JHTV FY20 Annual Report Highlights
JHTV FY20 Annual Report Highlights
TECHNOLOGY VENTURES
FY20 ANNUAL REPORT
A YEAR TO REMEMBER
... And not just for the reasons we anticipated! The coronavirus pandemic
was unexpected and unprecedented. It tested the limits of our flexibility,
resilience — and our technology. The Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures
(JHTV) team continued its work remotely, and had the unique privilege
of supporting researchers and startups in the urgency of the moment.
Our university is a dynamic place, always pulsing with innovation and
creativity, but it was, in many ways, at its best this spring.
Pandemic aside, our new website was launched on the eve of our fifth
anniversary and then quickly put to the test as a key tool for helping
faculty members and students access resources from afar. This year,
we launched our Women in Innovation initiative, supporting female
entrepreneurs across Johns Hopkins. Our student teams participated in
FastForward U‘s student accelerator program, and our student teams
continue to earn recognition across the country. We also embraced
a swell of innovation activity in software, cell and gene therapy, and
precision medicine.
Please read on. We are grateful to serve our students and our faculty,
and we love to share and celebrate their breakthroughs.
Onward,
Christy Wyskiel
Executive Director, JHTV
Senior Adviser to the President
for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
FY20 ANNUAL REPORT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Year-in-Review 1
Technology Transfer 3
Corporate Partnerships 5
Acknowledgements 12
What‘s Next? 13
1 FY20 ANNUAL REPORT
YEAR-IN-REVIEW
RANKING LICENSING
7 464
Ranked by the National Academy of
Inventors and the Intellectual Property
Owners Association’s report “Top 100
Worldwide Universities Granted U.S.
REPORTS OF
Utility Patents” INVENTION
114
STARTUPS
11 LICENSES
AND OPTIONS
$278M 23
LICENSED
STARTUPS
CREATED 173
LICENSED NEW U.S.
RAISED BY STARTUPS PATENTS
$24M 63 $17.3M
RAISED BY
STUDENT-LED
VENTURES
9
OTHER
CORPORATE-SPONSORED
RESEARCH COLLABORATIONS
MANAGED BY JHTV
VENTURES
CREATED
COVID-19
The pandemic provided the
MARKET SUCCESS
opportunity for Johns Hopkins
startups to pivot their focus in
27
an effort to help those in need
BURNALONG
CLEARMASK
TEAMS RECEIVED EMOCHA MOBILE HEALTH
TRANSLATIONAL Net Health acquired Tissue Analytics, founded
FUNDING TOTALING by Whiting School of Engineering students. This
$3.1M
will expand Net Health‘s leadership position in
the wound care market and will accelerate the
delivery of next generation wound care
technology solutions.
FY20 ANNUAL REPORT 2
STARTUPS
» Thrive Earlier Detection Releases Results of First Study on Multicancer Blood Test
» Galen Robotics Makes Itself at Home in Baltimore with New Offices, Internship Program
STUDENTS
» Student Engineers Design a Solution to Address Common Dialysis Complication
» FastForward U Spark Team Wants to Reinvent the Food App Industry
AWARDS
» Five Johns Hopkins Startups Receive Inaugural Microsoft Acceleration Awards for Artificial
Intelligence and Data Science Technologies
COLLABORATIONS
» Johns Hopkins, Toshiba Collaborate on Precision Cardiovascular Medicine Project
» Basic-Science Researcher Shows Path to Corporate Collaboration
3D Printed Ventilator From the left: Flave co-founders Jal Irani, Galen Robotics‘ president and CEO Bruce
PHOTO: Will Kirk/The Johns Hopkins University Derek Battle, and James Soldinger Lichorowic, second from right, and Dave
PHOTO: Beatrice Shim/FastForward U Saunders, chief technology officer and co-
founder, third from right, with former
Johns Hopkins interns
PHOTO: Galen Robotics
3 FY20 ANNUAL REPORT
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
JHTV’s Technology Transfer group is privileged to support the translation of best-in-class science to the
marketplace, so that discoveries can be most impactful in addressing unmet needs. Notwithstanding Johns
Hopkins’ preeminence in life sciences and health care innovation, the technology portfolio is broad, and there
is no ground we are not breaking – literally this year, we licensed a geothermal well technology! As the
university went “remote” this spring in response to COVID-19, our office saw an uptick in faculty interaction —
reports of invention in April and May were up 40%. Licensing activity also grew during that period, with a 25%
increase in license executions.
