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Golden Horseshoe
Biosciences Network

n Fall 2007 n volume 1 n issue 3

A hands-on lifesaver
Three McMaster grads think their lifesaving idea is a hands-down winner. Next year they hope to
New things prove it by taking their invention – a heart-smart glove – to the Center for Resuscitation Science
on the grow at the University of Pennsylvania.

We’re hoping to be There, field tests on the nylon-spandex glove with the onboard circuitry will determine if the
able to talk to you device can make it to market. Already, the center’s associate director Dr. Benjamin Abella has
pronounced the black glove with a video screen on the back “a really nifty idea”. Popular
soon at the Golden
Science liked the idea so much the magazine featured the glove in June among the year’s best
Horseshoe Biosciences inventions.
Network.We’re working
on a blog for our site at The Ontario Centres of Excellence has recognized its worth by providing a grant of up to
www.ghbn.org and on $61,000. And distributors from North America and abroad have contacted the
three graduates in electrical and biomedical engineering to indicate
RSS feed that will update
their interest in marketing the device, should the glove reach
content on items we want commercialization.
to highlight or let you
know about. “We’re trying to create the most user-friendly device
that even people with no medical background can
And look for updates use to give someone CPR,” says one of the three
on our trademarked students, Corey Centen. [CPR, or cardiopulmonary
resuscitation, is a combination heart/lung
Innovation Café events
lifesaving procedure. CPR aims to force the
planned for the coming lungs to keep breathing and the blood to keep
months. They’re a great circulating when the heart has stopped.]
place to exchange ideas
within the biosciences The glove’s piezoelectric sensors, circuits and
metronome timing – all stitched inside – measure
community in Niagara-
the depth and frequency of chest compressions, even
Hamilton-Halton. the heart rate of a subject to make sure they require
resuscitation. The glove has an audible component that alerts
users as to the efficiency of their CPR efforts.
Inside – All of that is important since too few compressions or two shallow a depth render CPR Nilesh Patel,
left, and
n Nysa on the move efforts less than effective. Centen and fellow grads Nilesh Patel and Sarah Smith realized
Corey Centen
[page 2] that they had forgotten training they received in past CPR courses or perhaps never knew with the
that compressions should come at about 100 per minute, given at a depth of four to five CPR glove
n Cancer in a centimetres.
new light
[page 3] That led to development of the glove, which has provisional patent protection in the U.S. The
glove could be part of “any standard first-aid package,” says Patel. Relayed to a computer,
n EuroBio 2007
the hands-on system can also be a teaching tool in a classroom of trained volunteers or health
[page 4]
professionals.
n A beneficial
bacteria The McMaster grads, who have incorporated as Atreo Medical Inc. and have their own website
[page 5] – www.cprglove.com – are working on their next prototype to take to the resuscitation center in
Philadelphia.

“We’re moving ahead now in both business and product-development areas,” says Patel. “The next
stage will take us closer to market and closer to saving more lives.” n
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Nysa takes a huge step forward


