[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Quaite-Randall, Elsie.jpg” caption=”Elsie Quaite-Randall is the new executive director of McMaster’s Office of Research Contracts and Intellectual Property (ORCIP), which handles technology transfer for McMaster as well as Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Joseph’s Healthcare. Photo by Rod Paget.”]German beer taught Elsie Quaite-Randall the importance of technology transfer. German beer drinkers demand high quality, but brewers were facing a potential crisis: inferior barley varieties were being slipped into the malting system. The problem came to a head as Quaite-Randall began a post-doc at the Technical University of Berlin, and she soon found herself developing biochemical assays to identify barley varieties in the malting and brewing industries.

“I saw a direct line from my work in the lab to the beer stein and it demonstrated the real world impact that seemingly small university projects can have,” says Quaite-Randall.

This week, Quaite-Randall assumes the role of executive director of McMaster's Office of Research Contracts and Intellectual Property (ORCIP), which handles technology transfer for McMaster as well as Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Joseph's Healthcare. She comes to McMaster from Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago where she managed intellectual property development, commercialization and marketing.

“Whether it's a cancer-fighting drug, a better beer or superior filter, university research can make life better,” says Quaite-Randall, speaking from her new office at the McMaster Innovation Park. “My job is building bridges between university researchers and the commercial sector so that society benefits from the discoveries that happen at McMaster every day.”

A registered U.S. Patent Agent, MBA graduate, and PhD in biochemistry, Quaite-Randall brings business acumen and a wealth of experience to her new position. Her varied background matches the varied challenges she'll face as she leads ORCIP in its mission to licence university discoveries, administer sponsored research contracts, create start-up companies and manage the intellectual property assets of the University, HHS and the St. Joe's system.

“First and foremost, I want to help McMaster achieve its mission to serve the social, cultural, and economic needs of our community and our society through the discovery and communication of knowledge,” she says. “Some days, that will mean filing a patent. Other times, it might require an open source licence.”

She takes up this responsibility at a time when universities across Canada are under increasing pressure to expand their technology transfer initiatives.

“Clearly all levels of government are counting on university researchers to develop the knowledge and make the discoveries that will drive Canadian prosperity in the coming decades,” notes Dr. Mamdouh Shoukri, vice-president, research & international affairs at McMaster University. “Take the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, for example, which has given a very strong directive to
'manage intellectual property in ways that support Ontario's long-term innovation goals.' We're fortunate to have a veteran technology transfer professional, such as Dr. Quaite-Randall, leading McMaster's efforts in this area.”

Quaite-Randall was attracted to McMaster by its reputation as a leading research university and its culture of innovation. In addition, McMaster's role as the lead institution in the C4 consortium, a technology alliance between six southwestern Ontario universities, demonstrated to her that McMaster had a vibrant vision.

“When I saw the exciting work being done at McMaster and the solid foundation for technology transfer that exists in ORCIP, I knew that I'd found a forward thinking institution where I could catalyze the connections between academe and society,” she says.

Quaite-Randall has a PhD in Agricultural Biochemistry (The Queen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland, 1986) and an MBA (North Central College, Naperville, Illinois, 2001). She is a registered agent of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. She is also active in many professional groups. For example, she is a member of the Biotechnology Industry Organization's (BIO) Technology Transfer Committee and a member of the Intellectual Property Contracts Committee for the International Society for International Agricultural Research.