Found in translation; from the laboratory to the operating room to the market

Translation is a term, of late, frequently used in medical research. It means different things to different people. For some it is moving from conception to science and engineering to application; for others it means moving technological development into the treatment of patients; and for still others it means moving a research development into a commercial system. In 2004 in a pique of frustration with big medical device companies and academic administrators, I founded a spin-off company from my laboratory to take a development of ours to the market place. The company, Pathfinder Therapeutics Inc., as of this writing, is still in business so I presume it can be defined as a success. We have faced each of the above defined translation challenges and more remain. The presentation (and paper) will cover the process of achieving that success and of lessons often painfully learned.