Marketing & Web Content Specialist
(402) 559-2468
charles.litton@unmc.edu
Charlie Litton is the marketing and web content specialist at UNeMed, working with licensing staff to help promote and publicize University innovations. A former journalist, Litton leads the planning and execution of UNeMed’s major events, while developing most of UNeMed’s promotional and informational materials, including web content, annual reports, press releases, infographics, photos and videos. A native of Omaha, he holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Blog posts:
Overground: Don’t eat raw snails
OMAHA, Neb. (June 17, 2019)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” published this morning its latest episode, “Eat less raw snails, fight climate change.” In the latest episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss technologies related to climate change. The crew learns how the spread of tropical climates is also spreading tropical …
Year in review: Highlights from 2018
by Charles Litton, UNeMed | December 14, 2018 It’s time to look back at another year of tech transfer and commercialization at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. We like to take this time to review highlights from last year, and reflect on some of the more important …
Innovation Overground: Anyone can be an inventor
OMAHA, Neb. (January 28, 2019)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” published this morning its latest episode, “Anyone can cook up a happy accident.” In the latest episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss the wisdom of the late Bob Ross—”There are no mistakes, only happy accidents”—impacts tech transfer and commercialization. The …
Podcast: Internet is democratizing education
OMAHA, Neb. (January 21, 2019)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” recently released a new episode titled, “Basement anesthesiology or garage science.” In this episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss the growth of education through the internet, and if we need to worry about garage or basement scientists. The crew also …
Dixon joins the Overground, tells the story of creatine
OMAHA, Neb. (January 14, 2019)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” recently released a new episode titled, “Sick lift, brah.” In this episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss creatine ethyl ester, an actual thing, actually begin sold in stores as Con-Cret. The crew brings in their first-ever guest, UNeMed president and …
Overground gang draw line between authors and inventors
OMAHA, Neb. (January 7, 2019)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” recently released a new episode titled, “Authors, Inventors, students and bosses.” In this episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss the tricky area of authorship versus inventorship. The crew also talks about Litton’s beef with his brother’s boss. The episode also …
Innovation Overground dispels myth of tech transfer offices picking winners
OMAHA, Neb. (December 17, 2018)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” recently released a new episode titled, “Picking winners.” In this episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss how technology transfer offices like UNeMed can pick the winners from the losers. The big secret (spoiler alert!) is that tech transfer offices don’t …
Podcasters: Failure can be a good thing
OMAHA, Neb. (December 10, 2018)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” recently released a new episode titled, “Spectacular fails and cautionary tales.” In this episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss what startups learn in failure, and that often the best trait in an entrepreneur is the experience of having tried and …
Overground crew declare future belongs to biomechanics
OMAHA, Neb. (December 3, 2018)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” recently released a new episode titled, “Biomechanics is the future.” In this episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss how biomechanics can be used to make affordable prosthetics for children, revolutionize the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, and the accurate …
Concussion platform returns to the Overground, tech transfer podcast to take holiday breaks
OMAHA, Neb. (November 19, 2018)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” is taking a one-week hiatus for the holiday, and are re-broadcasting a popular episode relevant for the season: How biomechanics can save football. In the episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss a new concussion detection platform that began at the …
Podcast: You can’t patent you, obviously
OMAHA, Neb. (November 26, 2018)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” recently released a new episode titled, “You can’t patent you, obviously.” In this episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss the “icky” issues of gene patents and personalized medicine. The crew also find a way to bring Michael Crichton into the …
Innovation Overground examines the value of relationships in tech transfer
OMAHA, Neb. (Sept. 17, 2018)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” published this morning its latest episode, “Match-Making.” In the latest episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss what happens when you lock the right people in a windowless room for a few hours. The crew also talks about what happens when …
UNeMed podcasters look at the ‘long game’
OMAHA, Neb. (Sept. 10, 2018)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” published this morning its latest episode, “The Long Game.” In the latest episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss Joe’s favorite thing: the long game of commercializing university inventions. Joe then recounts the story of the Intuitool, an innovative articulating laparoscopic …
Innovation Overground solves* concussion problem
OMAHA, Neb. (Sept. 3, 2018)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” published this morning its latest episode, “Biomechanics can save football.” In the latest episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss how good inventions become great through better collaboration. Joe tells the story of Avert, a startup that simplifies biomechanics to better …
Podcast: Science is even harder than you think
Podcast: Science is even harder than you think OMAHA, Neb. (Aug. 27, 2018)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” published this morning its latest episode, “Fourth time’s the charm.” In the latest episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss the difficulty of reproducing results, especially in biological research. The crew also talks …
UNeMed podcast takes on baby steps of innovation
OMAHA, Neb. (Aug. 20, 2018)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” published this morning its latest episode, “Why hasn’t anyone invented this before?” In the latest episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss how applied 3D printing makes small, iterative inventions much more feasible. The crew also talks about “cramming needles and …
Innovation Overground publishes new episode
