Gemma Rooney, PhD
Assistant Director
Innovation Ventures
Chancellor/EVC/FAS

Gemma is responsible for evaluating and managing new technologies, determining the commercial and patenting strategy, engaging with faculty, building new relationships with industry partners and early stage investors, and negotiating license agreements, as well as the intellectual property terms in sponsored research agreements. Gemma and her colleague, Cathy Smith, manage the licensing internship program, which provides early career scientists a unique opportunity to learn about university technology commercialization and intellectual property management.

Gemma holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Stem Cell Biology from the National University of Ireland, Galway, and a B.Sc. in Neuroscience from University College Cork, Ireland. She received postdoctoral training from the University of California, San Francisco and the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. Her research focused on neurological applications of stem cell therapies.

Gemma is passionate about guiding UCSF investigators in realizing the fullest commercial potential of their innovations. She loves working at the interface between academia and industry, establishing partnerships that have the potential to benefit patients worldwide.

• Sustained delivery of dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate to the transected spinal cord via oligo [(polyethylene glycol) fumarate] hydrogels.
  Tissue engineering. Part A 2011 Rooney GE, Knight AM, Madigan NN, Gross L, Chen B, Giraldo CV, Seo S, Nesbitt JJ, Dadsetan M, Yaszemski MJ, Windebank AJ
• Lentiviral vector-mediated knockdown of the NG2 [corrected] proteoglycan or expression of neurotrophin-3 promotes neurite outgrowth in a cell culture model of the glial scar.
  The journal of gene medicine 2010 Donnelly EM, Strappe PM, McGinley LM, Madigan NN, Geurts E, Rooney GE, Windebank AJ, Fraher J, Dockery P, O'Brien T, McMahon SS
• Potential of rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells as vehicles for delivery of neurotrophins to the Parkinsonian rat brain.
  Brain research 2010 Moloney TC, Rooney GE, Barry FP, Howard L, Dowd E
• Engraftment, migration and differentiation of neural stem cells in the rat spinal cord following contusion injury.
  Cytotherapy 2010 McMahon SS, Albermann S, Rooney GE, Shaw G, Garcia Y, Sweeney E, Hynes J, Dockery P, O'Brien T, Windebank AJ, Allsopp TE, Barry FP
• Importance of the vasculature in cyst formation after spinal cord injury.
  Journal of neurosurgery. Spine 2009 Rooney GE, Endo T, Ameenuddin S, Chen B, Vaishya S, Gross L, Schiefer TK, Currier BL, Spinner RJ, Yaszemski MJ, Windebank AJ
• Neurotrophic factor-expressing mesenchymal stem cells survive transplantation into the contused spinal cord without differentiating into neural cells.
  Tissue engineering. Part A 2009 Rooney GE, McMahon SS, Ritter T, Garcia Y, Moran C, Madigan NN, Flügel A, Dockery P, O'Brien T, Howard L, Windebank AJ, Barry FP
• Neural stem cell- and Schwann cell-loaded biodegradable polymer scaffolds support axonal regeneration in the transected spinal cord.
  Tissue engineering. Part A 2009 Olson HE, Rooney GE, Gross L, Nesbitt JJ, Galvin KE, Knight A, Chen B, Yaszemski MJ, Windebank AJ
• Effect of cyclosporin A on functional recovery in the spinal cord following contusion injury.
  Journal of anatomy 2009 McMahon SS, Albermann S, Rooney GE, Moran C, Hynes J, Garcia Y, Dockery P, O'Brien T, Windebank AJ, Barry FP
• Elevation of cAMP in mesenchymal stem cells transiently upregulates neural markers rather than inducing neural differentiation.
  Stem cells and development 2009 Rooney GE, Howard L, O'Brien T, Windebank AJ, Barry FP
• Relationship between scaffold channel diameter and number of regenerating axons in the transected rat spinal cord.
  Acta biomaterialia 2009 Krych AJ, Rooney GE, Chen B, Schermerhorn TC, Ameenuddin S, Gross L, Moore MJ, Currier BL, Spinner RJ, Friedman JA, Yaszemski MJ, Windebank AJ
• Rigid fixation of the spinal column improves scaffold alignment and prevents scoliosis in the transected rat spinal cord.
  Spine 2008 Rooney GE, Vaishya S, Ameenuddin S, Currier BL, Schiefer TK, Knight A, Chen B, Mishra PK, Spinner RJ, Macura SI, Yaszemski MJ, Windebank AJ
• Gene-modified mesenchymal stem cells express functionally active nerve growth factor on an engineered poly lactic glycolic acid (PLGA) substrate.
  Tissue engineering. Part A 2008 Rooney GE, Moran C, McMahon SS, Ritter T, Maenz M, Flügel A, Dockery P, O'Brien T, Howard L, Windebank AJ, Barry FP