Lisa’s guest, today on Tech Transfer IP, is Travis Cook. Travis is the Associate Director of Technology Development and Licensing at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). He is a cross-functional international business development professional with experience managing, negotiating, and closing early, late, and commercial-stage definitive agreements. Travis is also co-inventor on seven patent applications and a co-author of several peer-reviewed publications, including a case study in the management textbook, Building a Case for Biotechnology.
Listen, as Travis shares how he ended up at OHSU, what prompted him to write about Myogen, Inc and how he is using the chapter he co-wrote as a teaching tool. He discusses OHSU and many research centers and institutes that are included under the OHSU umbrella.
Travis speaks about how his office is structured, the role each department has, and the benefits of having an in-house patent group. He also speaks on how many inventions are disclosed to his office each year, how many they file on, how many they convert, and the copyrights they file on.
Listen as he discusses OHSU’s corporate partners, how they structure their deals, and what they are working on together. Travis shares some of his office’s biggest success stories, how many startups they have, and his three biggest challenges. Travis believes that credentialing is important because it shows a willingness to expand knowledge, but it’s not a requirement of employment for his office.
We finish the conversation with the three wishes Travis would want for his office if he had a genie in a bottle. This is a great conversation showing how important research is to tech transfer and the amazing things that can be realized with the right minds in place.
In This Episode:
- [01:49] Welcome to the show, Travis!
- [02:10] Travis shares his background, which led him to Tech Transfer and how he ended up at OHSU.
- [05:03] He speaks about gaining the master’s degree that UCSD offered.
- [07:07] Travis shares moving to Portland to continue his Business Degree.
- [11:59] Travis discusses the chapter in his book he co-wrote with Mark Ahn and why they wrote about Myogen, Inc.
- [15:07] He speaks about the teaching tool that chapter has been.
- [17:59] Travis shares more about OHSU and many research centers and institutes that are included.
- [20:59] He speaks about managing an Alzheimer’s asset that is progressing in the research facilities.
- [21:56] Travis discusses how his office is structured and what his team manages.
- [24:48] Travis is excited that they have a patent group that allows them to place more bets.
- [26:58] He speaks about his operations team and what they are responsible for.
- [29:32] Travis shares how many inventions are disclosed by his office per year, and they file on about a third of them per year and convert about 42 applications a year.
- [30:47] What do your active licenses and revenue numbers look like per year?
- [32:00] Travis speaks about what his office files copyrights on.
- [33:16] Travis shares his experience with litigations and whether they have any recent patent litigations.
- [35:10] Travis discusses their corporate partners and how the deals are structured.
- [37:42] Travis speaks about one of their major corporate partners and what they are doing together.
- [42:15] What have you learned over your career with license transactions and or partners, and what would you have done differently?
- [45:16] Travis talks about how he wants his license agreements to be so good that they don’t need to be restructured.
- [49:35] Travis discusses some of his office’s biggest success stories that have had the biggest effects.
- [52:45] He talks about three of OHSU’s remarkable startups.
- [55:32] What would you say are your two biggest challenges?
- [58:43] Travis speaks about the programs they have to support women inventors and entrepreneurs.
- [1:01:55] Travis discusses the organizations they are involved with, like AUTM and others.
- [1:03:38] Travis thinks credentialing shows that people are willing to expand their knowledge base.
- [1:05:02] Travis speaks about three things he would want for his office if he had three wishes.
- [1:06:07] Thank you so much for being on the show!
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