Nysa Membrane Technologies, the company that Variable gel properties allow users to bind the
boasts a “disruptive” separation system, is about to molecules they want in higher concentrations than
disrupt its own operations. are possible with resin chromatography systems. In
addition, single-batch processing reduces the risk of
PreMD scores Nysa moves shortly to new quarters in Burlington inter-batch contamination.
major deal that will provide 10 times the space of its current
premises. The move comes as the company finalizes a All of this adds up to substantial cost and time-
PreMD, the predictive second round of financing worth up to $12 million. savings. “I can process the same amount of material
medicine company in the in one day that I could do in three days (using
McMaster Biosciences “We had no trouble raising money,” says president standard resin separation),” says Nysa’s president.
Incubator Centre, has and CEO Lisa Crossley. “It was definitely an
oversubscribed round.” The porous gel membranes, originally developed
scored a major deal with
by now-retired McMaster professor Ronald Childs,
drug giant AstraZeneca Crossley anticipates the new plant on permit processing variances from 3 microns
Pharmaceuticals LP. John Lucas Drive will allow Nysa to to .005 microns. [One micron
gain ISO 9001 certification and equals 1,000 nanometres.
The multinational will to ramp up to production One nanometre equals one
market PreMD’s skin early next year. billionth of a metre.]
cholesterol test in the
In the meantime, Nysa With its membranes,
U.S. The agreement gives
is making its polymer- Nysa is positioned
AstraZeneca the right gel membranes for nicely to take
to market and distribute likely users off a advantage of a
Prevu, which helps assess pilot production line. paradigm shift in
an individual’s risk of Such industry sectors pharmaceutical
as biopharmas, manufacturing as
coronary heart disease.
nutraceutical companies move more
The deal also includes food producers, to biologics and away
the potential for a global beverage makers, and from costly chemically
contract. water purifiers use the synthesized drug molecules.
membranes as they extract, The shift is occurring as
PreMD scored separate and purify molecules for the genomics and proteomics
another win when their particular products. Drug makers, revolutions “have really fuelled drug-
the American Heart for example, extract pharmacological proteins as development pipelines,” says Crossley.
they develop their products.
Association accepted
While McMaster has been “very supportive,”
for presentation at its “I’ve been surprised by how receptive the market has intellectual property and patent licences now reside
November conference been,” says the former McMaster University chemical fully with Nysa, which began operations in April 2005.
a scientific abstract engineering professor. By next year, the company anticipates it will reap
on the predictive $2 million in revenues and go from the current 18
The membrane structures – described by Crossley employees to more than 30.
links between
as “a truly disruptive technology” -- give users the
skin cholesterol ability to do “plug and play” processing, one-off As Nysa fully hits its market stride, Crossley expects
and subclinical batch operations, and run multi-product lines. The gel the fledgling company to be in a cash-flow break-
atherosclerosis. membranes are more efficient in purifying viruses and even mode within two years. n
large biological molecules, and allow for faster flow
rates than does traditional resin chromatography.

Image: Blue copper sulphate, membrane at right, filtered out from a test liquid stream.


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Bringing a cancer weapon to light


R2R
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) holds shiny promise as I would call the launching program.” In Hamilton,
one of many leading-edge cancer treatments. The Kerber has talked to doctors at the Juravinski Cancer
idea is simple. Apply a specific light wavelength to Centre about using LED technology on some cancers.
a drug (called a photosensitizer or photosensitizing Through the biosciences network, he has made
agent) that kills cancer cells. contact with Israeli trade people. And seizing the
Research
initiative, Kerber flew to Israel in May and met the to Receptor
Photosensitizers exposed to light produce a form of developers behind Tookad, a Hebrew word meaning series
oxygen that promotes inflammation, hypoxia and “warmth of light.”
ultimately tissue necrosis. An ongoing clinical trial in The third in the
three Canadian cities is having success with an Israeli- He talked to them about using his firm’s Research to Receptor
developed vascular-targeted drug called Tookad. microprocessor drive and control circuitry with LEDs
series will be held
to treat prostate and other cancers, such as breast
And, bizarrely, a tiny Hamilton electronics firm in a cancer. Avigdor Scherz, of the Weizmann Institute Oct. 16 at the CIBC
world-weary cinder block building that once housed a of Science, was “extremely interested” in the use Conference Centre,
recording studio may be linked to Tookad’s fortunes. of diodes instead of lasers as the external source of McMaster University.
light that hits Tookad.
The London, Guelph and
Trials involving Tookad have been underway for some Hamilton R2R series offer
“If we can see this move time in Montreal, Toronto, and London, Ontario. Dr. a forum for researchers,
John Trachtenberg, of Princess Margaret Hospital in
academics and business
forward, it would be very Toronto, told Forbes magazine in 2005 that Tookad
was “one of the most promising treatments for executives to talk about
exciting. . . This should be recurrent prostate cancer after radiation I’ve ever functional food and
seen.” Prostate cancer claims more than 4,000 nutraceuticals in Ontario,
a treatment that (could be Canadian men each year. and new developments
in the field.
done) in a doctor’s office.” Kerber and interested Israeli backers believe LED use
in the infra-red range will be cheaper, more efficient,
The afternoon event
and tie up operating-room time far less than using
lasers. LED-sourced light, unlike lasers, does not – from noon to an early
Kerber Applied Research, with all of eight employees, create a single hot spot and does not diffuse when it evening wine and cheese
is involved in software and firmware development, hits tissue. reception – will include
high-speed digital signal processor systems, and research going on at
printed circuit board layout designs. The oil industry And Kerber has developed a patent-pending method
MaRS Landing and the
knows Kerber. One of its devices is used in wireless of cooling diodes, which helps to prevent diode failure
communication with drill-head tooling, within small and, more importantly, reduces potential for damage University of Guelph, at
casings that go five miles deep in search of oil. to healthy cells surrounding a cancerous tumour. McMaster University,
at Brock University, and
So how did Kerber enlist in the deadly battle of While he must overcome the tough hurdle of getting other centres.
killing tumour cells? Through its light-emitting diode Canadian doctors to sign on to LED use in Tookad
(LED) technology, used in the dental field, among trials – even with Israeli help -- Kerber has also See www.ghbn.org
other areas. Through sheer persistence – and using been talking to the Ontario Veterinary College. Dogs for details.
the broker connections of the Golden Horseshoe and humans are the only two species that naturally
Biosciences Network – founder Tom Kerber believes develop a lethal form of prostate cancer.
he is close to sealing a deal in working with the
Tookad people and with Isaeli equity investors. Kerber clings to determined optimism in his desire to
push LED technology in taking on cancer: “If we can
“Basically, a number of doors have opened for me see this move forward, it would be very exciting. . .
since Health Research in the City (a forum held in This should be a treatment that (could be done) in a
Hamilton last January),” said Kerber. “It was what doctor’s office.” n