OMAHA, Neb. (August 13, 2018)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” published this morning its latest episode, “A fistful of yardsticks.” In the latest episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss an inventor’s need to sometimes “innovate to innovate.” Overground crew explains that medical innovations sometimes require new measurements and models just …
Innovation Overground takes on CRISPR in latest episode
OMAHA, Neb. (August 6, 2018)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” published this morning its latest episode, “The CRISPR episode.” In the latest episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss a gene editing tool, CRISPR, its popularity within science fiction and its practical uses out here in reality. The Overground crew talks …
Innovation Overground podcast airs next episode
OMAHA, Neb. (July 30, 2018)—UNeMed’s tech transfer podcast, “Innovation Overground,” published this morning its latest episode, “Tech transfer 101 & leadership.” In the latest episode, Overground hosts Joe Runge, Tyler Scherr and Charlie Litton, discuss some behind the scene basics of technology transfer and commercialization. The crew also banters about leadership as they poke …
UNeMed launches tech transfer podcast
OMAHA, Neb. (July 23, 2018)—UNeMed launched today its pilot episode of a planned podcast series, “Innovation Overground,” which will publish new episodes on Mondays. The series was created to help promote academic innovation and the technology transfer and commercialization efforts at the University of Nebraska. The podcast intends to examine what it takes to advance …
The year in review: Highlights from 2017
by Charles Litton, UNeMed | December 27, 2017 It’s time to close the books on another year of tech transfer and commercialization at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. As is our custom, we like to take this time to look back on the year that was, and reflect on some of the more important …
Innovation Evolution: The big idea is only the beginning
by Charles Litton, UNeMed | October 25, 2017 Darkness often represents uncertainty. The unanswered question. The unsolved problem. Illumination, then, reveals the unknown. Lights the path to answers. Unveils potential solutions. It should be obvious why the light bulb has become one of the more persistent clichés on the planet. The symbolic meaning of a …
Sam Sanderson, 63
Cats, pajamas & science will never be the same by Charlie Litton, UNeMed | Aug. 9, 2017 Not long ago, we had a very important discussion. We needed to understand what, exactly, are “cat’s pajamas.” Are they literally pajamas…that cats wear…to bed? Were footies in play? Who would want to put PJs on a cat? …
The year in review: Highlights from 2016
by Charles Litton, UNeMed | Jan. 25, 2017 As we close the books on another year of tech transfer—our 25th, to be precise—we wanted to take a moment to look back on the year that was. Here’s a review of some of the most important stories, developments, most popular posts and other highlights from UNeMed …
Not just students benefit from Tech Transfer Boot Camp
by Charlie Litton, UNeMed | Aug. 1, 2016 It turns out the Tech Transfer Boot Camp did more than we thought it would. Don’t be alarmed if this sounds like shameless self-promotion. It is. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that success is so rare we feel obliged to spike the ball and boogie around …
The year in review: Highlights from 2015
by Charles Litton, UNeMed | Jan. 11, 2016 Before moving forward it’s often useful to pause for a moment and reflect on the year that was. Here’s a review of some of the most important stories, developments, most popular posts and other highlights from UNeMed in 2015: 1. Kielian drives Innovation Week to the top …
Why some inventions fail: Because Valley of Death says so
by Charles Litton, UNeMed | June 24, 2015 I’ve been rubbernecking the tech transfer equivalent of one of those mysterious single-car crashes that defies explanation. Was there a bee in the car? Wasp? Maybe the driver was texting? Did someone fall asleep, or was there some catastrophic mechanical failure? I’ve been watching it slowly unfold …
The trouble with fighting rare diseases
by Charlie Litton, UNeMed | June 18, 2015 There are those things you learn that make you want to drop everything, and pull the kids out of school for a round of hugs and ice cream. The kind of things that transform nightly bed-time tantrums into positively delightful problems. Things that make you question the …
Intelligent Design: Smarter research for smarter drugs
by Charles Litton | April 30, 2015 Many drugs have the same problem. They often bumble around, interacting with whatever tissue they meet, blind to the difference between diseased and healthy tissue. That’s why, when a medication stumbles into enough healthy cells, a wide range of toxic and sometimes scary side-effects are often the result. …
The year in review: Highlights from 2014
by Charlie Litton, UNeMed | Dec. 31, 2014 Before moving forward it’s often useful to pause for a moment and reflect on the year that was. Here’s a review of some of the most important stories, developments, most popular posts and other highlights from UNeMed in 2014: 1. Jack Mayfield, 63 We have been spoiled …
Jack Mayfield, 63
by Charlie Litton, UNeMed The small office where Jack Mayfield churned out agreements and licensing contracts at near prolific rates remains dark today. Jack fell from an apparent heart attack Tuesday. By Friday the 63-year-old was gone. Jack joined UNMC in 2012, working as a contracts specialist in the technology transfer office, UNeMed. Any researcher, …
Why we care about the startup and entrepreneur communities
By Charles Litton, UNeMed | Sept. 10, 2014 There are some things we do that have a hidden and seemingly unknowable value. We carefully tend to a garden never knowing when, if ever, a sprout will appear, or even if any seeds were planted in the first place. We don’t often print large stories about …
New yardsticks needed to create new ideas
There are ideas so groundbreaking that there aren’t even good ways to measure or test them. The inventor often has to build a better yardstick before work even begins on the actual idea.
My First Year: What everyone should know about tech transfer offices
By Charlie Litton, UNeMed | Jan. 14, 2014 As I reflect on my first year with UNeMed and the technology transfer industry, I’m reminded of the most recent Halloween. It was around that time that my then 2-year-old daughter discovered the most amazing thing in her tiny life. As we walked through a grocery store—likely …
The year in review: Highlights from 2013
Before moving forward it’s often useful to pause for a moment and reflect on the year that was. Here’s a look at some key developments and our most popular posts from 2013.
Meet UNeMed Staff – Charlie Litton
With Innovation Week just around the corner, we sat with UNeMed’s Charlie Litton and chatted about Innovation Week.
Antibiotic pipeline needs new ideas
by Charles Litton, UNeMed | June 6, 2013 Scientists, physicians and major media have long been raising alarms about antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, but too few have drilled down deep enough. Resistant bacteria are certainly bad enough, but it’s not our biggest problem. What should really keep us awake at night is not the bacteria’s …
