RESOURCES AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Columbia Technology Ventures is the technology transfer office for Columbia University and a central location for many of the technology development initiatives, entrepreneurial activities, external industry collaborations, and commercially-oriented multidisciplinary technology innovations across the university. CTV’s core mission is to facilitate the transfer of inventions from academic research labs to the market for the benefit of society on a local, national, and global basis. Each year, CTV manages more than 350 invention disclosures, 100 license deals, and 20 new IP-backed start-ups, involving over 750 inventors across Columbia's campuses. CTV currently has over 1200 patent assets available for licensing, across research fields such as bio, IT, clean tech, devices, big data, nanotechnology, materials science, and more. CTV’s efforts are backed by 45 full time staff and an additional 30+ graduate student interns (CTV Fellows), providing broad support to the Columbia community and other stakeholders with marketing, legal (patents, contracts, etc.), business start-up help, and administrative tasks. CTV also runs an Executive-in-Residence program, which brings seasoned industry executives, serial entrepreneurs, and investors to campus to support faculty and student entrepreneurial activities. To learn more about our technologies or to submit an invention report, please contact a member of our licensing team, or email techventures@columbia.edu.
Accelerating Cancer Therapeutics Pilot Award (ACT)
Accelerating Cancer Therapeutics (ACT) is an accelerator program designed to leverage Columbia’s proficiency in drug discovery and provide access to entrepreneurs and the pharmaceutical industry to advance novel cancer therapeutics from the lab towards the path of commercialization and clinical implementation. The program will provide education, mentorship and funding to help academic translational research projects move beyond the “valley of death” in therapeutic development and reach significant milestones. A key goal of this program is to accelerate translation of novel medical discoveries in cancer from the lab to the clinic by positioning the technology for commercialization.
Translational Therapeutics Resource (TRx)
The Translational Therapeutics (TRx) Resource is an accelerator program designed to leverage Columbia’s proficiency in drug discovery and provide access to Entrepreneurs and the pharmaceutical industry to advance novel therapeutics from the lab towards the path of commercialization and clinical implementation. This collaboration between the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, Columbia Technology Ventures and The Clinical Trials Office will provide education, mentorship and funding to help academic translational research projects move beyond the valley of death and reach significant milestones. A key goal of this program is to accelerate translation of novel medical discoveries from the lab to the clinic by positioning the technology for commercialization. The TRx Resource is a centralized resource for Columbia Faculty and students motivated to move discoveries through drug development pathway.
The goal of HTA is to connect entrepreneurial students, postdocs and faculty from the health sciences campus and the morningside campus at Columbia University in an environment conducive to real-time innovation. We aim to create a dynamic group where nascent ideas can be evaluated for their real world applicability (clinicians and scientists), feasibility (engineers), and market potential (entrepreneurs) simultaneously. We want to encourage the development and refinement of early ideas and provide information on concrete steps towards turning ideas into products and companies. Ultimately we plan to measure our success by the number of collaborations that are formed around ideas that are presented. In addition, we intend to track the progress of each of these collaborations as they develop.
Research Initiatives in Science and Engineering (RISE)
The Office of the Executive Vice President for Research annually sponsors the Research Initiatives in Science & Engineering (RISE) funding competition, which awards seed monies to initiate groundbreaking, innovative, and high-risk research collaborations that potentially trigger novel scientific paradigms. All full-time faculty-level researchers within the scientific and engineering disciplines are eligible to apply for this prestigious opportunity.
Clinical & Translational Science Award (CTSA)
With support of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program was launched in 2006 and has expanded to about 60 academic medical institutions across the country. Each component of the CTSA program is crucial in supporting our mission: Accelerating Discoveries Toward Better Health. Working together, we can help shape the future of healthcare. The mission of Columbia University Medical Center’s Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) is to transform the culture of research to hasten the discovery and implementation of new treatments and prevention strategies.
Research Opportunities & Advanced to Data Science (ROADS)
Aimed at advancing research that combines data science expertise with domain expertise, the ROADS Provost Ignition grant is intended to assist researchers who are interested in this theme to come together. We are particularly drawn to faculty teams whose proposed project will enable them to develop successful proposals for large scale grants. We will look for applications that propose unique and novel approaches to bring scholars together to work on projects that cross traditional discipline boundaries. In essence, we are looking for methods that are not just "business as usual."