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The heart of European bioscience


Delegates from around the world, including Canada, Guelph, talking about nutrigenomics, and Dr. Terry
are going to the heart of the European biosciences Sills, of the Ontario Cancer Biomarkers Network,
industry this month at EuroBio2007. Canadian speaking on biomarker use to optimize results and
researchers and innovators, many from the Niagara- efficiency of clinical trials.
The Hamilton-Halton area, are heading to Lille, France, for
capital crunch the largest bioindustry and bioscience event held in Companies that will have delegates attending include
Europe. Vinifera for Life, based in Jordan, Norgen Biotek
Canadian biosciences Corp. of St. Catharines, and SiREM, of Guelph. Also
firms see access to The Sept. 26-28 conference – with the working title, attending will be Darlene Homonko, executive director
capital as the No. 1 Meet Share Grow – brings together bio-stakeholders of the Golden Horseshoe Biosciences Network, based
from Europe and around the globe. One aim of the at McMaster University.
barrier to successful
event is to act as a catalyst in forging high-value
commercialization of collaborative projects in life sciences. Exhibitors in Lille come from the biopharma industry,
their intellectual property, agrifoods sector, environment and diagnostics
a nationwide survey has Among the almost 200 speakers in four tracks – the industries, as well as capital-financing specialists.
found. biotech economy and business development, red
biotech, green and white biotech, and technology EuroBio 2006, held in Paris, attracted almost 5,000
The 2007 Canadian transfer– are Dr. Alan Wildeman, of the University of attendees from 23 countries. n
Life Sciences
Industry Forecast by Biosciences and the MINI frontier
PricewaterhouseCoopers
(PwC) also found that Nanometre: one-billionth of a metre; nanos, from the place at the molecular or atomic levels – echoing the
over two-thirds of the ancient Greek, meaning dwarf. 1966 sci-fi movie, Fantastic Voyage.
92 respondents saw
Nanotechnology – manipulating matter at atomic Nano research offers enormous scope for technology
favourable tax incentives
and molecular levels – exists on the frontier where cross-weaving. Engineers might develop new nano-
as government’s most physics, science, biology and chemistry converge. That materials in creating ultra mini-tools and tool sets
important action to tomorrowland has taken up residence at McMaster for automotive uses. That technology, in turn, might
help improve global University. migrate to biosciences applications.
competitiveness.
And now a new group is trying to connect all the Several faculties – science, health sciences, and
As for the industry micro-dots of nano research and study on campus. engineering among them – are already doing nano
MINI – for McMaster Initiative in Nano Innovation work. MINI wants to bridge, or perhaps network,
itself, PwC executive
– was formed to co-ordinate the studies, policies, these related themes. That could lead to nano funding
John DeLucchi noted economics and even the ethics of nano research. applications, to nano studies in business, to economic
that recruiting spinoffs, such as a nano-industry cluster.
“experienced senior “First and foremost, its main purpose would be to
management” was create one-stop shopping for all the nano activities And new technologies often demand new regulations.
at McMaster,” said MINI director John Preston. He is The momentous leaps promised by nanotech – some
“the most important
also director of the Brockhouse Institute for Materials zealots think it can reverse aging, defeat disease
action” companies Research. – lead to ethical questions about humankind working
can take to improve at the very foundations of nature.
their international The biosciences, rich with the promise of disruptive
standing. innovation at the nano level, are “probably the most For now, MINI is not a centre or an institute but it
important community initially for us to interact with,” is developing its own website. MINI involves a core
said Preston. “The overlaps beween biotechnology group of fewer than a dozen people trying to embrace
and nanotechnology are huge.” to all things nano-oriented at the university and in
related health sciences hospitals.
For example, medicine increasingly focuses on
targeting diseases at their source. Nanotech offers “This is the concept of convergence taken to its next
the hope of delivering encapsulated drugs right to a logical step,” says Preston. n

