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ACADEMIA MEETS INDUSTRY
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By Christine
Imbs
As one of the top medical schools in the nation, Washington University
School of Medicine is a leader in healthcare research. But for most
of us, unless that research goes beyond the lab to the patient’s
bedside it’s really nothing more than a nice idea.
Gregory Lanza, M.D., associate professor of medicine and bioengineering
at Washington University agrees.
“I always believed that the whole point of what we do is to translate
what we learn into better use. In other words, to get our ideas
off paper and to the general public,” he says. “When you think about
it, that’s what the taxpayers are paying for—new technologies and
ideas to make their lives better.”
And that’s exactly what Lanza and his partner, Samuel Wickline,
M.D., are trying to do. In June, they moved their labs to the CORTEX
building at Forest Park and Boyle to launch the Consortium for Translational
Research in Advanced Imaging and Nanotechnology, or C-TRAIN. Their
goal is to quickly bring new techniques for early detection and
individualized treatment of heart disease and cancer to the public.
“This is something a bit out of the ordinary for us as researchers,”
Lanza comments. “Generally speaking, academics live in a closed
world. They don’t understand what it takes to commercialize their
findings, or even if their findings can be commercialized. But if
you interweave academics with commercial people, they begin to understand
one another better and what makes an idea commercial. It can really
change perspectives.”
However, some perspectives are harder to change than others. There
are some people, including a few university staff members, who adhere
strictly to the traditional university culture of research and education.
Commercialization of research is looked down upon. But Larry Shapiro,
dean of the medical school, says there is a growing desire at Washington
University to translate scientific discoveries into commercial products.
And working with commercial entities can help move the process along.
“There are some things that universities do very, very well, and
there are some things the commercial sector does very, very well,”
he commented in a recent Post-Dispatch article. “We should respect
those strengths and try to find ways to work together.”
CORTEX—the Center of Research, Technology and Entrepreneurial Expertise—offers
researchers and businesses not only the opportunity to work together,
but state-of-the-art facilities in which to do so. Located in the
area of Kingshighway and Grand the CORTEX district lies within close
proximity of St. Louis’ major biotech resources—Washington University,
Saint Louis University, Barnes-Jewish Healthcare System, and the
Missouri Botanical Garden.
Speaking of CORTEX’s first building, Lanza notes, “It’s an amazing
place.” “We have Stereotaxis, a small biotech company, right across
the hall who we interact with, and Phillips has space in the building.
We have an agreement with them for imaging equipment. Kereos, who
we also work closely with, is just a few blocks down the street
at the Center for Emerging Technologies. And there’s a group with
ophthalmology experience in nanotechnology on the third floor that
we interact with. So CORTEX allows us to work with groups outside
of our own and that’s very important.”
It’s also important in that it can change the way healthcare is
provided. For example, Lanza and Wickline developed nanomedicine
at the Washington University campus. It’s the science of using tiny
particles or spheres to travel though the bloodstream deep into
the body to locate and highlight tumors undetectable by typical
methods. While at the tumor site, the nanoparticles can deliver
therapeutic agents to destroy it. Potentially, this could replace
numerous medical tests, scans, or surgeries with a simple injection.
Lanza says had they not moved into CORTEX, their progress in this
area would have slowed down tremendously.
“Before moving to CORTEX, we were scattered over buildings and floors
on the university campus,” he explains. “And with 50 people, this
made communications with the group very difficult. It was handcuffing
us in terms of the speed at which we got things done.”
Lanza adds that just to update everyone meant having to schedule
meetings which took away from valuable research time. He even had
problems getting his mail. What’s more, he’d go a week or two at
a time without ever seeing his partner, Wickline.
“We were becoming an elephant in a small business sense,” he says.
“But this consolidation at CORTEX greatly improved things. Now if
we need to talk with someone, we can just pull them into an office.
We don’t need formal meetings. We can even update one another when
we meet at the coffee pot.”
Another problem they faced prior to the move was the lack of space.
Bursting at the seams, they had absolutely no room to expand. There
was a dire need for more lab space, if they were going to honor
their commitment under the $16 million grant they received from
the National Cancer Institute. And they needed more up-to-date imaging
equipment.
“Without additional space, we’d probably be using equipment that
no one else was using anymore and that’s quite limiting,” Lanza
says. “Come to think of it, I believe at one time there was talk
about putting the equipment in a parking garage.”
Now with in 18,000 square feet at the first CORTEX building, not
only are they all together in one location, but they have the room
to house the state-of-the-art imaging equipment they need to complete
their research.
“Because of Sam (Wickline’s) agreement with Phillips, we now have
more imaging capability than we had at the other site. And because
of CORTEX, we don’t have to go to a parking garage to use it,” Lanza
says. “Obviously, it’s much better for both our patients, who are
coming for imaging, and for us.”
Lanza says for them, CORTEX was the right place at the right time.
“Without it I don’t know where we were going to go,” he comments.
“There simply wasn’t any room to expand, much less add new equipment.
And as for small companies like Stereotaxis, without CORTEX where
would they have gone? They had to get out of the CET. In all likelihood
they would have moved out of St. Louis to some place like San Diego
or Palo Alto. We need to stop these other areas from cherry picking
the best businesses from St. Louis. CORTEX is a good start.”
(Left
to right): Gregory Lanza, M.D. and Samuel Wickline,
M.D. of Washington University launched Consortium
for Translational Research in Advanced Imaging and
Nanotechnology |
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| Missouri
Ranks #4 in the Nation in Nanotechnology Venture Funding: |
Missouri
joins several “hotbed” states as national leaders in nanotechnology
venture funding, as ranked in the July/August issue of the
national Small Times Magazine. Nanotechnology is a
science that uses extremely small, bead-shaped particles to
evaluate disease and deliver drugs to the site of disease.
Ann Arbor-based Small Times is a leading national magazine
detailing technological advances, applications and investment
opportunities to help business leaders stay informed about
the rapidly changing business of micro and nanotechnology
from biotech to defense, telecom to transportation.
The magazine determines its rankings based on formulas that
use its proprietary research, as well as state and federal
data; Missouri ranks #4, following California (#1), Massachusetts
(#2) and Texas (#3). Michigan rounds out the Top 5.
“Missouri benefits from a strong nanobio community, as evidenced
by the (venture) funding of both Kereos and Chlorogen in 2005,”
the magazine noted. |
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