Michael T. Marrah, J.D., and Bradley J. Castanho, Ph.D., have been named assistant vice chancellors for research and co-directors of the Office of Technology Management (OTM) at the School of Medicine.
Together, they bring expertise in business, science and law to the OTM, which is charged with identifying University discoveries that have commercial potential and licensing them to private companies where the technology can be developed for the benefit of the public.
Marrah, a skilled patent lawyer, and Castanho, a scientist with extensive experience in commercial development of biotechnology products, have been interim directors of the OTM since February 2006. Their complementary backgrounds and dual leadership role are expected to boost the University’s ability to move discoveries from the laboratory to industry.
“The complex nature of the Office of Technology Management, with its requirement for business, scientific and legal expertise, lends itself quite well to two leaders that together can bring expertise in all three areas,” said Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D., vice chancellor for research.
“Having Mike Marrah involved in our major deals from the earliest stages is pivotal to speeding the filing of patents and the licensing of new technology because it ensures that legal issues are dealt with while contracts are still being negotiated,” Stanley added. “Additionally, Brad Castanho has extensive experience in new business development, and this is becoming an increasingly important component of what OTM does.”
As co-directors, Marrah and Castanho will oversee the creation of material transfer, confidentiality and research agreements that protect University intellectual property and the rights of researchers to pursue innovative research. The leadership team already has begun streamlining many processes within OTM to improve its customer service to faculty members.
As part of its efforts to bring University innovations to the marketplace, OTM routinely enters into agreements with large companies that operate globally. But with new biotechnology firms investing in the St. Louis region, there are more opportunities to license technology to help build Missouri- and Illinois-based companies. This includes the recent licensing to St. Louis companies of University technology that rapidly screens thousands of drugs for their effectiveness against diabetes and cancer and another discovery that uses microscopic beads to deliver drugs that break up artery-clogging plaques.
Ken Janoski, president and chief executive of BioGenerator, a nonprofit St. Louis group formed to spawn biotech companies from university research, said the new appointments will aid St. Louis start-up companies interested in University technology.
Marrah earned a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from Western Illinois University in 1991 and a law degree from WUSTL in 1994. Before joining the University’s Office of General Counsel in 2005, Marrah was a patent attorney in St. Louis, first at Thompson Coburn and then at Sonnenschein, Nath and Rosenthal. He will retain his appointment in the general counsel’s office.
Castanho earned a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences and plant pathology in 1973 and a doctorate in plant pathology in 1978, both from the University of California, Davis. Before joining the University in 2003, he worked for Monsanto Co. for more than 20 years. In 2000, he helped found STATIM Consulting LLC, a St. Louis technology and business consulting company that specializes in the development and commercialization of innovative technologies in the plant and life sciences.