The first IURTC Outstanding Innovator Award was given to Dr. Anantha Shekhar. The IU Research and Technology Corp. helps IU faculty and researchers realize the commercial potential of their discoveries.
IURTC is a nonprofit corporation tasked with the protecting and commercializing of technology emanating from innovations by IU researchers. Since 1997, IU research has generated more than 2,700 inventions, which resulted in more than 3,900 global patent applications being filed by IURTC.
These discoveries have generated $133 million in licensing and royalty income, including $111 million in funding for IU departments, labs and inventors.
Shekhar is the August M. Watanabe Professor of Medical Research and a professor of psychiatry, neurobiology and pharmacology in the IU School of Medicine and co-founder of Anagin LLC. He will also lead the Precision Health Initiative, the first recipient of funding under the University’s new $300 million Grand Challenges Program.
IU President and IURTC Chairman Michael McRobbie gave the award to Shekhar at the June 22 meeting of the IURTC board of trustees. McRobbie said the development and commercialization of Shekhar’s research reflect some of the goals set out in the University’s Bicentennial Strategic Plan.
“Anantha has proven to be one of the leaders in this area by developing his research of post-traumatic stress disorder through the IURTC SpinUp program and delivering his work to improve people’s lives around the globe,” he said in a release.
Shekhar co-founded Anagin with Yvonne Lai, a scientist with IU’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences in Bloomington and the Indiana Clinical Translational Sciences Institute. The company won the third annual BioCrossroads New Venture Competition in 2014 and has received more than $950,000 in federal grants to develop its treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, according to a press release.
“I appreciate this recognition from IURTC, especially because there are many innovative researchers throughout the Indiana University campuses and schools,” Shekhar said in a press release.
IURTC President and CEO Tony Armstrong said the organization’s mission is to protect IU’s intellectual property and bring it to market, according to a press release.
“It is vitally important to ensure that important discoveries made at Indiana University reach the people who can benefit from them,” Armstrong said.
Leo Smith
