Read more about Synvitta Diagnostics Announces Bold Mission To Advance Multiplex Diagnostic Testing.

When every second counts, early intervention is key to survival.

A study University of Florida Health researchers published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine shows that following the local activation of PulsePoint, an app that alerts CPR-trained individuals about a nearby cardiac event, rates of bystander CPR performed outside a hospital setting significantly increased in Alachua County.

Read more about Alachua County’s Bystander CPR Rates Save Lives, Study Finds.

The facility will house cGMP cleanroom suites, cleanroom support spaces, cGMP warehousing and storage, open laboratories, workstations, offices, conference rooms, and additional building support spaces.  The expansion into this second building will be primarily manufacture-focused, which will complement the first facility, which is geared toward research and development.

“We are excited to continue our relationship with Brian and his team at Concept Companies,” said Dr. Edgar Rodriguez-Lebron, President & CEO of Lacerta Therapeutics. “This customized expansion is indicative of Lacerta’s commitment to becoming a leader in adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene-based therapies.” 

“CITI Program’s 20+ years of experience in online learning is an excellent platform for Biotility’s suite of courses aimed at students interested in the biotech industry,” says Paddy Mullen, CEO of BRANY, which owns CITI Program. “The courses are an excellent addition to our catalog and an enormous benefit to CITI Program subscribers.”

Biotility courses are designed for professionals and students preparing to enter industry careers, as well as by researchers—all of whom seek to expand and deepen their knowledge in technical and regulatory details unique to biotechnology industries and translational research.

“We are recognized all over the world here with it,” said Coerper.

The latest project keeping the trend going is a $15 million investment by UF startup and UF Innovate | Sid Martin Biotech alum RTI Surgical, a company that creates implants from human

“We have world-class businesses here that do operations all over the world, and it doesn’t get better than that. It’s growing right now,” said the Coerper.

They perform one of their processes known as TutoPlast, which sterilizes specific tissue types, but soon they will move their operations from leased space to their own.

“The reason we are developing this facility now is because we want to increase efficiency in our process, and we also want to increase our capacity so that we can serve more customers with our surgical implants,” explained Catisha Turner, the Alachua Plant Director for RTI Surgical.

History of the Progress District

The Progress Park area on U.S. Hwy 441 that will now be part of the Progress District was initially developed in 1985, with more buildings constructed in 1988 and the Sid Martin Biotech Incubator arriving in 1994. In 2000, Innovation Partners acquired Progress Park, and RTI began the expansion of what would become a 170,000 square foot campus. The Oragenics Facility was built in 2002, and Progress One, which was immediately filled by Nanotherapeutics, Novabone, AGI, and the University of Florida, was built in 2004.

Catisha is a trusted and highly collaborative leader, and as the Plant Director for the Alachua, Fla. facility, she is not only RTI Surgical’s first female plant director, but she is also the first African American plant director.

Catisha was promoted to this position in December 2021 because of her profound knowledge of our business, portfolio, sterilization processes and industry and her employee-focused leadership style that demonstrates respect, appreciation and support for colleagues. She leads with integrity and compassion and always puts her team’s physical, mental and emotional wellbeing first while holding everyone around her accountable.

RTI Surgical is a graduate of UF Innovate | Sid Martin Biotech

Gainesville, FL – On a sunny and fresh fall afternoon, UF Innovate | Tech Licensing hosted its annual event to recognize top innovations stemming out of the University of Florida. More than 150 innovators and entrepreneurs attended the in-person event, and around 40 joined the livestream to celebrate their achievements in fiscal year 2021.

The event started inside UF Innovate | Accelerate @ The Hub, where a new illustration, 42 feet by 10 feet, replaced the mural original to the building. The mural depicts technologies and startups birthed at the University of Florida. (Details on the mural unveiling here.)

After the mural’s unveiling, guests were invited to walk next door to Midpoint Park & Eatery, a food truck park located at the heart of Gainesville’s Innovation District. The modern, outdoor space was the perfect scene to announce the innovator and innovations of the year.

Dr. David Norton, vice president for UF Research, introduced the Innovator of the Year, Dr. William Hauswirth, a UF researcher and pioneer of AAV gene therapy.

“Today I have the pleasure to introduce one of our superstars here at the University of Florida,” said Dr. Norton while he introduced Dr. Hauswirth to the stage. “His work at UF’s Department of Ophthalmology in the College of Medicine resulted in the first FDA-approved gene therapy that cures blindness.”

Dr. Hauswirth has been a UF innovator since 1975. He is an inventor in more than 300 patent application filings around the world. He also co-founded UF startup and Sid Martin Biotech graduate AGTC, a company focusing on using gene therapy for ocular disease, neurodegenerative diseases and otology. The company, located in Alachua, is conducting clinical trials.

“In other words, his body of work is enormous, and the result of that work touches the lives of people around the world,” concluded Dr. Norton.

In addition to the Innovator of the Year, Jim O’Connell, assistant vice president of commercialization at UF and director of UF Innovate | Tech Licensing, introduced seven innovations of the year selected by the licensing teams out of 285 inventions disclosed in fiscal year 2021.

