麻豆村

Stefanie Sydlik鈥檚 first research lab experience shaped her trajectory as a scientist-inventor.

As a junior at 麻豆村, she joined Rick McCullough鈥檚 lab, which was developing regioregular polythiophenes 鈥� plastics that conduct electricity. A few years before Sydlik joined the lab, McCullough co-founded Plextronics, Inc., a company that used his polymers to produce electronics such as solar panels and organic light emitting diodes. Plextronics was acquired by Solvay in 2014.

She recalls McCullough鈥檚 advice: simplify your synthesis for potential commercialization and, when you make something new, consider if it is patentable.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think most chemists are taught to think: Is this an invention? You鈥檙e thinking, I鈥檓 mixing A and B and making C. Well, if no one鈥檚 ever made C before, that鈥檚 something new. It鈥檚 an invention,鈥� said Sydlik, associate professor of chemistry and biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon. 鈥淗is approach colored my whole career.鈥�

For her graduate and postdoctoral training, she sought out mentors who addressed real-world problems that ultimately had commercial value. When she sought an institution for her career, one of her key factors was the university鈥檚 tech transfer ecosystem and policies. Her undergrad alma mater stood out.

鈥淐arnegie Mellon has a really supportive environment for inventing and for inventors,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t encourages us to look and see if our research is patentable and provides the resources for helping us understand the business and entrepreneurship side. Not every university does.鈥�

Today, Sydlik leads her own group at Carnegie Mellon that focuses on commercializable technologies for solving societal concerns. Her first start-up company, BioBind, is developing a therapy to treat low-level lead poisoning.

Benchwork to business concept

For scientist-inventors, having an innovative idea is the beginning. Knowing what to do with it comes next. Carnegie Mellon鈥檚 Center for Technology Transfer and Enterprise Creation (CTTEC) guides faculty and students through the process of transferring invention to industry where they can be developed into commercial products.

The CTTEC team works to protect discoveries through patent work and advances them by licensing intellectual properties to existing private companies or creating new start-ups.

鈥淲hen someone comes to me with this kernel of an idea that just needs to be matured, I get invested into it right away. I want to see it prevail,鈥� said Brad Runyon, CTTEC鈥檚 manager of business development and licensing for MCS. 鈥淎nd those of us in the tech transfer office have the correct skill sets and competencies to do that.鈥�

Over the past 20 years, the 麻豆村 tech transfer team has assisted faculty and students with thousands of patent applications, licenses, options and other agreements. In 2022, Carnegie Mellon was ranked first in university technology transfer and commercialization by Heartland Forward, an economic development nonprofit. The group touted the university鈥檚 unique entrepreneurial culture and focus.

鈥淐TTEC is simply spectacular,鈥� said Terry Collins, the Teresa Heinz Professor of Green Chemistry and director of the Institute for Green Science at Carnegie Mellon. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 be surprised if it鈥檚 the best office in the country given its impact on the university and on regional innovation.鈥�

Collins has worked with CTTEC for 30 years to protect and commercialize his invention 鈥� TAML catalysts. The bio-inspired, environmentally friendly molecules can remove harmful chemicals from the environment and then vanish once their work is done. More than 10 U.S. and over 100 international patents cover TAML technology. In 2021, Carnegie Mellon entered a licensing agreement with Sudoc, LLC to market it.

has operations in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Charlottesville, Virginia; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company is developing a range of TAML-based products that will 鈥� among other applications 鈥� treat mold, clean wastewater and mineralize waste pharmaceuticals. Sudoc received Fast Company鈥檚 2022 World Changing Ideas Award and was named one of 10 Startups to watch by Chemical & Engineering News in 2021.

Robert Wooldridge, Carnegie Mellon鈥檚 associate vice president and head of CTTEC said that he was 鈥渄elighted to find a group of investors and entrepreneurs in Sudoc so well-suited to carrying out the commercialization efforts needed to bring this remarkable chemistry to market.鈥�

Sydlik鈥檚 BioBind and Collins鈥� Sudoc are two of a dozen companies spun out by Mellon College of Science faculty over the last 10 years.

From research to revenue

Runyon said he receives emails daily from undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and alumni who are looking for advice or who have a potential invention. An important first step is to determine if they have something new. If so, the next step is to take the necessary steps to protect it. 鈥淏ut you also have to think about the other side, which is: do people actually want or need a solution to this problem?鈥� Runyon said.

Sydlik learned this firsthand as part of the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program, which helps researchers investigate commercial potential of their work. Carnegie Mellon鈥檚 NSF I-Corps Hub Program is offered through the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. During the seven-week, entrepreneurial training program, Sydlik and two of her team, Stephen Schmidt (Chemistry Ph.D. 2023) and Brian Holt (BME Ph.D. 2015, Chemistry Postdoc 2019) conducted customer discovery interviews with more than 100 people.

鈥淲e talked to them about the problem that our solution was trying to address and ascertained if they wanted the solution,鈥� she said. Many of Sydlik鈥檚 technologies address heavy metal remediation, either with a systemic chelation treatment or technologies that remove heavy metals from food or water.

In this case, Sydlik was assessing the market viability of a cobalt chelator she designed to treat metallosis, a condition caused by the buildup and shedding of debris when metal joint replacement devices rub against each other. The interviews showed them that there wasn鈥檛 a market there. Metal-on-metal prosthetics are no longer used, and people with them either have them replaced or are happy.

鈥淣o one wanted our solution,鈥� Sydlik said. 鈥淥ur customer discovery led us to realize that people do want to get rid of all the other heavy metals, though. It鈥檚 not that big of a difference between cobalt and lead or mercury or arsenic.鈥�

The end result? BioBind.

A number of Carnegie Mellon graduate students and postdoctoral researchers have gone through the I-Corps program, including Amber Lucas, who earned a Ph.D. in 2018 in biological sciences. Lucas co-founded with Biological Sciences Professor Jonathan Minden. Recognized by the innovation intelligence firm StartUs Insights as one of the top five biotech startup companies advancing biochemistry solutions globally, Impact Proteomics鈥� technology for immune-profiling and antigen discovery enables researchers across academia and industry to identify new therapeutic and diagnostic targets in a way that existing immunoassays cannot.

The university鈥檚 technology transfer ecosystem provides opportunities for students to participate in translational research, gain experience in the process of obtaining a patent and work with industry, start-ups and manufacturers.

Raman Bahal, who graduated with a Ph.D. in chemistry in 2012, was a student in Chemistry Professor Danith Ly鈥檚 lab during the time Ly was developing peptide nucleic acid (PNA) technologies that would go on to become the basis of his first start-up company NeuBase, which developed antisense therapies to address genetic diseases.

鈥淒anith Ly is incredibly brilliant on the industry side and his inventions have had valuable impact,鈥� Runyon said.

鈥淚 feel so lucky that I was part of that journey,鈥� said Bahal, associate professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Connecticut. 鈥淚 saw everything: how the gamma-PNA evolved in terms of synthesis, biological activity and startups from Danith鈥檚 lab.鈥�

As a director of his own lab, Bahal modifies gamma-PNA molecules, using them to target oncogenic DNA, a root cause of cancer. He also has discerned that PNA can be used as a combination therapy for cancer treatment. He is working on patents for his technologies and is talking with venture capitalists about licensing the technology or launching a startup to get the therapies to patients.

Like Bahal, Sydlik said she lucked out in ending up with Rick as a mentor. 鈥淚 really credit a lot of the formative ways that I think about research to Rick and to my experiences as an undergrad at Carnegie Mellon. And the tech transfer office really helps expose us to that other side of entrepreneurship beyond just being an inventor,鈥� Sydlik said.