Drug discovery consults and commercialization

Centers, incubators and initiatives that focus on commercialization and drug discovery.

UCLA Anderson Venture Accelerator

The UCLA Anderson Venture Accelerator is a six-month, immersive program designed to leverage UCLA’s resources to enable the success of promising startups within the Anderson community.

Accelerator provides a launchpad for student and alumni startup companies as well as for Business Creation Option students, who also get the full suite of UCLA Anderson Venture Accelerator services to make their innovations market-ready. The startups and teams are driving change in these critical fields:

  • Enterprise Technology
  • Life Sciences & Digital Health
  • Consumer Packaged Goods
  • Consumer Digital
  • AI & Machine Learning
  • Real Estate
  • Experiential 

For more information, visit the Anderson Venture Accelerator website.

UCLA Biodesign

UCLA Biodesign is pioneering healthcare innovation.  Uniting stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem, UCLA Biodesign seeks to transform medicine through the development of novel technologies.  Education and training are central to UCLA Biodesign’s mission. UCLA Biodesign works with industry partners and the medical community to advance solutions that deliver improved value and outcomes to patients worldwide. The UCLA Biodesign Fellowship is an exciting year-long entrepreneurial opportunity at a world-class health organization.  UCLA Biodesign utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to assemble a team of fellows that tackle some of today’s most challenging clinical needs.  Development opportunities are aimed at transformative technologies – from advanced devices to sophisticated digital therapeutics. For more information, visit the UCLA Biodesign website.

UCLA California NanoSystems Institute Incubator - Magnify

Magnify, the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) incubator, accelerates the growth and success of transformative technology startups in the greater Los Angeles area by providing high-quality, affordable facilities, services, and expertise in a vibrant community of innovation. Centrally located at UCLA, Magnify offers entrepreneurs unique access to a collection of advanced instrumentation, business development and funding advice, as well as entrepreneurial networking and mentorship opportunities to vastly increase a startup's likelihood for success.

  • Portfolio – Magnify's diverse portfolio of companies are innovating technologies in the areas of life science, digital health, and advanced materials. Applications are reviewed on a quarterly basis so if you are a highly-motivated entrepreneur seeking a home to take your startup to the next level, apply on the CNSI website.
  • Facilities and Services – Magnify offers entrepreneurs a unique opportunity to grow their businesses at CNSI, within the preeminent research ecosystem of the UCLA campus. Portfolio companies have access to over $36 million worth of scientific equipment and instrumentation, a rich network of mentors and investors, and a growing community of entrepreneurs all designed to increase their likelihood for success.
  • Partnerships – Magnify continuously seeks dynamic partners to support its mission of accelerating the growth and success of transformative technology companies. If you’re an entrepreneur, mentor, investor, industry partner or just looking to get more involved in the startup community, contact us today.

Information about Magnify can be found at the Magnify website.

UCLA Health Innovation

UCLA Health Innovation works closely with leadership to support faculty inventors, to catalyze their discoveries and move them from the lab to clinical environment. If a technology is deemed to merit a new venture, the Technology Development Group assists faculty in facilitating a spin-off company or licenses a technology to facilitate further development and commercialization. UCLA Health also partners with federal agencies, academia, corporations and other groups to bring new advances to society and patients throughout the world. For the latest newsletters and related links, visit Innovation at UCLA Health. 

UCLA Technology Development Group

UCLA Technology Development Group serves as a campus-wide gateway to innovation, research and entrepreneurship. Our mission is to:

  • Promote UCLA innovation, research, teaching and entrepreneurship to benefit society
  • Create economic value to support UCLA’s scholarly and educational missions and the State of California
  • Lead UCLA’s research community to bring innovation to market

The scope of activities include:

  • Commercially evaluating new technologies
  • Determining patentability and commercial value
  • Prosecuting patents
  • Marketing and licensing inventions
  • Facilitating UCLA faculty startups
  • Engaging industry to facilitate research collaboration
  • Negotiating license agreements and Material Transfer Agreements
  • Receiving and distributing royalties and other income to the inventors, UCLA Campus and its departments

To learn more about the technology transfer process, visit UCLA TDG and their YouTube channel.

NIH-NIBIB Entrepreneurial Finance Course

NIH's National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) has released a free, online course series on Entrepreneurial Finance for Biomedical Innovators. The courses present biomedical entrepreneurs with a detailed framework for building a step-wise, long-term validated financial plan intended to increase the probability of success for a venture. The primary learning objectives for this course are as follows:

  • Understand the importance of financial planning for your small business
  • Gain perspective on SBIR/STTR funding within the broader context of your financial plan
  • Learn practical approaches to developing a long-term financial plan
  • Evaluate the various sources of funding
  • Examine the use of comparables in validating your financial plan

The course is presented in a series of five sequential videos. The video modules and course details can be found below.

For more information on the series, visit the NIH NIBIB course page.

YouTube Resources 

Below are the links to YouTube channels and playlists that address commercialization.