Monday, June 28, 2010

Von Liebig Center in New York Times


The Von Liebig Center here at the Jacobs School is highlighted in a great story in the New York Times with the headline "The Idea Incubator Goes to Campus" by Bob Tedeschi.

The story is about how universities are supporting the commercialization of the early-state inventions that stream out of universities every year.

From the New York Times story:


In the jargon of academia, the locations of such matchmaking are known as “proof-of-concept centers,” and they’re among a number of new approaches to commercializing university research in more efficient and purposeful ways — and to preventing good ideas from dying quietly. The first proof-of-concept center, the William J. von Liebig Center, was established in 2001 at the University of California, San Diego.

The story mentions by name Mushroom Networks and Biological Dynamics -- two of the 26 companies that the von Liebig Center has helped through seed funding, advisory services and entrepreneurship classes. Those startups have created more than 180 jobs and attracted more than $87 million in financing.

Mushroom Networks is a UC San Diego startup founded by electrical engineering professor Rene Cruz in 2004. Mushroom Networks provides innovative networking solutions. On their Web site Mushroom Networks writes, "Our products and services are focused on a range of networking solutions for Internet access for the broadband industry and networking solutions for the digital living room."

Biological Dynamics was founded in 2009 by then UC San Diego bioengineering Ph.D. student (now alumnus) Raj Krishnan. Biological Dynamics is developing early-stage cancer diagnostics that identify and separate secondary cancer biomarkers directly from blood, such as cell-free circulating high molecular weight DNA.
Watch a two minute video of Raj Krishnan talking about his startup and entrepreneurship at UC San Diego on the Jacobs School video portal. The video is embedded below. (Also, check out the Jacobs School of Engineering YouTube Channel.)





Update: This video is now linked from a comment on the New York Times story.

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