Here is a snippet of Dr. Jörg Schreiber's recent work with Roche. If he is signing up as non-executive director of AION (owned by PSD) then they must be onto something BIG!
Biosensors. (Jan 2004)
This life-sciences specialty refers to the use of chemical molecules or nano-scale components to sense the presence of certain genes, proteins and other molecules; to sense chemicals, light or sound; or to accomplish such tasks as activating the delivery of drugs or assisting in drug delivery. They can be natural or engineered biological materials, or perhaps combinations of biological and non-biological materials.
Heading up this target team is a representative of a local firm active in biosensors: Jörg Schreiber, head of special projects at Roche Diagnostics. "One of our big businesses is diabetes and glucose monitoring," which involves the use of a biosensor: a glucose-specific enzyme. Another Indiana player involved in this kind of business, he says, is Bayer in Elkhart.
The presence of such activity helps make the region a prime place for more biosensor activity, he says, as does the strong research taking place in the area, particularly at Purdue. "You have to start with richness of ideas, then you have to create patents and intellectual property," he says. Then, he says, it’s a matter of determining whether such ideas can be pursued by either the big local players or new startups.
In addition to harvesting ideas from Purdue and others, the BioCrossroads target team hopes to take better advantage of the research going on at such places as Roche itself. "There might be unused technologies that can be applied to other fields," he says. "We can push intellectual property into a startup and they can grow with that technology."
One recent example of this concept: Roche recently licensed some of the biosensor technology used in its Accu-Chek Advantage blood-glucose-monitoring systems to Theron Inc. of Carmel. Theron plans to establish a new biosensor technology company that will develop products for environmental and food safety testing, areas that make use of the Roche technology but are not being pursued by Roche itself. Theron hopes to create up to 300 biotech jobs within six years.
"I can envision that we will start at least three new companies," Schreiber says of the BioCrossroads biosensor initiative. "Then we will nurture them."
PSD Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
