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46 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | APRIL 17, 2023 SUPPORTING SPONSOR PARTNER SPONSORS UNLIMITED OPPORTUNITY SPONSORS COMMUNITY BUILDER SPONSORS Aetna CVS Health The Cato T. Laurencin Institute For Regenerative Engineering Central Connecticut State University Saint Francis Hospital Tito's Handmade Vodka FRIEND SPONSORS Barnes Group Inc. Connecticut Sun Hartford Hospital Howard K. Hill Funeral Services Jackson Lewis LLP MEDIA SPONSORS PRESENTING MEDIA SPONSOR CHAMPION SPONSORS Hartford Region IN THE COMPANY OF WOMEN LUNCHEON Equity Isn A Game April 20, 2023 Pre-event networking & vendors: 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Lunch: 12:30 p.m. Keynote address: 1:00 p.m. CONNECTICUT CONVENTION CENTER 100 COLUMBUS BLVD HARTFORD, CT 06103 Keynote: Jackie Joyner-Kersee Track Superstar To purchase tickets and to sponsor scan QR code Thank You for Sponsoring In The Virtual Company of Women KAMAN Shipman & Goodwin, LLP Trinity College Barnes Group, Inc. blumshapiro Connecticut Convergence Institute Hartford Hospital MDC United Way of Central and Northeaster Connecticut Willis Towers Watson Thank You for Sponsoring In The Virtual Company of Women KAMAN Shipman & Goodwin, LLP Trinity College Barnes Group, Inc. blumshapiro Connecticut Convergence Institute Hartford Hospital MDC United Way of Central and Northeaster Connecticut Willis Towers Watson *As of 3.23.23 small animals. Now we want to do it in large animals and eventually do it in humans." 'Bench to bedside' Laurencin said he's open to any number of ways to get his technolo- gies to the marketplace — licensing the technology, partnering with existing companies, co-development, or going it alone as a startup. "One of the emphasis areas that we have is really developing these technologies beyond the lab and into products. To bring them to patients through commercialization," he said. "We have a suite of technologies from new ways to regenerate bone with new bone matrices, new ways to treat shoulder injuries like rotator cuff tears, and new ways to be able to now regenerate joints." Laurencin is no stranger to commercialization efforts. To bring his regenerative ACL tendon technology to the market, he co-founded a startup called Soft Tissue Regenera- tion, which later became Biorez under a new CEO, with Laurencin retaining an ownership interest. In 2022, Biorez was sold to medical device company CONMED for $85 million. To take some of these latest developments to market, he's forming a new company called Healing Orthopedic Technologies Bone, or HOT Bone. The company is examining five major research assets from the HEAL project for potential commercialization. At the moment, it's filling its lead- ership roles and beginning to go after venture capital funding to meet its milestones. What's exciting for the university in the prospect of commercializing tech- nology out of the venture is the size of Laurencin's research group, and its level of international recognition. "Our biggest asset is the intellectual property we generate," said Abhijit Banerjee, associate vice presi- dent for Technology Commercialization Services at UConn. "University tech transfer offices are really underappreciated in the grand scheme of things." His office is involved on several fronts across UConn, the first of which he characterizes as becoming very aggressive in defending tech- nology that's protected by patents. But they're also responding to the changing federal landscape. The spotlight that the COVID-19 pandemic threw on the process of vaccine development, and by extension all scientific research, has changed many things for university scientists. "We are seeing more and more federal impositions on foreign influ- ence," he said. "So, we become the eyes and ears of the univer- sity, given the sensitivity around some research." His office is also involved in building what he calls an entre- preneurial culture in the university, encouraging faculty to found startups, fostering linkages with state agencies like CTNext, and courting industry players at medical device or pharma- ceutical companies who might want to form partnerships with UConn faculty to solve specific problems. Startups participating in UConn's Technology Incubation Program (TIP) in Storrs, Farmington and Stamford raised $183 million in fiscal 2022. That pushed the total funding raised by TIP companies since the program's 2003 founding to over $1 billion. "One of the things that universities are mandated to do is to make the inventions that are developed in the university go to the marketplace," said Banerjee. "Basically, from bench to bedside." A reception for the new Laurencin Institute was held in February at the UConn School of Medicine in Farmington. PHOTO | UCONN Abhijit Banerjee