Only available to companies with founders who are alumni of Columbia. The Columbia Startup Lab is co-working facility located at WeWork Soho West that provides subsidized space for 71 Columbia alumni entrepreneurs to house and nurture their fledgling ventures. With over 40 startups from all over the Columbia campus, the Lab is the result of a unique partnership between the deans of Columbia College and the Schools of Business, Engineering, Law, and International and Public Affairs. While entry into the Lab is restricted to the schools listed above, the many of the workshops and events are open to the whole Columbia community.
SEAS Interdisciplinary Research Seed (SIRS) Funding
Executive Vice President For Research
The Office of the Executive Vice President for Research has overall responsibility for the University's research enterprise. It oversees most of the operations which support research and is responsible for establishing and maintaining University-wide policies relating to research. The Office also assists investigators seeking research funding, encourages interdisciplinary research, provides seed money for early stage investigations, and generally helps provide for the intellectual and physical environment to maintain high quality of research and maximize productivity. The office includes a Research Initiatives Coordinator to offer special support for center grants and other large cross-disciplinary projects.
Sponsored Projects Administration
Research Administration is the University's primary support office for sponsored research grants and contracts. RA can provide assistance through all stages of a proposal. It is responsible for assuring compliance with the regulatory and other requirements that govern the grant application process and for the non-financial requirements that govern awards.
Research Administration can help investigators learn about funding opportunities and apply for funding. Each department is served by a dedicated project manager (Kammy Cabral for SEAS) for the pre-award process and a financial analyst for account setups and other post-award matters. The RA web site contains information about GRANTA 101 (a course on grants fundamentals) InfoED (the New grants management IT system) and other help.
RASCAL is the University's on-line research compliance system. Through RASCAL, you can create and submit for regular approval most research protocols, draft content forms, complete required and additional training, build a CV, and submit your conflict of interest disclosures.
The Division of Restricted Funds in the Office of the Controller is responsible for the Financial Administration and reporting of all sponsored research awards, and for ensuring compliance with the regulatory and other requirements that govern the financial management of those awards.
EH&RS provide a broad range of services to promote the health and safety of all university personnel, and to protect the health and safety of the community and the environment in which we live and work. Personnel conducting laboratory research using potentially infections materials, hazardous chemicals, recombinant DNA, and/or radioactive materials need to attend the relevant EH&RS-sponsored safety training(s). The use of recombinant DNA must be approved by Columbia's Institutional Biosafety Committee. The ER&RS web site contains laboratory safety information along with safety training schedules.
Research Compliance and Training
The Office of Research Compliance and Training helps ensure that Columbia faculty and staff are in compliance with the complex web of regulatory requirements that govern research. The ORCT collaborates with many of the other offices on campus to foster an integrated research compliance program. The ORCT administers the University's Conflict of Interest review process for research, serves as a resource for international research compliance issues, and administers Columbia's Standing Committee on Conduct of Research, which addresses issues of research misconduct. The ORCT works to integrate compliance education programming across the University, and to develop new programming that promotes understanding of compliance issues throughout the research enterprise. The ORCT web site contains information about required training for researchers, postdocs and others involved in research.
Office of Research Initiatives (RI)
The Office of Research Initiatives works across disciplines, schools and campuses to foster interdisciplinary research collaboration, and supports efforts to secure funding for such collaborations. They provide:
- Interdisciplinary opportunities and/or shared instrumentation grants
- Seed funding
- Limited submissions - where only a select number of grant applications are allowed to be submitted to a sponsor on behalf of Columbia University (as determined by the sponsor)
- Several Listservs available for:
- Basic Science, Technology and Engineering
- Medical Research
- Stem Cell Research
Office of Postdoctoral Affairs
The mission of the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs is to enhance the educational and training experience of the University's postdoctoral appointees. The Office provides administrative support, serves as an information clearinghouse, and fosters communication among postdocs, faculty and administrators. it also works to promote consistency in University policies that affect postdocs.
If you plan to conduct research that involves human subjects, including biomedical investigations, one of Columbia's four Institutional Review Boards will help ensure that your study complies with all applicable ethical and regulatory requirements. The University's IRB's are responsible for protecting human subjects in research and are made up of faculty and community members. All human subjects research conducted by Columbia Faculty, staff and students must be approved by a Columbia IRB.
The mission of the Clinical Trials Office is to facilitate quality clinical trial research - the effective and efficient evaluation of new pharmaceuticals and medical devices - by providing the Columbia University Medical Center research community with comprehensive administrative services that help move trials quickly from initial proposal through contract execution. CTO assists with trials supported by federal and foundation grants and industry contracts, including investigator-initiated trials.
