257 – Methods to engineer
stratified cartilage tissue
Eli Whitney's Patent for the Cotton Gin
(archives.gov)
Paul H. Siegel et al.
7,484,168 – Parity check outer code and
runlength constrained outer code usable
with parity bits
John R. Kelsoe Jr. et al.
7,488,576 – Methods for diagnosis and
treatment of psychiatric disorders
David R. Smith et al.
7,522,124 – Indefinite materials
Thomas J. Kipps et al.
7,495,090 – Nucleic acids encoding
chimeric CD154 polypeptides
David R. Smith et al.
7,538,946 – Metamaterials
School of Medicine
Mark Bydder et al.
7,474,097 – Magnetic resonance imaging
with ultra short echo times
Mark Cantwell et al.
7,524,944 – Chimeric nucleic acids
encoding polypeptides comprising
CD154 and TNF-.alpha.
Karl Y. Hostetler et al.
7,517,858 – Prodrugs of pharmaceuticals
with improved bioavailability
Michael Karin et al.
7,491,506 – Inhibition of B-cell
maturation and antibody production
Licensing Technology from UCSD
In fiscal year 2008, UC San Diego received $828.8 million to
support research, instruction, and public service programs. Since
2002, the campus has generated over 300 new innovations each
year. Listings of currently available UC San Diego technologies
are posted at http://invent.ucsd.edu/technology/
biomedical.shtml.
UC, in its licensing practice, can accommodate a range of
licensing alternatives, including exclusive, non-exclusive,
UC San Diego Technology Transfer Office Newsletter
Eyal Raz et al.
7,485,627 – Method for treating
inflammatory bowel disease and other
forms of gastrointestinal inflammation
Roger Y. Tsien et al.
7,524,972 – Synthetic molecules that
specifically react with target sequences
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Steven C. Constable et al.
7,482,813 – Three-axis marine electric
field sensor for seafloor electrical
resistivity measurement
William H. Fenical et al.
7,521,414 – Polyol macrolide antitumorantibiotics from the marine actinomycete
strain CNQ140
field-of-use, and other limited licenses, depending on the
circumstances and industry sector. At one end of the spectrum
are low-cost, non-exclusive licenses granted to companies that
want to enter a market quickly and where intellectual property
protection is less critical. At the other end of the spectrum is an
exclusive license for a platform technology that was fully
funded by public funds where intellectual property rights are
(Technology Licensing continued on page 4)
http://invent.ucsd.edu
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Salute to Innovation Recap
UC San Diego TTO celebrated its partners in innovation during
the Salute to Innovation last May at the UC San Diego Faculty
Club. Professor Roger Tsien, who received the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry in 2008 for his groundbreaking work in fluorescent
biomarkers, was presented with a Lifetime Innovation Award by
UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox. Professor Tsien, a
prolific inventor whose innovations have been licensed to
several companies, has also been involved in founding
successful biotechnology start-ups.
In addition to Chancellor Fox and Professor Roger Tsien, the
speakers list also included local venture capitalist Kevin
Kinsella, Art Ellis (Vice Chancellor for Research) and Jane
Moores (Assistant Vice Chancellor, Technology Transfer.)
TTO organizes the Salute in order to recognize and thank our
partners who help transfer university technologies to the
commercial sector, and ultimately to the market place. TTO
Professor Roger Tsien, Lifetime
Innovation Award Recipient, and
Chancellor Marye Anne Fox.
Bill Decker, Carroll Ekberg (Office of Contract
and Grant Administration), and Magda Stec.
partners with UC San Diego innovators, company licensees,
entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and attorneys.
With over 150 in attendance, highlights of this year’s event
included exhibits by university start-ups and licensees: Active
Motif (Licensee), Avanti Tech (UCSD start-up), InflammaGen
(UCSD start-up), Life Technologies (Licensee), MaXentric
Technologies LLC (Licensee), Millipore Corporation
(Licensee), Nirvana – a division of General Dynamics
(Licensee), Photometria/taaz.com (UCSD start-up),
RedXDefense (UCSD start-up), Senomyx, Inc. (UCSD startup), Sierra Analytics (Licensee), and Urigen Pharmaceuticals
(UCSD start-up).
Our thanks to our corporate sponsors for the Salute: Fish &
Richardson PC (Leadership Sponsor) and Gavrilovich Dodd &
Lindsey, LLC (Affiliate Sponsor.) For more photos from the
event please visit http://invent.ucsd.edu/info/
salute_may09.shtml.
Chancellor Fox, Donna Shaw, and David
Gibbons visit the MaXentric exhibit.
Stacey Liekweg (Institute of
Engineering in Medicine) and Diego
Miralles of Johnson & Johnson.
Technology Licensing (cont’d. from page 3)
paramount. UC San Diego technology transfer officers will work
with potential licensees to establish terms that are fair and
appropriate for the technology and the particular industry sector.
Licensees typically:
• Reimburse UC for patent costs for licensed technology;
• Ensure diligent commercialization of licensed technology
according to a sound business plan;
• Pay a license issuance fee (UC may take equity in small or
start-up companies as part of this consideration);
UC San Diego Technology Transfer Office Newsletter
Professor Roger Tsien and Vice
Chancellor Art Ellis.
Professor Shu Chien (bioengineering) with
Bing Ai of Fish & Richardson.
• Pay a royalty on net sales of licensed products; and
• Accept provisions required by UC policy and California Law.
In all of its agreements with industry, the University of
California subscribes to eight general principles to ensure
consistency, academic freedom, fairness in economic value for
state assets, avoidance of harmful conflicts of interest, objective
decision-making, and protection of students involved in industry
relationships.
TechnologyTransfer Office
http://invent.ucsd.edu
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