In 2015 the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences tripled the number of executed license and option agreements, launched three start-up companies, and had a record year in IP income.

TLA recently earned a designation as an I-Corps Site. Now, teams need help defining and protecting their intellectual property. The UA College of Law IP Clinic is stepping up to help.

Startup company Yumanity Therapeutics has licensed a UA-invented prodrug and its analogues to develop treatments for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and ALS that affect over 55 million people.

It takes years of experience to gain the know-how to successfully get a high-tech company off the ground. With its Mentors-in-Residence program, TLA is bringing in proven experts to help start the newest high-tech UA startups on the path to success.

Started one year ago, UA startup Metropia will be working with the Tucson Festival of Books to help alleviate traffic congestion and help attendees get to and from their destinations.

A team of inventors from the UA College of Engineering have developed and are commercilizing a new breed of sensor – a reference electrode – designed to work in ultra-high temperature environments, from metal and oil refining to solar energy.

As the newest member of the TLA Business Development team, Eric Smith works with the office's Licensing Manager and Business Intelligence groups to manage and expand TLA's 1,400-member expert network, and implement strategies to leverage the collective knowledge of that network to more effectively commercialize technologies invented at the UA.

UA Engineering Professor Dominic Gervasio, Ph.D., and Principal Research Specialist Hassan Elsentriecy, Ph.D., invented and are commercializing a toxin-free method using high-temperature molten salts to extract copper from raw ore.

Sherry Hoskinson has retired, leaving an impactful legacy of work at TLA. With her departure, TLA is implementing changes – primarily in the business development area – which she led and built over the past three years.

Tech launch Arizona has been selected as an NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) site. This puts the UA among a prestigious group of institutions that includes the likes of Purdue University, MIT, Carnegie Mellon University and others.