Our mission is to drive the transfer of science and engineering knowledge created by our researchers to maximize societal impact by developing partnerships with industry through the creation of new ventures, collaborations with corporations, and transfer of intellectual property while nurturing an entrepreneurial environment.
From a sea of scientific ingenuity and biomedical possibilities, an invention emerges. Steeped in potential, this new intellectual property can represent non-invasive methods for measuring blood and eye pressure, an innovative use for ultrasound imaging, and more. But as Caltech researchers navigate through prior arts (e.g., previously patented inventions and publicly available products), legal conundrums, and medical quirks, pinpointing an idea both unprecedented and useful can remain an elusive enterprise.
ENGenuity spoke with three current Caltech innovators and postdocs to dive deeper into the invention process, charting the progression of research performed in the lab into a discovery suitable for a patent.
Company co-founder Shane Shahrestani didn’t prepare for his first StrokeDx first pitch at all—in fact, he didn’t know it was going to happen. OTTCP Entrepreneur-in-Residence Julie Schoenfeld happened to be leading interested venture capitalists (VCs) on a tour of Caltech’s research laboratories mid-2019. As he fielded questions and explained his concept to these visiting VCs, Shahrestani, who was conducting his PhD research in Dr. Yu-Chong Tai’s lab, realized that there might be a real future for the technology.