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FRD carries science from lab to consumers by Heather Woolwine Public Relations Chip Hood understands that a challenge lies before him. As the new executive director for the MUSC Foundation for Research Development (FRD), Hood’s experience as a patent and licensing lawyer and his enthusiasm for health and science discoveries make him an ideal choice to translate MUSC’s intellectual property into viable commercial products and applications.   Chip Hood “Our overall mission is to serve the university by supporting the goals of the Board of Trustees and university administration. We work to foster relationships between industry and MUSC, with the core focus of FRD being to take the incredible discoveries that are made here at MUSC and translate them into commercial products that improve the health of the citizens of our state and our nation,” Hood said. “The researchers and clinicians making the discoveries are the key players, but we take seriously the contribution that FRD can make in turning those discoveries into more and better ways to treat patients.”   FRD is not a front line health care delivery vehicle. Indeed, those who work in the foundation are tasked with licensing and gaining patents for new procedures, cures, treatments, equipment, and many other pieces of intellectual property discovered in MUSC’s labs and patient care units. Once those are obtained for carefully selected ideas or discoveries, FRD approaches the commercial industry movers and shakers who then gauge whether current markets and economies are ready to support what FRD is proposing as a viable product, service, technology or method. Some technologies may be ripe for forming a startup company based on the discovery, one that could be located in the Charleston area. “We’re taking the bright ideas and helping to guide the university into a position as an economic engine,” Hood said. “MUSC is in a great position to become a major driver of growth of a knowledge-based economy in the life sciences for the local and state community.”   With Hood’s arrival, the departure of some staff members, and the arrival of new staff, FRD is undergoing a kind of regrouping. “We have an incredible amount of technology in our database that is currently untapped and we’re putting it all through an intellectual property triage process to evaluate and determine which ideas to protect through patents and which ones have the most commercial potential, meaning that the discoveries can translate into real solutions,” Hood said. “We want to be responsive to our faculty and be able to explain why something may or may not be ready for a commercial market. But even if something isn’t ready now, that does not mean an inventor should stop inventing. The next discovery may make the first one even better and then we may be able to move forward. We’re going to work really hard so that our faculty understands the process and why things move the way they do.”   A native of Hampton County, Hood’s dedication to MUSC is firmly rooted. At 6 weeks old, Hood had his first encounter with the university via a trip to the medical center for treatment.  He said he feels drawn to MUSC. After he graduated from Clemson with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering and working for several years as an engineer for the U.S. Navy, he then went on to his alma mater’s rival, the University of South Carolina in Columbia to earn his law degree. A lawyer for 16 years, Hood gained invaluable experience as a plaintiffs’ trial lawyer in Charleston before finding his niche in patent and licensing law. “Here, we’re in the business of building and fostering relationships as opposed to the often destructive nature of litigation,” Hood said.   In 1999, Hood began work with FRD for the first time as a student intern while attending graduate school at MUSC. He hopes to finish his degree this year in bioinformatics. During that time, he was responsible for numerous tasks including: development of commercialization strategies for new technologies; management of patent prosecution activities and budgets; negotiation, drafting, monitoring of licenses, equity agreements, and research contracts; and supervising compliance activities for federal regulatory requirements. Briefly, Hood left FRD to become a partner at a law firm solely practicing in intellectual property law. He couldn’t stay away for long.   Roughly a year after his departure, Hood was contacted in an effort to bring him back to FRD, this time to the helm of the support organization.   “They called and said they needed my help. I realized that there is a sense of accomplishment in the work here that is bigger than private practice. At MUSC, I have a chance to be a part of something bigger,” he said. Understanding how FRD works One can liken the task facing the FRD to a kind of sophisticated guessing game. Much uncertainty exists when trying to determine which brilliant idea could have the potential for widespread commercial success, and enough so to entice investors to back the transfer from idea to reality. “It can be very difficult to predict how well something will do within industry. Take the drug industry for example. They have to experiment with hundreds  of medications before they find one that works. Because our researchers are on the cutting edge of various avenues of research, it can be difficult to predict if their work will be a hit or if it may be ahead of where the market is at the time,” Hood said.   “We do have to decide quickly whether or not to patent the idea because in a university setting we can’t interfere with the need for faculty to publish their discoveries and add their contributions to the greater body of knowledge in their field,” he said. “We have a limited budget so we can’t file on everything. That’s probably our biggest challenge; making an educated guess about what we protect.”   During the intellectual property triage process, Hood and his colleagues are assessing the various research strengths on campus, meeting with those involved in that research and also meeting with various levels of departmental and university administration to determine how to take steps to engage industry sooner and smarter.   “There are probably about 30 to 40 really cool ideas. But for what we may think is fantastic, pharma-ceutical companies and venture capitalists may say they are not interested. There is, at times, a difference between good science and good commercial potential. We may have a researcher who’s made an outstanding discovery from a scientific point of view, but the commercial market is simply not ready to handle it,” Hood said. “In that case, we hope we can at least provide contacts with industry which may lead to sponsored research funding or feedback to further the progress of research.”   One of Hood’s goals is to make sure that university inventors get feedback from FRD in an established period of time. “We want to be responsive, but our researchers need to know that this is a long process and industry may have to look at a technology again and again before deciding to invest. Also, industry may not have a high interest level until a patent issues, and getting a patent can take up to five years,” he said.   The environment that Hood and his colleagues must work in is complex to say the least. Today, labs aren’t only populated with traditional scientists, but also men and women who hold multiple degrees, certifications, and various other doctorates throughout the disciplines of health care. It is in this environment, Hood said, that collaboration across the board thrives.   “It’s refreshing to be in an environment so populated with inventors and to accompany that we have a board of trustees and university administration that are very supportive and many are inventors themselves,” he said. “The university students keep us young and I truly enjoy being around so many smart people. We’re getting our bearings and with the continued support of the university, plan to truly position MUSC as a major economic engine in our region.”   Hood also has a teaching position with the Charleston School of Law, has presented and lectured on numerous patent law issues, and is a member of numerous organizations including the South Carolina Bar, American Intellectual Property Law Association, Association of University Technology Managers, Rotary Club of Charleston, American Radio Relay League (a national association for amateur radio), and Trinity Episcopal Church on Edisto Island.     Friday, Sept. 29, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.