Highly sensitive, molecular analysis of nucleic acids for medical research and clinical care is increasingly the standard in medicine today. But it has a long way to go, in cost, reliability and ease of use, to win gold in disease diagnosis.
MaRS Innovation (MI), with partner the University of Toronto (U of T) and co-inventors Dr. Shana Kelley and Dr. Ted Sargent, have their eye on the prize. Kelley and Sargent, of the university’s Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, respectively, have patented an extraordinarily sensitive nano-sensor to rapidly detect a wide array of disease states at the molecular level, based on only a small number of affected molecules within a sea of bionoise in human tissue.
MI is acting as the commercialization agent for U of T’s radically tiny invention with enormous market potential.
Another singularly unique feature: the inexpensive device is designed for ease-of-use with a range of assay types, and by a healthcare professional with the touch of a button and at point of care. The nano-sensor is projected to provide an electronic readout of results in thirty minutes or less—reducing delays, healthcare costs and potential for error associated with lengthy lab processes.
The technology has benefited from significant federal and provincial funding to date. Collaboratively, U of T and MI have now determined that a company start-up, XagenIC, is the best strategy to advance the technology further. Kelley will be Chief Scientific Officer of XagenIC.
“We are out of the gate on an invention with global potential,” says Dr. Rafi Hofstein, President and CEO of MI. “But we must get closer to the finish line in bringing this exciting technology to market.”
MI’s core task is to draw significantly increased public sources of support together in a synchronized timeline for XagenIC. “The generosity of our public funders on the early science side must now be exceeded by public funding on the early commercialization side,” adds Hofstein. “We will then achieve significant technology-development milestones prior to offering this opportunity to private investors for further development.”
