ABHI at 30 Guest Blogs. Academic Entrepreneurship: From Counter-Terrorism to the 21st C Thermometer
Academic entrepreneurship is quite rare amongst British professors, but while I was at Stanford the idea of founding a company seemed obvious.
I founded my first company, EvanesCo Ltd, immediately on leaving Stanford, joining the University of Exeter just after 9/11 – in the field of counter terrorism. Timing is clearly important although spin-out company number two, Attomarker Ltd was more pre-meditated.
An EPSRC Basic Technology call was launched to look for the next basic technology to change society – something like the next generation laser or microscope. Our idea was multiplexed screening of blood, label-free to look for the evolution of panels of biomarkers in disease and more generally proteomics Evolving biomarker panels profile the patient’s response trending up or down with infection or disease. The biophontic platform uses gold nanoparticles to scatter light. The iPhone 6 camera had sufficient sensitivity and the processor was able to interrogate the image. Printing into an array, the camera can image more than 150 spots on which we can perform different blood tests.
In the laboratory we can see 5,000 spots and image potentially two-thirds of the blood proteome. In the iPhone we are concentrating on a series of well-established blood tests providing a clinical chemistry laboratory in the hand – giving results in five minutes.
Attomarker has many opportunities. Rapid C-reactive protein testing for antimicrobial resistance, an antibiotics test at the beginning of every GP consultation. We can extend the role of the pharmacist and ultimately into the home as the equivalent of the 21st Century thermometer, supported with teleconsultation.
More importantly, the data can be shared so we can monitor the evolving flu epidemic, giving the first real-time view of public health. We can make the biomarker panel more complex and look at other factors of the host response, or a drug such as immunotherapy where the drug concentration can be measured, together with a pain marker as well as the acquired immunity.
Cohort tele-surveillance allows a new remote management of patient groups with specific long-term challenges, precision medicine requirements. Post-chemotherapy – ‘the chemotherapy is painful, but the pneumonia nearly killed me’ – we invest a large amount of money in complex therapy and for want of an early intervention, an immunocompromised patient dies from a chest infection.
Exploiting the technology requires a spin-out to be connected to its customers and opportunities. ABHI made some important introductions including a showcase at Medica – the IVD industry in one place.
Prof Andrew M. Shaw, Chief Executive Officer, Founder, Attomarker Ltd