Understanding IP Matters: Celebrated MIT Engineer and Entrepreneur Develops Medical Devices to Treat Cancer and Other Diseases

Universities have seen their role change since the Bayh-Dole Act was passed in 1980. They have been incentivized for both innovation and economic development, with patents being an important part of that landscape.

With impending reductions in government funding for universities, finding new ways to support research has become an incredibly important activity. But replacing the funding is no simple matter and universities will have to find ways to do it.

On the current episode of Understanding IP Matters (UIPM), Michael Cima, a celebrated professor, inventor, and entrepreneur, discusses the intellectual property generated in universities and the impact potential cuts to university funding can have. Dr. Cima, who works closely with renowned inventor and entrepreneur Robert Langer (1,600 papers and 1,500 patents) describes the most important attributes for being a great inventor and provides key lessons to learn as a student.

Dr. Cima is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has an appointment at the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. He is also the Chair of Engineering at MIT. He was appointed faculty director of the Lemelson-MIT Program in 2009, an organization that inspires young people to be inventive and has a nationwide reach. Professor Cima is author or co-author of over 300 peer reviewed scientific publications, 58 U.S. patents, and is a recognized expert in the field of materials processing. His business exits have included a sale to Johnson & Johnson.

In this episode of “Understanding IP Matters,” Cima and host Bruce Berman discuss:

• National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for research at universities originates pharmaceuticals and medical devices that support the health of our country. “So, when you see these massive cuts, I worry about the long-term impact that has on both economic development and the health of our population,” says Cima.
• That the loss of NIH funding to universities is very concerning and “will slow research progress.”
• That support of early-stage research serves the public through early development of many new medical products, so much so that it is “hard to point to just about any new medical product that wasn’t touched by NIH support.”
• There are “three main attributes to great inventors.” The “first is curiosity, curious people are collecting solutions to problems they haven’t encountered”. The second skill is “the skill of empathy”, “getting into the shoes of somebody else.” And the final one is leadership, which “is actually the hardest one to teach.”
• Inventors who are involved in patent litigation become better inventors because the process allows them “to learn a lot about how to defend a patent by going through litigation… When you are involved in drafting new patents, you are thinking 10 years down the line, when the product may be litigated.”