BQ_-_14_-_Summer_2014

ENHANCING
EDUCATION
HTI provides both physical space and support
services to validate technology, translate innovation
into products and accelerate projects to venture
readiness. By focusing on the fundamentals of
technology and market feasibility, HTI increases the
viability and sustainability of life sciences researchbased
startups. It serves University faculty, staff and
students; Chicago-area research institutions; and the
broader entrepreneurial community as a nexus of
biotechnology commercialization.
HTI offers access to shared wet- and dry-laboratory
space for proof-of-concept work, and access to
University resources and our innovation pipeline.
Entrepreneurs ready to test their ideas before
formally launching a business take advantage of
HTI’s short-term leases and access to investors.
IllinoisVENTURES, the University’s venture capital
firm, is located within the facility, connecting
innovators to the seed investments necessary to
jump-start their businesses. IllinoisVENTURES has
funded numerous biotech startups that have
become viable companies.
AbbVie, a global pharmaceutical company, is
a flagship sponsor of HTI and participates in
entrepreneurial workshops and programming
in order to have access to the entrepreneurs
and technologies coming out of HTI. AbbVie’s
involvement brings industry closer to the discoverydriven
academic culture, and is an example of a
mutually beneficial university-industry partnership.
In less than a year, numerous biotechnology
companies have established residence in HTI,
including:
• Benecure, a new venture that is developing
a cardiac emergency alert system with an
integrated user-interface application to predict
and prevent cardiac events.
• Novalex Therapeutics, founded by a medicinal
chemistry and pharmacognosy professor,
that is developing new classes of antibiotics,
including an antibacterial compound to treat
staphylococcal infections and an antiviral
compound to treat hepatitis C, a viral infection
of the liver.
• Vivacelle, a startup company that has developed
an intravenous fluid to treat hypovolemia, a
condition that occurs when there is inadequate
fluid volume in blood vessels.
HTI was made possible by a $3.4 million investment
by the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic
Opportunity (DCEO) and the University of Illinois.
Additional grant funding provided by DCEO to
entrepreneurial support services has resulted in the
formation of 10 new startup companies.
EnterpriseWorks
At our Urbana-Champaign campus, EnterpriseWorks
and the University of Illinois Research Park provide
an environment for technology-based businesses to
work with faculty and students, and take advantage
of collaborative research opportunities and easy
access to the University labs and services. Research
Park is home to companies of all sizes from multiple
sectors, including Abbott Laboratories
and Sony Biotechnology.
InnovatIon drIves
our scIence. Humanity
drives our purpose.
To address healthcare challenges across the world,
we unite a biotech spirit with the strength of a
successful pharmaceutical business. The result is a
biopharmaceutical company combining science, passion,
and expertise to improve health and healthcare in new
ways. Making a remarkable impact in people’s lives is
more than our promise. It’s our purpose.
abbvie.com
Shared laboratory space in the Health, Technology and
Innovation (HTI) Center.
28
BioLogical Quarterly Summer 2014
The Phi Optics CellVista Q1000 provides real-time, labelfree
and quantitative imaging of live cells and tissues with
nanoscale sensitivity.