The down market may prove a boon for a spinout from the University of Rochester (NY) Medical Center (URMC), which has been awarded a U.S. patent for a diagnostic technology that can rapidly and accurately screen for bacteria and other infectious agents. The patent will allow Lighthouse Biosciences, LLC, a Rochester-based life sciences firm that holds the exclusive worldwide license to the technology, to advance its diagnostics platform. The technology, called NanoLantern, consists of an array of DNA probes that can be programmed from a database of known genetic signatures to simultaneously screen for multiple individual targets using a single sample of blood, urine, cells, or other substances with organic content. The process can be used to detect any organism or genetic feature by identifying its unique DNA fingerprint. The U.S. patent covers the process the technology uses to identify DNA sequences — a method developed in 2003 by University of Rochester scientists and Lighthouse Biosciences co-founders Benjamin Miller, Todd Krauss, and Christopher Strohsahl that promises to be faster and more precise than existing models. “You can go to any database and get the entire sequence of E. coli,” Miller says. “But how do you pick out, from that sea of genetic information, the part that will be used for the diagnostic portion? We take the raw sequence information, convert it to a 2D structure, and then pull out regions of genetic structure appropriate for use in our chips.” The patent “addresses a breakthrough method that will allow the company to design and make at a low cost a very wide range of probes for the detection of most pathogens,” says Rand Henke, CEO of Lighthouse Biosciences. The company is developing a prototype that consists of a series of disposable biosensor cartridges — labs on a chip — that will be housed in a workstation for use in hospitals, doctor’s offices, nursing homes, and other health care settings. Although the technology has potential applications in health care, agriculture, food safety, water quality, and national security, Lighthouse Biosciences is initially focused on the field of hospital-acquired infections (HAI). A challenge in combating HAI is the need to develop a system of surveillance that can identify these infections as early as possible. The NanoLantern technology has demonstrated the ability to provide results within 15 minutes, at the point of care. Lighthouse is conducting clinical studies to test the screening system for urinary tract infections at URMC’s Strong Memorial Hospital. “I think good ideas, good people, and good tech attract investment, so I think that this will succeed for those reasons,” Henke says. “Will it be easy? I don’t think so. Will the terms be as friendly? Perhaps not. But perhaps the best time to be a start-up is in a down market.”

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Posted January 21st, 2009 under Tech Transfer

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