As COVID-19 cases continue to rise around the world, there is an urgent need for a simple, yet accurate antibody test to identify infected individuals in large scales to inform public health decisions. Development of a rapid, accurate and specific point-of-care COVID-19 antibody test for use at community level remains an utmost priority.
Classification & Regular Hours
We are seeking 6-8 Fellows for an appointment beginning in July 2021, and lasting approximately 10 months.
Salary: $3,918.12 per month – no benefits
With an international reputation for success, Western ranks as one of Canada’s top research-intensive universities. Our research excellence expands knowledge and drives discovery with real-world application. Western also provides an exceptional employment experience, offering competitive salaries, a wide range of employment opportunities and one of Canada’s most beautiful campuses.
Researcher Dr. Qingping Feng is proof of the axiom it takes years to become an overnight success.
So, he’s willing to wait a while longer, if that’s what it takes, to know for certain that the sepsis treatment he has worked on for more than two decades will save millions of lives.
Feng has been named the 2020 WORLDiscoveries Vanguard Innovator of the Year, an honour that celebrates market-ready research, for his team’s development of the protein annexin A5 into a pharmaceutical that may become the world’s first effective treatment for sepsis, including when it arises as a complication of COVID-19.
Several London, Ontario news outlets broadcast an exciting, commercialization ready device, explaining the value it could bring if brought to market.
The Portable Temperature Regulating Device for Medical and Temperature-Sensitive Products Packaging and Transportation, a project headed up by Kamran Siddiqui, Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Western University, allows for the transport of organs and vaccines at the exact temperature needed in order to ensure the integrity of its contents.
Traditional devices are built without controls and have difficulty sustaining a fixed temperature (hot or cold). The new device developed by Siddiqui and Steven Jevnikar, his former graduate student and now a research associate at Lawson Research Institute, can be controlled and maintained at a constant-set point temperature independent of the surrounding temperatures for an extended period of time. The device also has the capability to vary the temperature to different set points for different time durations during transportation. There is also no need for an external electrical source, and it can also be controlled and monitored remotely.
The project has recently received an NSERC Grant for further development.
Lisa Cechetto, Executive Director of WORLDiscoveries delivered a virtual presentation to new faculty introducing them to our office.
WORLDiscoveries three key messages are covered:
WORLDiscoveries welcomes seven PhD graduates, medical students and scientists from across the country to be part of the sixth cohort of its Medical Innovation Fellowship (MIF) program.
More than just a patent office, WORLDiscoveries has several educational offerings; the MIF being our hallmark program, WD also administers the Proteus Innovation Competition, Graduate Student Innovation Scholars program and professional development workshops regarding patents and intellectual property.
Four technologies originating out of research conducted here at Western have been featured in AUTM’s monthly newsletter that goes to tech transfer professionals around the world.
The four technologies featured were submitted to AUTM’s Better World Project, an initiative started more than a decade ago to help explain how tech transfer and the commercialization of research makes an impact.
These stories put a spotlight on the value of the technologies themselves but also how faculty and scientists are able to find new sources of research funding through commercialization partnerships with industry – all while advancing technologies that make significant contributions to improving the lives of people globally.
WORLDiscoveries® at Western University in partnership with the Centre for Advanced Computing and Queen’s University Partnerships and Innovation have launched a web platform designed to match small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with potential partners from around the world based on the expertise and fields of interest of both parties using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Canadian SMEs can quickly and accurately become matched to an international partner to help their business grow through investment, licensing, or distribution arrangements by creating a profile for their business on the platform. Potential business partners can be matched with SMEs that meet their criteria for partnership. Both SMEs and partners are screened before being admitted to the platform to ensure quality matches are made.
Established in 2011 in response to the changing global economy and an increasing demand for world-class technologies in Asia and operating out of offices in in Hong Kong and Nanjing of Jiangsu province, WD Asia is the first permanent technology commercialization entity in Asia ever created by a Canadian organization.
Over the years, WD Asia has achieved a series of successes in facilitating licensing deals, research collaborations, and the creation of start-ups for London’s researchers valued at $30 million CAD total.
By early 2019, with the support from many strategic partners and years of development, WD Asia has grown into a successful professional services provider dedicated to helping research institutions and high-tech small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) across Ontario form intellectual property and innovation partnerships in China.
A new startup proposed by team BacCheck aims to bring to market a topical ointment using a microbiome modulation with CRISPR technology to combat anti-biotic resistant bacteria such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus commonly known as MRSA. The cross-faculty team met at the Proteus Innovation Competition launch event and decided to team up to develop a commercialization plan for technology offered up by Western.
Proteus is an intense, four-month competition that takes three newly developed technologies from Ontario research institutions and challenges teams to plan their commercialization. It is a partnership among WORLDiscoveries, Western Entrepreneurship, Western Research Parks, TechAlliance, McMaster University and the University of Windsor.
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