tumour – the so-called smart biobomb. All that takes
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The next generation biopharma leader


Halton welcomes a new biopharma
UCB Pharma Canada’s location in Burlington adds to employs more than 8,000 people who work in about
the life sciences cluster developing in Halton Region. 40 countries, with major manufacturing sites in Belgium
The Belgian multinational’s arrival last year was at least and in Rochester.
partly due to the area’s “increasing critical mass” of
pharma enterprises and knowledge-based skills, said Almost half of UCB sales are done in North America, Life sciences
president and general manager Rob Hamilton. the annual report indicates. Probably the company’s and VC capital
best-known drug is the allergy product marketed
The company saw the GTA, and Halton, as a growth by Pfizer as Reactine, the world’s largest-selling Biopharmas and other
centre for biosciences firms. It helped too that UCB’s antihistamine medication. UCB Pharma also markets life sciences firms saw
operations in Rochester are about a three-hour drive drugs to treat epilepsy and Canada plans to launch
smaller VC investment
away. For now, the Canadian affiliate has only a few neurology products, such as Neupro, in the near
employees. But UCB Pharma plans to expand staff, future for efficacy in treating epilepsy and movement in the second quarter
resources and scope of operations over the next three disorders. of 2007 compared
or four years. to last year, says the
UCB Pharma was also interested in creating a Canadian Canadian Venture
The company joins other biopharma firms such as affiliate because of some specific health factors in
Capital & Private
Wellspring Pharmaceutical, Boehringer-Ingelheim, this country. There is a high incidence of rheumatoid
Nycomed, and GlaxoSmithKline here. These technology arthritis, of severe asthma and Crohn’s disease in Equity Association.
firms see Halton as offering “proximity to markets, Canada – all areas that UCB Pharma is pursuing. Its
The CVCA reports that
research, universities, hospitals and labour (skills),” said drug, Cimzia, for example, has been developed to
Elaine Holding, a former business development officer target Crohn’s, arthritis, and chronic plaque psoriasis. $127 million went to
with the region. 27 biopharma and life
UCB has several drugs in the discovery pipeline and sciences companies.
UCB (for United Chemicals Belgium) had global net is doing clinical trials, including research at McMaster Overall, the sector
sales of more than $2.1 billion Euros (more than $3 University, says Hamilton, who worked for three other
secured 30 per cent
billion Cdn) in fiscal 2006. The publicly traded company pharma companies prior to joining UCB Pharma. n
of all VC capital
invested, the same
share as last year.
Decoding a puzzle down in the earth
VC investment in all
Sometimes, to help Mother Earth, you dig down into Fixation “is a much preferable method” of enhancing sectors in Canada
her roots. That’s what a McMaster University-led fertility than using expensive and polluting commercial
was down in Q2 but a
study involving six countries entails as it decodes fertilizers, says Turlough Finan, chair of the biology
how a common bacterium impacts soil and plant department at McMaster. And rhizobia leave behind strong first quarter
environment. excess nitrogen in the soil. pushed up total capital
for the first half to
The research could some day produce If researchers could bio-engineer the genes just over $1 billion
such huge gains as: of corn and wheat so they also engaged
– up 21 per cent
• helping countries improve crop in nitrogen fixation, the benefits would
yield be huge. That requires understanding over last year.
• reducing commercial fertilizer how the bacterium’s genes function,
usage and pollution runoff learning which sugar and other
• and enhancing soil fertility. compounds turn them on, and how
they transport materials inside the plant.
The humble bacteria are rhizobia.
As they inter-act daily with the root McMaster has led the way in decoding the
nodules of beans, peas, clover, alfalfa and previously unknown functions of more than
similar host plants, they create natural fertilizer 2,000 rhizobia genes. Much work remains to be done.
in a process called nitrogen fixation. The bacteria “Right now, it’s a black box,” said McMaster biology
reduce dinitrogen (N2) gas to ammonium, used to professor Brian Golding. “There’s lots to figure out so
create plant protein. everybody’s got a different question.” n

