The featured speaker of Knight Campus Fall 2020 Entrepreneurship Speaker Series will present a road map for translating scientific discoveries into successful product launches.

Michele Marcolongo, Drosdick Endowed Dean of the College of Engineering at Villanova University, will also discuss creating and building start-up companies.

The virtual event is slated for 10 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 22. Registration is required.

Marcolongo’s research focuses on biomaterials and engineered biomedical solutions to treat disease. Widely recognized for her expertise and innovative work, she was named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

Her research has been funded by such agencies as the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Education.

In addition to her work in academia, Marcolongo has co-founded three biomedical technology startup companies and is a co-holder of 15 patents or patent applications. She authored, “Academic Entrepreneurship: How to Bring Your Scientific Product to a Commercial Discovery,” which serves as a how-to guide for translating research from the lab to commercialization.

The Entrepreneurship Speaker Series is central to the role of the Knight Campus mission of science advancing society and is one of the many tools and resources provided to enhance the university’s work in innovation.

Previous speakers in the series include Jennifer Elisseeff, of the Johns Hopkins Department of Biomedical Engineering, who discussed regenerative immunology and the role of technology translation in guiding discoveries, and Kate Rosenbluth, founder and chief scientific officer of Cala Health, who shared her story of starting and building her company.