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Jason Nickla |
Nickla will focus on new technologies developed at UNMC.
“We are very pleased to have Jason join our team,” said Michael Dixon, Ph.D., vice president and chief operating officer of UNeMed. “His extensive knowledge of technology transfer and patent law will be a tremendous asset to UNeMed and UNMC.”
Nickla, a registered patent attorney, will work with faculty members to receive, evaluate, protect, market and license their new discoveries. In addition, Nickla’s focus will be to increase the visibility of UNeMed.
Nickla also will be a resource for entrepreneurial faculty who are interested in forming new companies for commercialization of their research activities.
“Jason will play a key role in our office as a liaison with both UNMC faculty and industry to help oversee the transition of research discoveries into commercial products,” Dr. Dixon said.
Nickla will be the primary faculty contact for the College of Nursing, College of Dentistry, School of Allied Health and the departments and sections of cardiology, pulmonary/critical care, surgery, orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation, radiology, radiation oncology, anesthesiology, geriatrics, nephrology, pediatrics and continuing education in the College of Medicine.
In addition, Nickla will assist UNMC personnel in Lincoln with their inventions.
UNeMed receives 60 to 70 New Invention Notifications (NINs) annually and licenses many of these inventions to companies worldwide for commercial development. In addition to commercializing new technologies, UNeMed offers assistance to entrepreneurial faculty interested in starting new companies.
Originally from Nebraska, Nickla earned his law degree and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Creighton University and his LL.M. in International Intellectual Property Law from Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago. He is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in the state of Illinois.
While in Chicago, Nickla worked for Beem Patent Law Firm, drafting patent applications and advising clients on patentability, licensing and patent litigation matters.
Nickla later joined Cardinal Intellectual Property, an Illinois patent search start-up company, to help develop their services for conducting patentability, invalidity, and freedom-to-operate searches for corporate and law firm clients. In addition, he conducted searches and drafted patentability opinions on behalf of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Nickla is an active member of many organizations including American Bar Association (ABA), American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), the Licensing Executives Society (LES) and the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI).
He resides in Omaha with his wife Mindy. They expect their first child in June. Nickla can be reached at 559-8983 or jnickla@unmc.edu.