Duke Translational Chaperones help researchers secure over $6.5M in translational funding

by Fedor Kossakovski and K. Lou Ward

For years, Maria D. Iglesias de Ussel and Promila Pagadala helped scientists develop their pre-clinical research into medical applications through the Duke Clinical & Translational Science Institute (CTSI). But in recent years, they wanted to find more ways to help Duke research make a real-world impact.

Simultaneously, Bryan Baines of Duke’s Office for Translation & Commercialization (OTC) was seeking ways to increase OTC’s outreach among the Duke research community, with an eye towards meeting innovative PIs before they disclosed inventions to the office. He wanted to impact PIs’ translational research decision-making earlier to increase the chances of successful commercialization.

Together, they have launched the Duke Translational Chaperones, a new initiative out of OTC that engages researchers early on and guides them through the translational journey to turn their research into technologies used out in the world.

It all started with a serendipitous introduction over lunch. When Iglesias de Ussel and Pagadala initially sought out new ways to help researchers, they met with Robin Rasor, Associate VP for Translation & Commercialization, to discuss new ways for the university to help translational researchers at an early stage. Baines, on his way to speak on campus about OTC and commercial translational with Duke inventors, walked by and Rasor waved him into the conversation. The dots between their shared goals instantly began to connect.

“When they started talking about what their vision was, I said: ‘Robin, I think we’ve got to find ways to assist PIs who are serious about their translation get the appropriate funding to move it in that direction. Traditional academic granting mechanisms won’t cut it,’” said Baines.

The three fed off each other at the meeting, identifying ways they had seen promising projects stumble in the translational process and discussing ways they could marshal resources to guide researchers across the Valley of Death – the infamous limbo space between academic research and industry adoption where many academic technologies fail.

“We fit right in with the mission of the OTC,” reflected Pagadala later.

Soon, DTC was off to the races with a pilot program led by Iglesias de Ussel, Baines, and Pagadala. Barry Myers, OTC’s Director of Translation, and Jee Jung, OTC’s Assistant Director of Duke New Ventures, also jumped on the team.

The DTC group shares decades of bench, translational research, and industry experience in the life sciences between them. Their technical backgrounds span pharmacology, neuroscience, molecular biology, virology, immunology, commercialization, regulatory, and many stages of the clinical trial landscape.

With all their combined expertise and translational know-how, the DTC team offers a unique, hands-on approach to supporting university research translation. They aim to connect with Duke researchers with promising potential applications in the early stages of their projects and set them up for success with non-traditional avenues of funding and research support.

“The DTC aligns the value recognizing milestones needed to advance technology to the marketplace, identifies funding sources and partners, and brings operational excellence to ensure the greatest chances for success for the faculty and institution,” said Myers.

“A lot of the times, investigators have the understanding that this is an important discovery and can be applied, but we as a scientific community do not have structured training to actually make that happen,” said Pagadala.

According to Pagadala, planning out that end-stage application early on is really beneficial. Keeping elements like customer discovery in mind can help validate, or de-risk, the project along with solid data and a clear use case.

“The private market wants the product to be de-risked as much as possible before they want to invest,” says Pagadala. “It’s never too early to connect with the translational team.”

The DTC team sits within OTC, in part because they are integral to one another’s work. Baines sees DTC as a “portal for resources” at and within close proximity of OTC, a “spearhead” guiding innovators at this early stage to helpful resources and a broad network of people to move their translational project forward in the innovation ecosystem.

“DTC is really an amazing resource for PIs, because not only you put them onto the right path, you take their hand, and then you even help them write the translational grants,” said Iglesias de Ussel.

Initially, the team sourced a few medical research projects led by PIs interested in their support. An early guiding principle was to jump in as early as possible to better position projects for translational grants. Not only did the team find funding opportunities, but they tapped the wider OTC, CTSI accelerator, and local expert community to understand what kind of experiments or indications may be more enticing for those translational grants. Then, the DTC team helped researchers find funding sources put together the grants themselves.

In the first year piloting the project, the team engaged with seventeen investigators who hadn’t worked with OTC before and were able to secure translational grants for four researchers that brought in more than $6.5M in funding – all for the kind of work that traditional research funding sources would not cover.

“Working with Maria [Iglesias de Ussel] has been tremendously valuable,” said Associate Professor Karl-Dimiter Bissig, who studies diseases of the liver. “She helped me identify sources of translational funding, assisted with grant proposals to make them more competitive (one of them was granted), and connected me with internal Duke resources. Her insight has been key to move things along the translational path.”

Since Bissig began working with Iglesias de Ussel and DTC in 2023, they have secured multiple sources of translational funding, conducted customer discovery, identified the initial indication for the technology, pursued patent protection, connected with regulatory and manufacturing support, identified collaborators and consultants, and are developing a scientific and business strategy.

“Generally, it’s tough to go to one funding source and get what you need to move it through to that next step,” said Baines. “So, you almost have to get a syndication of multiple funders.”

That’s why Baines and the team see this as just the beginning of a relationship when DTC works with a PI. Keeping the momentum going is important for translational research projects, and having one grant often makes it easier to get follow-on funding.

“When I work with an investigator,” Iglesias de Ussel said, “it is for years – it’s not just a one-time thing. I get really integrated into their teams.”

As Bissig looks to the future of his technology, he has continued to work with Iglesias-Ussel.

“Now we are working on a business plan, on the TPP [Target Product Profile], on regulatory documents,” said Iglesias de Ussel. “We meet every week and discuss the strategy.”

The DTC team is excited to take on more projects. For now, the team’s skillset is best suited to life sciences projects, but the hope is to expand the offering.

“I’d like to see it scale,” said Baines. “Take the same model and apply it to the other schools at Duke.”

The DTC team is eager to meet with PIs as early in their project as possible.

“It doesn’t have to be an invention yet,” says Baines. “You don’t have to send an invention disclosure to OTC yet. We’re happy to talk.”

If you think your project has a real-world application and you want translational research support, reach out to the DTC team at DTC.OTC@duke.edu.