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The University of Geneva is very much aware of the importance of valorising its research. In 1998, it set up UNITEC (Technology Transfer Office) with a mission to promote and facilitate the transfer of University-developed technology for society's use and benefit by providing comprehensive support in the technology transfer process to members of the University of Geneva community. Unitec offers aid to faculty, staff and students in matters relating to the protection and marketing of their intellectual property while adhering to basic academic principles.
Unitec has been instrumental in valorising several projects that received a quite a bit of attention in the press. For example, in March 2001, American company Genesoft Inc. signed a licencing agreement with the University of Geneva, represented by Unitec, based on the discoveries of Ulrich Laemmli and his group. Ulrich Laemmli, professor in the Department of molecular biology (Faculty of Sciences) has synthesised molecules that are able to attach themselves to predefined positions in the genome, thus modifying its structure. Since this is more than likely to influence gene expression, the University of Geneva and its industrial partner hope that this is a first step towards a novel type of gene therapy.
Since the existence of Unitec, the University of Geneva has produced three important biotech spin-offs, and expect to see several new start-ups in the biotechnology sector emerge from the University in the following year. In 1999, the Unitec oversaw the signature of an agreement with NovImmune, a start-up founded by Bernard Mach, formerly director of the Department of Microbiology and Genetics at the Faculty of Medicine. As the name implies, NovImmune's focus is in immunology, and namely in developing treatments for autoimmune diseases and for controlling the immune response, for example in transplantations.
A research area at the University of Geneva that has recently exploded, now that the complete human genome has been sequenced, is the field of bioinformatics and proteomics. Proteomics, i.e. the characterisation of complete sets of expressed proteins, until recently has been used only at a scale of genetic analysis; however, Denis Hochstrasser's invention of a protein 'molecular scanner' that can identify proteins with unmatched speed and accuracy has allowed an expansion of the field to large scale analysis of the human proteome, especially following an important collaboration signed between the University of Geneva and the American based company, PE Biosystems. The combined efforts of five faculty members from the University's Medical Center, Denis Hochstrasser, Robin Offord, Amos Bairoch, Ron Appel and Keith Rose, has resulted in the creation of two new companies; GeneBio and GeneProt GeneBio offers databases,software tools and services to the Life Science industry while GeneProt's prime objective is to analyse human proteins on a large scale.
Unitec has helped financed patents in areas ranging from gene expression tools, gene therapy systems, methods to treat stroke, therapies in the field of dermatology and for skin allergies, non-invasive drug monitoring, diagnostics for human pathogens, and diagnostics for human genetic diseases. We are actively seeking industrial partners for collaborations or for licensing these technologies. To view information on some of these technologies, see below or please visit : UNITEC.
List partnership and licensing opportunities.