“These seven inventions and their innovators will impact the world in 20 years,” said O’Connell, as he began to introduce the awardees.

• Intratumoral Type I Interferons Sensitize Response to Checkpoint Inhibitors

Dr. Elias Sayour, a pediatric oncologist at UF’s College of Medicine and UF Health, developed an immunotherapy that uses the immune system to fight cancer. The immune system educates against the child’s cancer, and it can remember that cancer for life, providing continual protection. His team includes Drs. Hector Mendez-Gomez, Sadeem Qdaisat, Brandon Wummer, and Duane Mitchell.

• In-Line Ticketing

Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering Department Chair Dr. Juan Gilbert was concerned about people standing in line waiting to vote on the 2020 elections in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. This inspired him to create a technology that could mitigate the situation and make it safer with a ticketing system that would tell an individual when to return to vote instead of waiting in line.

• Gatorbulins – Novel Microtubule Destabilizing Agents

Hendrik Luesch, professor and chair for UF’s department of medicinal chemistry in the College of Pharmacy, discovered a marine organism that produces a compound that can fight cancer. This technology could be a crucial anti-cancer drug candidate in the near future.

• Stable Magnetic Cryopreservation Agents and Long Circulating Blood Pool Imaging Agents

Dr. Carlos Rinaldi-Ramos, chair in the chemical engineering department, and Dr. Andreina Chiu-Lam created a technology that could cryopreserve an entire organ. They modified magnetic nanoparticle coatings to improve stability in harsh cryopreservation environments where particle aggregation can prevent penetration deep into the organ for subsequent uniform rewarming.

• Clear Single-Use Passive Perfusion Enabled 3D Bio-Reactor Well Plate for Cell Culture and Experimentation

Mechanical engineer Dr. Greg Sawyer works with micro tumors created from real cancer material. He invented a 3D culture system that is accessible and easy to use, and it allows researchers to do the work in their own laboratory environments. His team included Drs. Ryan Smolchek, Juan Uruena Vargas, Jack Famiglietti, Duy Nguyen.

• Adaptive Olfactory Measure of Threshold (ArOMa-T)

Dr. Steven Munger, director of the Center for Smell and Taste at UF, found a better way to screen for smell loss by creating the ArOMa-T. This simple, inexpensive test allows a person to self-assess and identify dysfunction in the sense of smell.

• Precision Health Interventions Using Virtual Clinicians

UF’s College of Journalism and Communications professor, Dr. Janice Krieger, and a multidisciplinary group of UF researchers created ALEX, a virtual health assistant that delivers precision messages to the diverse population in Florida. The virtual clinicians replicate real-life movements of what will occur in face-to-face interactions.

The event, sponsored by Wolf Greenfield Intellectual Property Attorneys, concluded with a cocktail celebration and refreshments provided by Taste Elegant Catering and Midpoint Park & Eatery food trucks MexiCocina and Plantology.

About Standing InnOvation:

Standing InnOvation is an annual event to honor University of Florida innovators who have disclosed, licensed, or optioned a technology in the fiscal year just ended. The name of the event intentionally hints at giving a “standing ovation” to UF “innovators” for the work they have done. The event is also a reminder of the “standing invitation” inventors have to work with UF Innovate | Tech Licensing, which protects and licenses research discoveries.

About UF Innovate | Tech Licensing:

UF Innovate | Tech Licensing works with innovators, entrepreneurs, investors and industry partners to maximize the potential of University of Florida innovations through commercialization for the global good. In fiscal year 2020, Tech Licensing received 393 invention disclosures, executed 132 commercial transactions and launched 16 companies. In 2017, the Milken Institute ranked the University of Florida third in the nation for its tech commercialization efforts. In 2020, the George W. Bush Institute and the Opus Faveo Innovation Development consulting firm, named UF the most productive large university in the country at leveraging its research funding into new companies, new jobs and new ideas.

Media contact:
Sara Dagen
UF Innovate
Marketing & Communications Manager
saradagen@ufl.edu
(352) 294-0998

By Veronica Talavera, Public Relations Specialist, UF Innovate

Brian Crawford Concept Companies CEO said it’s great to have a biotech company in Alachua.

“The fact that they’ve chosen Alachua with their first building and to expand with their second building is truly the strength of our ecosystem, the strength of what our state has to offer and we’re looking forward to many more companies growing in this area and also potentially relocating in this area.”

“There are very few people in the country with the experience to fill Mark’s shoes,” said Jim O’Connell, assistant vice president of technology commercialization at the University of Florida. “When you’ve had a leader who has put our incubators on the map internationally – for good reasons – and you know the field of candidates to replace him is limited, I am thrilled to have someone of Karl’s caliber and experience join our team. I am confident he will step into the role and keep building on Mark’s successes.”

In his role as director, LaPan will lead both of UF Innovate’s award-winning incubators, Sid Martin Biotech in Alachua and The Hub, a mixed-use incubator, in the Gainesville Innovation District, located between campus and downtown Gainesville. The facilities together offer 150,000 square feet of labs, office space, conference rooms, and scientific equipment, and are home to more than 60 startup and growth companies.

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