Discovery to delivery: Purdue’s Sangtae Kim will share expertise on commercializing university-driven innovation at Nov. 14 lecture

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Sangtae Kim, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University, will visit Western New York on Nov. 14 for a special presentation on the newest approaches to commercializing research discoveries.

The lecture will be hosted from 4-5 p.m. that day by the University at Buffalo’s New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, 701 Ellicott St., Buffalo.

The presentation, titled “Discovery to Delivery: the Role of Eulerian and Lagrangian Incentives in Translational Research,” will use case studies in medical devices and pharmaceuticals to demonstrate how incentives can be improved to support technology transfer. UB Provost Charles F. Zukoski will provide introductory remarks.

“For a region like Western New York, where our academic and research resources are plentiful and expanding, translational research is a key component to growing our economy,” said Marnie LaVigne, PhD, associate vice president for economic development at UB. “We’re honored to host Dr. Kim for this important discussion on how universities can continue to encourage the movement of new innovation from the lab to the marketplace.”

Kim is a recipient of the 2013 Ho-Am Engineering Prize from South Korea, the highest engineering research award issued by the nation, and is the founder and chairman of Pro WD Sciences Inc., a Wisconsin drug discovery and drug development company.

He is formerly the executive director of the Morgridge Institute for Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a biomedical research institute founded thanks to philanthropic support from former Cisco Systems chairman and CEO, John Morgridge. Kim served as inaugural director of the National Science Foundation's Shared Cyberinfrastructure Division from 2004-05. His past experience also includes work with Eli Lilly and Co. in Indianapolis, Pfizer Inc. and Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research.

The lecture is open to the public. To register for “Discovery to Delivery,” visit sangtaekim.eventbrite.com or UB’s New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences at www.bioinformatics.buffalo.edu.

The lecture is part of the center’s Life Sciences Commercialization Lecture Series, which covers monthly topics related to commercializing products and services and growing Western New York’s high-tech economy.

The mission of UB’s New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences is to foster economic development by connecting university resources with life sciences and high-tech industry through funding, research and development support, programming and education, with the goal of helping companies find business solutions, accelerate new ideas and grow. This technology-based economic development mission is complemented by the center’s efforts to support the advancement of new discoveries in science that seek better ways of preventing and managing disease and improving lives.