NM Daily Lobo 02 05 15

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Daily Lobo new mexico

The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895

thursday February 5, 2015 | Vo l u m e 1 1 9 | I s s u e 9 6

UNM struggling to keep blood drive title By Sayyed Shah UNM is falling behind NMSU in the second annual Battle of I-25 Blood Drive by a “large margin.” So far 166 people have donated during this year’s blood drive. United Blood Services officials said this number is much lower compared to last year, when a large number of Lobos donated blood. “We hope that blood donations increase in the coming days,” said Abraham Chacon, a regional donor recruitment manager for the United Blood Services, a non-profit community blood center. He said it will be difficult for Lobos to retain their title if donations do not increase. “NMSU is ahead of us by a large margin and we are expecting that if the blood drive does not do well, NMSU will take the title away from UNM,” said Mike Taylor, donor recruitment specialist with United Blood Services. “But at the same time, with all of our resources pooled here in the Metro area into this blood drive, it is going to be dramatically affecting the blood intake that the hospitals need as well.” Chacon said that because United Blood Services keeps large reserves of blood stored, a drop in new blood donations would not cause a serious shortage for

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Blood drive page 3

Kanan Mammadli / Daily Lobo / @KenanMammadlyR

Empty chairs occupy the SUB Ballroom on Monday for the second annual Battle of I-25 Blood Drive vs NMSU. United Blood Services has said blood donations from students have been lower this year compared to last year.

Public land debate STC takes inventions to market addressed in bill By Lauren Topper

Legislative bills could require NM public lands to be transferred to the state

Mark Allison

By Marielle Dent New Mexico is one of six western states — the others being Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada and Idaho — calling for the transfer of federal public lands to state control. The bill introduced to the New Mexico Legislature this year is asking for an interim study commission to simply investigate the issue further. Mark Allison, executive director of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, spoke with the Daily Lobo about the debate surrounding the transfer of public lands. NM Wild is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and protecting New Mexico wilderness.

If the bill is passed, what are the most likely outcomes? “Rep. Yvette Herrell introduced HB 291, the ‘NM Federal Land Management Study Commission’ (on Wednesday). Bills were introduced in 2013 and 2014 in the New Mexico State Legislature which would have required 23 million acres of public land in New Mexico to be transferred to the state. The bills did not make it out of committee in either year. However, this year there is of course a new Republican majority and committee structure in the House. HB 291 would appropriate $100,000 to create a commission to study the transfer of national public lands to the state.” How would the lands and New Mexico citizens be affected if the bill passed? “I’d start by noting that these public lands are American places and are the birthright of all Americans. And just as we inherited them, we want to pass them along to future generations. Most immediately, if lands were actually transferred to the state, New Mexicans would see their ability to access the places they know

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Q&A page 2

Say that a brilliant scientist has invented a flying car or made a cure for cancer. While many believe the scientist should be popping open the champagne and celebrating, instead they’re probably asking themselves, what now? The answer: bring it to STC.UNM. Formed in 1995 and formerly known as the Science & Technology Corporation @ UNM, the STC exists to help take technology developed at UNM from the science lab to the people who can actually bring it to the marketplace. Currently, according to the STC.UNM website, they have a little more than 50 active startup companies based off of UNM technology. One of these, nanoMR, is currently undergoing a merger and being acquired by the company DNA Electronics LTD for over $20 million. NanoMR developed a new technology, originally created at UNM, which allows for much faster diagnoses of blood infections. Lisa Kuuttila, CEO of STC. UNM, said that after the merger, UNM will retain its license of the technology as before, so little will change for the University. “The intellectual property that was licensed to nanoMR — that license is still in place and it will be licensed to the new company,” Kuuttila said. “They’ve (nanoMR) raised quite a bit of money, and the CEO, Victor Esch, has done a fantastic job

growing the business here in Albuquerque.” She added that she believes the company will retain its name and keep its employees here in Albuquerque. However, the process of getting a start-up from developed technology to a fully functioning, profitable business like nanoMR does not happen overnight. “This business takes a long time,” Kuuttila said. “It takes a long time to get products to market.” First the inventor, usually a University professor, will bring the technology to STC.UNM. Then STC starts by researching the patent literature to make sure that the idea is actually novel. If it is, they file a provisional patent application — last year they filed provisional patents on 83 percent of the new technologies brought to them. After that, they have a year to research the product fully. “We’ll start to build a portfolio, and then we’ll start to go out into the marketplace and talk to entrepreneurs and investors and also other companies. To kind of figure out what the best commercialization pathway is,” Kuuttila said. After the year is up, if the product seems like a good one, they will file a regular patent which Kuuttila said is the more expensive step. While sometimes the scientist/ inventor will play a role in the new start-up company, usually in an advisory position, actually getting the technology to the marketplace is the job of an entrepreneur. Therefore, Kuuttila said her job

is mostly playing “matchmaker” between the inventor and potential entrepreneurs and investors. She is constantly meeting with established entrepreneurs and investors to show them portfolios of technologies available for licensing or a start-up that are within their area of interest.

“...our core mission is to get that technology out there and provide service to the University.” Lisa Kuuttila CEO of STC.UNM One of their most recent startups, ExoVita Biosciences, Inc, is based on a new technology for treating cancer, developed in Dr. Kristina Trujillo’s laboratory. Trujillo praised STC.UNM, saying they guided her through the process and were careful to fully explain each step. “The process was not that difficult. I disclosed my technology to STC about one year ago. STC connected me with the President of the Angel Investors, John Chavez. We met, I pitched my technology to him, and the rest is history,” Trujillo said. “STC has phenomenal patent lawyers.

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STC page 3


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