The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) is the largest public research organisation in Spain, with 126 centres - including joint units with university, research institutions and hospital departments - located nationwide. It covers all fields of knowledge, from basic research through to advanced technological development. Besides its reputed excellence in academic research, CSIC is actively engaged in supporting innovation and links with the industry. As an example of the mutual interest between the private sector and CSIC, in 2005 research funding generated from the industry was in excess of € 40 million. During the same year 1200 R+D contracts with businesses from Spain and abroad have been running. The Technology Transfer Office of the CSIC is our gateway for companies - ranging from SMEs to multinationals - and other private entities in search of benefiting from our activities. TTO-CSIC facilitates the appropriate contacts, negotiates and manages collaborative and research contracts and agreements, supports the shift of public researchers and technologists to the industry and protects and commercializes our intellectual property and technical capacities. A great deal of these activities are carried out in the biomedicine and biotechnology areas, leading to a major part of the average 70 international (PCT) and 100 Spanish patent applications being filed by the TTO-CSIC staff each year. Besides, a significant part of the average 60 technology licenses signed annually and of the 42 spin-off companies created in the last five years lies within these areas. A few examples of our commitment to help pharma and biotech businesses to cover their needs and to reach new markets are: - An exclusive license covering the patents on the uses of the Phi29 DNA polymerase was granted to USB Corporation in 1989. Nowadays, this enzyme is used worldwide as stand- alone product and as part of kits marketed by Amersham Biosciences (the current licensee), Qiagen, New Englands Biolabs, Fermentas, etc. - Patented methods to determine gluten - the protein mixture present in many cereals and products thereof which is toxic to celiacs - are licensed to R-Biopharm (a German company), Ingenasa and Operon (two Spanish businesses), which manufacture different food testing kits. Besides, one of these methods - the ELISA-R5 - has been endorsed by the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission as the only reliable technique to measure gluten in foods for special dietary uses, thus paving its way to become a widespread official method. - Genetrix, a spin-off from the National Centre for Biotechnology of the CSIC began its activities in 2001. Five years later the Genetrix group comprises six companies operating in the areas of therapeutic products (with two compounds granted orphan drug status by the European Medicines Agency), bioinformatics, biosensors, screening platforms and food analyses. - CSIC partnered with the company Innogenetics N.V. (Belgium) and several research institutions and universities from Spain, Italy and the UK in a European research project on the Maedi-visna virus (MVV). MVV is a lentivirus closely related to the HIV that causes chronic pneumonia, mastitis, encephalitis and/or arthritis in sheep. This collaboration led to the development and patenting of an ELISA for the detection of the MVV, now manufactured by the French company Hyphen. In summary, whether you are looking for technology licenses, collaborative research and development, research under contract, technological services, or any other form of interaction with a key player in research and innovation in Cancer, Infectious and Cardiovascular diseases, Physiopathology, Immunology, Neurobiology, Genomics and Proteomics, Diagnosis techniques, Molecular and Structural biology, Veterinary biosciences, Industrial biotechnology and bio-processing, Biopharmaceutical development, Bioremediation, Bioinformatics, Biophysics and other Life Sciences areas, TTO-CSIC will be glad of hearing from you.