USC Stevens Announces Its Third Cohort of Licensing Assistants and Interns

In its third year, the Innovation Intern program has been a tremendous success, and we’re thrilled to announce the newest cohort of licensing interns and assistants! They join the team with expertise in life sciences and physical sciences and a passion for technology commercialization. They will work closely with the seasoned licensing team and enhance our technology licensing marketing efforts for USC inventors. In addition to creating marketing materials and executing campaigns, the interns will gain hands-on training and mentorship in three key licensing areas:

• Patentability Analyses: Assessing the potential for patent protection.
• Market Analysis: Investigation of market size, dynamics, and unmet needs.
• Agreement Negotiation: Drafting and negotiating intellectual property agreements, such as Confidential Disclosure Agreements (CDAs) and Industry Investment Agreements (IIAs).

Meet our new licensing interns and assistants:

Jared Cristobal: Jared is a Licensing Intern at the USC Stevens Center for Innovation and an MBA candidate. He brings a multidisciplinary background spanning bioprocess engineering, cell and gene therapy, and venture evaluation. Prior to joining USC Stevens, Jared held positions at biotech companies such as Poseida Therapeutics and Amgen, where he supported cell and gene therapy manufacturing, technology evaluation, and process optimization. His experience lies at the intersection of bioprocessing and business strategy with a focus on helping scientific innovations move from the lab into real-world applications as the VP of Ops Strategy for Nucleate. Jared earned his BS in Bioengineering from the University of California, Riverside, and his MEng in Biopharmaceutical Processing from Keck Graduate Institute.

Leah Kim: Leah is a Licensing Intern at the USC Stevens Center for Innovation and is a PhD candidate in development, stem cells, and regenerative medicine at the USC Keck School of Medicine. She studies epigenetic control of cell cycle regulation in inner ear development. By leveraging multiomic datasets, Adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based tools, and small molecule drugs, she aims to identify novel approaches for reversing hearing loss through sensory cell regeneration. Leah earned her BS in Biochemistry and Cell Biology with a minor in Music and her MS in Biology from the University of California, San Diego.

Carys Layton: Carys is a Licensing Assistant where she supports licensing, marketing, and outreach efforts. She is a multidisciplinary engineer and scientist who has collaborated on various projects. To support the future development of novel biomanufacturing approaches, her dissertation work investigated phenotypic changes in bioreactor-cultivated human pluripotent stem cells as a consequence of the hydrodynamic conditions, specifically fluid shear stress, they were exposed to. Prior to USC, she was an executive producer for the Inside Biotech podcast, a production of the 501(c) nonprofit Biotech Connection Los Angeles. Passionate about early-stage innovation and commercialization, she has a keen interest in IP portfolio management and strategy, corporate engagement, and inter-institutional agreements. Carys was awarded an honorable mention by the National Science Foundation for the thesis work she proposed and eventually defended, earning her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Riverside. She earned her BS in Physics from Southern Oregon University, during which she also conducted research at Northwestern University, supported by the National Science Foundation.

Chudi Okafor: Chudi is a licensing intern for life sciences at the USC Stevens Center for Innovation. He’s a third-year PharmD candidate at the USC Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, with a background in clinical research and healthcare strategy. His professional experience includes oncology clinical development and patient safety, most recently through an internship at Johnson & Johnson, where he supported pharmacovigilance activities for first-in-human clinical trials in prostate cancer. Chudi earned an MBA in Healthcare Administration from the University of Riverside and brings a global, multidisciplinary perspective to advancing patient-centered healthcare solutions.

Jazmine Prana: Jazmine is a Licensing Intern and a fifth-year PhD candidate in Chemistry working under the supervision of Dr. Inkpen. Her research is about creating and studying organic compounds for molecular electronics, especially focusing on making and measuring how electrons move in single molecules to create new types of nanowires. She has presented her work extensively at ACS conferences and is eager to apply her scientific communication skills to translating intellectual property and scientific discoveries through the patent process and into real-world applications. Jazmine earned her BS from Montclair State University where she completed an internship at Bristol Myers Squibb and contributed to the preparation of investigational new drug (IND) applications and clinical specification proposals, which further sparked her interest in technical writing, intellectual property, and science-driven marketing.

Zohaib Suhail: Zohaib is a Licensing Intern and fourth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Chemistry at USC. Currently working in Dr. Prakash’s lab, Zohaib researches carbon capture and conversion technologies to methanol and efficient hydrogen production from methanol reforming. He is passionate about commercializing risky and disruptive technologies in renewable energy. He recently interned at Bioport, an early-stage start-up, as a process engineering advisor to develop pilot-scale plans for biomass fractionation. Zohaib graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a BS in Chemistry, earning a Distinction in Major for his research in the morphology and kinetics of solid carbon growth over liquid surfaces from methane pyrolysis.