The Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (Indiana CTSI) set a record last year for supported research projects that have reached the technology transfer phase of their development. Twelve projects supported by the Indiana CTSI in 2011 have filed invention disclosures with the Indiana University Research and Technology Corp. (IURTC), a not-for-profit agency affiliated with Indiana University that specializes in moving innovative research into the marketplace. In 2010, notechnology transfer projects were reported by IURTC that cited support from the Indiana CTSI. Over the next few days four Indiana CTSI/IURTC-supported projects to have entered the commercialization process over the past year will be highlighted. 

The first project generated intellectual property based on autism research conducted by Craig Erickson, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at the Indiana University School of Medicine, who has cited the Indiana CTSI on five patentable invention disclosures filed with the IURTC in 2011. These include the use of the drugs acamprosate and riluzole as therapeutic agents for Fragile X syndrome and autism, as well as three potential biomarkers — two to detect biological evidence for improvement after treatment with acamprosate or riluzole and a third to predict in advance whether a patient will favorably respond to treatment with these drugs. Initial support for these research projects came from a $17,000 grant from the Indiana CTSI Pediatric Project Development Team as well as support from its bioethics, compliance and biostatistics support programs. Dr. Erickson also serves as clinical director of the Christian Sarkine Autism Treatment Center in the Department of Psychiatry at the IU School of Medicine.

This is the first of four blogs. Check back soon for the next posting in the series.