Chats at the Office of Technology Transfer (OTT)

For those who may believe that OTT is just an old house located on University Street that simply handles contracts and collects reports of inventions, we have some surprises for you. We have initiated a series of OTT Chats, designed to bring to McGill senior individuals from the worlds of finance, venture capital, patent protection, contract negotiation and other related areas for in-depth discussions at OTT with all interested parties. The chats were initiated during the winter months and have resulted in some useful comments. In some instances, we are told that they have been instrumental in generating new ventures as a result of getting to meet and develop joint research interests between McGill researchers. We will continue these chats in some form in the fall.

McGill spin-off launched with OTT support

When Dr. Philippe Séguéla approached Dr. Jean-Marc Juteau at OTT to seek advice on how to commercially exploit his invention, he was not aware that it would lead to the creation of a new spin-off company. Though this particular case evolved rapidly, many inventions are not suitable for such a route.

Dr. Séguéla is the coordinator of a research group at the Montreal Neurological Institute. This group is involved in understanding the cell biology of excitable tissues in the brain and in sensory neurons. His discoveries, together with those of Dr. K. Babinski, also from the MNI, deal with the identification and cloning of novel genes for excitatory chemo-receptors that mediate pain transmission and synaptic communication in the brain. Dr. Séguéla's work could lead to the discovery of new diagnostic tools and cures for disorders of the brain.

With the close collaboration of OTT, the research team translated its discovery into applications and sought some investors to exploit this technology. OTT helped the researchers in their selection of the appropriate partners. As a result, a new company, Antalium, was recently launched with the inventors, McGill University and T2C2-Bio Inc. as shareholders. T2C2 is a start-up fund sponsored by Sofinov and the Canadian Development Bank. An option agreement was drafted, accompanied by financing for six months to complete the research program and to cover patent costs. In the option agreement, it is anticipated that significant financing will be found after a period of six months to cover the next three years. McGill and the researchers will transfer some of the technology through a royalty-bearing licence to Antalium and will receive some further research contracts.

As is the case for a number of McGill-derived spin-offs, the University and the researchers are obtaining equity, royalties and potential contracts from the creation of such companies. This start-up is one in a series of new start-ups initiated by McGill over the last three years. For many spin-off companies, even if the success prospects are good, the risk level is high, and the returns will only materialize fully in several years -- perhaps a decade. We all extend our best wishes to Antalium.

OTT web site

We have developed a friendlier user interface and extensively updated the content of the OTT web site. In fact, the revised site (http://ww2.mcgill.ca/fgsr/ott), accessible from McGill's homepage through the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research or through the commercial activities heading, will give you some sense of our mission, our organization, the OTT team and, more importantly, a description of available technologies. We appreciate the support provided by Industry Canada in establishing an innovation databank -- the National Invention Index. While the description of our technologies is not yet complete, it is a beginning and we will upgrade this promotional product in the months to come. We encourage you to browse our site and provide us with your comments.