From Lab to Launch: Inside USC’s Fast-Growing Ecosystem of Health Startups

Interdisciplinary Breakthroughs

The famed inventor Nikola Tesla is believed to have said, “Be alone — that is the secret to invention.”

For Trojan inventors like Charles Liu, the opposite is true: Their secret to invention is to work as a team. Even though the process may take years, licensure does not dim Liu’s enthusiasm for helping patients recover function from brain injuries or diseases.

Co-founder of USC’s Neurorestoration Center and professor of clinical neurological surgery, urology and surgery at the Keck School of Medicine, Liu specializes in the creation of implantable devices that respond in real time to abnormal brain activity. His prosthetics for the brain are designed to help patients who suffer from brain conditions such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, memory loss and more.

Through a combination of engineering and medicine, he is a healer in the rapidly emerging field of biomedicine known as neuroprosthetics. “The hope is that neuroprosthetics will become an important tool for functional neurorestoration in human patients, which will work in synergy with other strategies such as regenerative medicine and neuromodulation-enhanced learning,” Liu says. “The hope is that all aspects of human neurological disabilities can be restored beyond what conventional healing and rehabilitation can achieve.”

Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery and of Biomedical Engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering Dong Song, who often collaborates with Liu, focuses on addressing brain health issues through engineering.

For instance, he is working on a brain prosthesis to restore episodic memory in patients who suffer from memory-impairing conditions such as neurological disease or injuries.

Using a computational model, his team records neural signals from one part of the hippocampus and stimulates another to rebuild broken memory pathways by using implantable brain devices.

“Within the next five to 10 years, our goal is for this device to transition from proof-of-concept studies to broader clinical trials, ultimately providing a therapeutic option for conditions like traumatic brain injury and early-stage Alzheimer’s disease,” Song says.

Getting to Yes

At USC, some scientists bring their early ideas to the Stevens Center, which helps turn rough prototypes into patented devices. That process often extends to launching a startup company where strong intellectual property can give investors the confidence to fund the testing and development needed to bring an invention to market.

In recent years, the center has refined the way it handles technology transfer — the process of moving university research into the real world. Since joining the center in January 2024, Overstreet has emphasized investing early in high-quality patent applications and being more selective about which inventions to pursue patent protections for.

“We don’t try to patent every idea that comes through our office,” she explains. “Instead, after a careful review, we move forward with patents on about two-thirds of the inventions we see. For those, we put in the work to draft applications that clearly define what makes the invention new and protectable. Strong patents not only stand up if challenged — they are also more attractive to companies and investors, making them far more licensable assets for USC and our inventors.”

The center’s licensing team now numbers more than 20 professionals who work closely with faculty to negotiate startup-friendly agreements. Many deals begin with low-cost, short-term options to reduce risk for early-stage companies. Later, they are upgraded to full licenses once funding is secured.

“Our job is to reduce friction,” Overstreet says. “We want to get to yes, and we want startups to succeed.”

The Stevens Center oversees licensing of all technologies at USC, including diagnostics and medical devices. Companies like CpG Diagnostics and Regenerative Patch Technologies (RPT) — co-founded by Mark Humayun of USC Viterbi, the USC Roski Eye Institute and Keck School of Medicine — are part of USC’s expanding innovation footprint. RPT developed an implantable retinal patch for restoring vision in people with age-related macular degeneration. It remains one of the university’s most cited examples of therapeutic success.

Recent studies, backed in part by the taxpayer-supported California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, indicate the patch appears regenerative, not just slowing the degenerative disease but also reversing its course. Clinical studies are underway.

Signals of Strength

As the life-sciences industry shifts toward personalized and cell-based therapies, Overstreet believes USC is better positioned than ever to rise among the top institutions for innovation. Recent deals with well-capitalized companies, such as Be Biopharma, reflect a maturing pipeline of faculty-led ventures — and illustrate an unrelenting determination that is a hallmark of USC research.

“These are signals of strength,” she says. “They show what’s possible when you combine groundbreaking research with strong intellectual property and the right partnerships.”

With more than $1.2 billion in annual research activity and a sharpened focus on translational outcomes, Trojan inventors are laying the groundwork for a future where USC discoveries save and improve more lives, faster than before.