Five Questions With: Katherine Gordon

KATHERINE GORDON is managing director of the Technology Ventures Office at Brown University. / COURTESY PETER GOLDBERG
KATHERINE GORDON is managing director of the Technology Ventures Office at Brown University. / COURTESY PETER GOLDBERG

Katherine Gordon, managing director of the Technology Ventures Office at Brown University, discusses the mission of the office with Providence Business News. Gordon, who has been in her position for seven years, also talked about how the proposed Wexford Science & Technology innovation center project could lure additional companies to Rhode Island. The multimillion-dollar bioscience development, jointly proposed by CV Properties LLC and Wexford Science & Technology, is being advanced for two parcels in the Interstate-195 Redevelopment District.

PBN: Tell me what the Technology Ventures Office does at Brown.
GORDON:
In collaboration with Brown’s faculty and industry, we generate partnership opportunities that are based on inventions, technologies and expertise. We are also actively involved in getting startups off the ground based on research discoveries at Brown.

PBN: How do you work with faculty so that they can commercialize inventions from research?
GORDON:
Practical outcomes – turning research discoveries into useful products – is a key goal. Our office helps to determine if the faculty’s discoveries are patentable and have commercial potential and we take these to the next step in partnerships.

PBN: Do you have any success stories that you can share?
GORDON:
There are several, at different stages. Here are just three examples. Body Labs, based on research in Brown’s computer science department, develops true-to-life 3-D body models and just successfully raised $8 million in venture capital funding. Tivorsan Pharmaceuticals is actively developing a biological product for treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy and a newly formed company, Nanode Therapeutics, a partnership between Brown and Lifespan, is actively working on new treatments for orthopedic (and other) diseases based on a technique to get the active drug into cells and tissues.

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PBN: How would you describe biotech in Rhode Island? Is it growing?
GORDON:
Biomed research funding is on the rise in Rhode Island, which will in turn generate more opportunities to launch new companies. So, yes, biotech is growing. The Brown Institute for Brain Science, Norman Price Neurosciences Institute and URI’s Ryan Institute for Neuroscience, representing hundreds of researchers, have major research programs and unique clinical expertise in diseases such as Alzheimers, Parkinson’s, ALS and Duchenne muscular dystrophy – all areas of great expertise in R.I.

PBN: Why is it difficult for startup companies to make it to the next stage – is raising capital an issue?
GORDON:
Starting early stage companies is risky and many don’t make it out of the gate. Biotech companies in particular require a lot of funding – and raising capital can be tough. The Wexford development project could be key to growing companies in R.I. and keeping them here.

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