TRANSLATIONAL FUNDING
$3.1M » BISCIOTTI
AWARDED
» COHEN
27 » THALHEIMER
PROJECTS
A set of philanthropy-enabled translational
funds help investigators advance their early-
stage technologies. Through technology
development and prototyping, these
technologies become stronger candidates for
licensing. From 90 applications, JHTV was able
to support researchers’ goals of building better
batteries, fighting mosquito-borne disease,
perfecting cranial drug delivery, and blocking
cancer metastasis, among others.
FY20 ANNUAL REPORT 4
» COVID-19 INNOVATION
» FEATURED TECHNOLOGIES
JHTV collaborated with Chris Heaney, associate
PREMISE
professor from the Bloomberg School of Public Target Validation of Splicing Repression, a Major
Health, on the commercial development of an Function of TDP-43 in the Motor Neuron
oral diagnostic to measure immune responses PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
(antibody) to SARS-CoV-2 infections. Philip Wong, professor of pathology
PROGRESS
The fundamental cause of amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis (ALS) is unknown. In the last decade,
however, the TDP-43 protein has been shown to
abnormal RNA splicing, which causes loss of motor
neurons in 97% of ALS cases. Wong and his
colleagues have validated a therapeutic strategy
designed to restore the normal splicing of TDP-43 in
» DIGITAL INNOVATION
motor neurons of mice and flies that mimics the loss
of TDP-43 splicing in ALS. Development of this
75
technology may lead to a gene therapy for the
treatment of ALS.
PREMISE
Diffuse-Light-Collecting Microconcentrators for High
of the 464 reported inventions this year were digital Efficiency Solar Cells
innovations. Johns Hopkins is dedicated to making PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
these available through various means, ranging from Susanna Thon, assistant professor of electrical and
traditional licensing to open source licensing. This computer engineering
year, digital innovations were at the core of PROGRESS
51 licenses and the formation of five new Thon and her colleagues at the Whiting School of
licensed startup companies. Engineering have developed and tested
concentrators to maximize light absorption in
third-generation solar cells in a cost-effective way.
4,973
solar cells and deliver up to 20 times the current of
existing third-generation technologies.
PREMISE
SulAnchor Cathodes for High Charge/Discharge
Lithium Sulfur Batteries
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
JHTV’s seven-person contracts team processed V. Sara Thoi, assistant professor, Department of
nearly 4,000 Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs) Chemistry
in the first three quarters of the fiscal year, with PROGRESS
almost 90% processed within five days of receiving These new Lithium-Sulfur (Li-S) batteries could be
used for consumer electronics and large-scale
them and nearly all processed within 30 days. Due
stationary energy storage, as well as in the heavy
to the coronavirus, some companies are providing
electric vehicle industry, in which long range and
access to proprietary materials they previously kept high payload transportation will need high energy,
off limits, and with that allowance comes tighter lightweight batteries. Li-S batteries with SulAnchor
restrictions about use of their materials and the technology also have remarkable energy storage
companies interest in future results. capabilities at various charge and discharge rates,
allowing stable recharging as fast as 15 minutes.
5 FY20 ANNUAL REPORT
CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS
COLLABORATION NEWS
Beginning in 2016, AbbVie and The
Johns Hopkins University (JHU)
established an oncology research
collaboration focused on better
mechanistic understanding, validation
of novel targets and biomarkers, and
discovery/development of medicines
for the treatment of cancer. Since
its inception, our scientists have
embarked on multiple projects
together. Many of them are ongoing.
FASTFORWARD
A coordinated suite of resources designed to
efficiently move technologies from startup
to marketplace. With innovations in an
array of markets from drug development
to manufacturing and digital health,
FastForward startups are bringing myriad
life-changing technologies to market
160
ACTIVE
$278M
VENTURE FUNDING
STARTUPS RAISED BY 23 STARTUPS
FY20
1,280 $3.1M
LOCAL JOBS TRANSLATIONAL FUNDING
AT STARTUPS RAISED BY STARTUPS
INNOVATION HUBS
FastForward provides affordable, turn-key
spaces for our startups at two locations in CLICK BELOW TO SEE HOW OUR HUBS WORK
Baltimore City. This year, our spaces were
home to 41 startup companies, including 13
therapeutics, five diagnostics and 11 health
information technology startups. Critical
research activities continued this spring
during the COVID-19 shutdown, and even
as much activity was remote, all companies
continued to leverage FastForward
membership to access mentorship,
fundraising support, pro bono services
from sponsors, and other support.
