IU Research and Technology Corporation

Marie C. Kerbeshian, Vice President for Technology Commercialization

Marie Kerbeshian, a zoologist and registered patent agent specializing in the protection and licensing of discoveries derived from faculty research, was named vice president for technology commercialization at the Indiana University Research and Technology Corporation (IURTC) in June.

She brings more than a decade of experience in commercialization and technology transfer to her new position. Beginning in 1998, she held a series of appointments with the University of Virginia Patent Foundation, including licensing associate, senior negotiator, associate director, and most recently interim executive director and CEO.

In the last position, she oversaw a staff of 16 employees responsible for evaluating, protecting, and licensing U.Va.’s inventions. As associate director, she was in charge of the integration of operations between the foundation’s licensing, business, and patent departments.

IURTC Chief Executive Officer Tony Armstrong said of Kerbeshian’s appointment at IU: “Her background in taking faculty research discoveries from the lab to the marketplace is a perfect fit here, and her track record regarding negotiating, licensing, and commercialization is truly impressive.” He especially noted her expertise in the area of medical and bio-technologies.

Kerbeshian graduated from Wellesley College with highest honors in biological sciences and earned a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining U.Va.’s Patent Foundation, she was a postdoctoral fellow at that university’s Center for Research in Reproduction in the Health Sciences Center and at the National Science Foundation’s Center for Biological Timing in the Department of Biology.

She is a certified licensing professional, as well as a registered Patent Agent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Kerbeshian describes her role at IURTC as “working with IU’s researchers to help bring their important work, their inventions, through a development to commercialization process that results in benefits to the public. A priority along the way,” she adds, “is to protect the university’s and the investor’s rights with respect to that intellectual property.”