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Researchers Tom Quinn,
Ed Sauter and Sue Deutscher have identified a new non-invasive
early breast cancer detection system. They recently received
$750,000 of early stage venture capital.
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MU
Scientists Invent New Method for Detecting Breast Cancer
By Jennifer Faddis
University research is often characterized as promising and cutting-edge;
however, taking ideas and inventions into the real world can be
a tough proposition. MU officials and a venture investment company
are signing a deal to help bridge the gap for a trio of University
of Missouri-Columbia researchers who came up with a new non-invasive
breast cancer detection system.
“Many of our technologies are
underdeveloped from a commercial point of view,” said Terry
Nixon, associate director of entrepreneurial and business development
in the University of Missouri Office
of Technology and Special Projects. “Faculty members
generally have to round up money on their own. We are trying to
facilitate that process and help them work through the hurdles.”
Allied
Minds, a direct investment company specializing in early stage
investments based on university research, is making its first
major investment at MU to establish a faculty start-up company
– LifeScreen, Inc. – around new innovative technology.
According to Ed Sauter, professor of surgical
oncology, 99 percent of breast cancers form in the cells lining
the milk ducts. These cells are shed from the duct lining into
fluid present in the milk ducts. The fluid can be retrieved with
the assistance of a modified breast pump, created by Sauter. He
and his co-collaborators discovered two related carbohydrates
in the fluid that are almost always present in women with breast
cancer and absent in women without breast cancer.
The signing of a memo of understanding allows
the University to license the technology to Allied Minds. In exchange,
MU will gain equity in the newly formed company and royalties
on sales when the product becomes commercially available. As the
first step, Allied Minds will sponsor research at Mizzou to validate
the original findings by Sauter and co-collaborators Tom Quinn,
professor of biochemistry
and Sue Deutscher, associate professor of biochemistry at MU.
“This allows MU to commercialize
an invention of our faculty and form a start-up company right
here so the generation of wealth and job creation stays in the
state of Missouri to help boost the economy,” said Tom Sharpe,
executive director of the Office of Technology and Special Projects.
“We are very excited to make
this investment in a most promising and important technology,”
said Mark Pritchard, founder of Allied Minds. “We hope this
is the first of many collaborations with Mizzou.”
“The signing of this agreement
is a milestone for MU,” said James Coleman, vice provost
for research. “It
clearly demonstrates the progress MU has made in facilitating
the movement of our faculty’s excellent basic research to
products that will improve and possibly save people’s lives.”
According to Coleman, Allied Minds has expressed
interest in other MU technology. The group praised the technology
transfer office by calling it the ‘gold standard’
in facilitating the screening of university technologies.
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Last Update:
March 12, 2007
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