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Innovation CafeTM Series Research to Receptor:


Profiting from Active Food
Innovation in Horticultural Industry
Date: October 10, 2007
Date: November 28, 2007 Location: Brescia University College
Time: 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.  City: London
Location: Niagara College For more information: www.marslanding.ca
City: Niagara-on-the-Lake
Date: October 11, 2007
On the For more information: www.ghbn.org
Location: Springfield Golf & Country Club
Other Side Interact Sessions City: Guelph
For more information: www.marslanding.ca
Everything from Vista Science & Technology Inc.
Date: October 24, 2007 Date: October 16, 2007
financing to regulation Location: CIBC Banquet Hall, McMaster University
Time: 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. 
to tax credits – that’s Location: Golden Horseshoe Biosciences Network, City: Hamilton
City: Hamilton For more information: www.marslanding.ca
on the agenda for the
For more information: www.ghbn.org
Oct. 19 Cross-border Cross Border:
Matching seminar at Top 10 Contracts Every Entrepreneur Seeding Medical Technology Partnerships
the Hilton Garden Inn in Needs To Have Date: October 19, 2007
Time: 7:30 a.m - 3:30 p.m.
Niagara-on-the-Lake. Speaker: Rudy Morrone, Associate,
Location: Hilton Garden Inn
Gowlings Lafleur Henderson LLP
City: Niagara-on-the-Lake
The all-day event is aimed Date: November 21, 2007
For more information: www.ghbn.org
Time: 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. 
at life sciences companies, Location: Golden Horseshoe Biosciences Network,
Hear it from the Grapevine
particularly those in the City: Hamilton
For more information: www.ghbn.org Date: October 22, 2007
medical devices field, that Time: 4:00 - 8:30 p.m. 
are looking to do business Events Location: CCOVI and Chateau des Charmes
in the United States or, City: Niagara-on-the-Lake
FDA Part II Seminar – For more information: www.tbionline.ca
conversely, in Canada. Good Manufacturing Processes for
Seminar leaders will Medical Devices      Biofuels Discovery Workshop
talk about legal issues, Date: September 25, 2007 Date: October 29, 2007
Location: Oakville Conference & Banquet Centre Time: 8:00 a.m - 4:00 p.m.
accessing capital and City: Oakville Location: CIBC Banquet Hall, McMaster University,
government grants, and For more information: contact Marcelle at: City: Hamilton
navigating regulatory admin@htx.ca For more information: www.ghbn.org
environments. Health Research in the City
Date: February 6, 2008
Go to www.ghbn.org
Time: 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
for more details. Location: Hamilton Convention Centre
City: Hamilton
For more information:
www.hamiltonhealthsciences.ca 

Contact Golden Horseshoe Biosciences Network

McMaster University, Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning & Discovery


5105-1200 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, CANADA L8N 3Z5
n Ana Paredes Office Administrator/Incubator Assistant – Tel: 905-525-9140 Ext. 26602 Fax: 905-528-3999
n Darlene Homonko Executive Director – Tel: 905-525-9140 Ext. 26609 Web: www.ghbn.org

GHBN News is a quarterly newsletter published by GHBN. Director and editor: Darlene Homonko

Writer: Mike Pettapiece Contributor: Marg Leyland Graphic Design: Nadia DiTraglia

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