FY20 ANNUAL REPORT 8
STARTUP PORTFOLIO
SIGNATURE PROGRAMS
FOR ENTREPRENEURS
Facilitating startup Since 2014, JHTV has advanced innovate or start a business.
innovation ecosystems Our Social Innovation Lab (SIL)
formation and and developed tomorrow’s supports innovative nonprofits,
solutions for today’s biggest mission-driven companies,
growth through a challenges. We are committed to and disruptive technologies to
range of supportive supporting all ventures, including create change and opportunity in
community and student startups. Baltimore and beyond.
programs FastForward U (FFU) is our hub
for student entrepreneurship. It
is a collaborative, extracurricular
environment for any student
looking to experiment,
108
VENTURES
1,326
STUDENTS ENGAGED
advance their ventures through FFU‘s Accelerator
program. The two tracks in the program provide
SUPPORTED
students support at different stages in the development
IN PROGRAMMING
of their work. Spark is designed for early-stage teams
to validate their ideas, while Fuel is best suited for late-
$232K stage ventures to prepare them for market.
GRANTS AWARDED
The accelerator program culminates during FFU’s
Demo Day, when teams pitch their ventures for the
FFU ACCELERATOR opportunity to win nondilutive funding. This year’s
Spring Demo Day was held virtually and included eight
90+
APPLICATIONS
19
TEAMS
Fuel teams and 11 Spark teams competing against one
another for a prize pool of $30,000.
PARTICIPATING
8
SPARK AND
$112K
FUNDING
FUEL WINNERS AWARDED
93
VENTURES
258
PAID EMPLOYEES
entrepreneurs the funding, mentorship, office space,
and workshops they need to develop into thriving,
SUPPORTED AT VENTURES
sustainable ventures that have a measurable impact.
Focused on catalyzing the Baltimore-area innovation
ecosystem, SIL invites community members to
$67M participate in addition to Johns Hopkins students,
faculty members, and staff members.
FUNDING SECURED
50%
WOMEN-LED
70%
BIPOC-LED
October, SIL conducts a competitive application
process during which Baltimore-area residents and
JHU students, faculty members, and staff members
VENTUES VENTURES
can apply for support for their social ventures.
70%
deliver social impact. The program culminates with SIL’s
COMMUNITY-MEMBER-
$421K
FUNDING SECURED
Impact Forum. This year, the event was held virtually.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
JHTV is grateful for the support of many generous stakeholders, especially its donors, corporate
sponsors, mentors, and strategic advisers. Each has a key role in our continued success. Donor and sponsor
contributions enable us to fund the innovators, programs, and grants that move ideas from lab to market.
Strategic guidance from our Innovation, Development, and Entrepreneurship Advisory (IDEA) Board
generates growth to entrepreneurship across The Johns Hopkins University and our region. Our alumni,
mentors, and volunteers provide direct guidance to Johns Hopkins innovators and help allocate
translational grant funding that catalyzes technology development. This dedicated team is critical to our
vision of promoting innovation on a local and global scale.
MENTORS SPONSORS
More than 30 individuals provided mentorship to our AbbVie Newmark Knight Frank
student, social, and professional ventures. We thank, AstraZeneca Pfizer
in particular, our Mentors-in-Residence and those who Bayer PNC Bank
provided extensive engagement to guide significant Biogen Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr
projects forward. Bloomberg Philanthropies SC&H Group
CSC Leasing Solidworks
Ethan Agarwal Ian McLane Danaher Diagnostics Thermo Fisher
Sam Ball Brau Bill McNamara Deloitte Venable
Sidd Chhabra Joseph M. Migliara DLA Piper Whiteford Taylor Preston
Arthur (Skip) Colvin Guy Miller Emergent
Graham Dodge Todd Murphy Genentech
AJ Donelson Michael Richman Microsoft Corp.
Yair Flicker Daniel J. Roche
Chris Ganan Ria Shah
Richard (Ric) Hughen Stewart Sweeney
Blythe Karow Sean R. Tunis
Jordan Matelsky Barbara White
13 FY20 ANNUAL REPORT
Despite the obstacles and new opportunities presented along our journey, we are committed to
our FY19–FY23 road map that will enable us to deepen our contributions to the academic pursuit of
impact on the world. Some themes you’ll see us tackle in fiscal year 2021 include faculty education,
the commercialization of new therapeutic modalities, the talent pipeline (and its diverse composition)
and the strength of our ecosystem.
JOHNS HOPKINS
TECHNOLOGY VENTURES
FY20 ANNUAL REPORT