Many biotech ventures begin life as an invention conceived by a scientist/professor working in a laboratory at a federally-funded university or scientific institute. The intellectual property underlying such inventions is owned by the academic institution, a potentially valuable asset to be nurtured. Since enactment of the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980, academic institutions through their technology transfer offices have assumed responsibility for dissemination of the results of scientific research to benefit the public, a welcomed consequence of which has been the generation of income to such institutions in the form of fees, royalty payments and equity interests from out-licensing inventions to biotech ventures – startups often led by the inventors – dedicated to financing and launching companies to carry-out the commercialization effort.