The collaboration evolved after Tilley contacted Australian researcher Associate Professor Benjamin Thierry who had already developed a magnetic probe as part of his interdisciplinary research focused on developing novel cancer biosensing technologies.
Technology incubator Powerhouse Ventures is backing a new company developing a cancer-detecting magnetic probe based on collaborative Australia and New Zealand university research.
Wellington-based nanoparticle specialist Boutiq Science and researchers from the University of South Australia have developed a magnetometer probe that is aimed at improving outcomes for cancer patients. It allows surgeons to more easily detect the spread of cancer throughout the body using magnetic tracers.
Now working in Australia, Professor Richard Tilley is the founding scientist of Boutiq which is a spin-off from his research performed at Wellington's Victoria University and the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology.
The collaboration evolved after Tilley contacted Australian researcher Associate Professor Benjamin Thierry who had already developed a magnetic probe as part of his interdisciplinary research focused on developing novel cancer biosensing technologies.
Boutiq's iron core nanoparticle tracers were able to produce a vastly improved magnetic signal to what the Australians have previously been using and the two then collaborated on a prototype magnetometer.
They're setting up a new 50:50-owned company, Ferranova, into which Powerhouse plans to invest several hundred thousands of dollars to help commercialise the research.
The working prototype will be refined with surgeons over the next year with the aim of making it smaller, lighter, and portable and Powerhouse chief operating officer Colin Dawson said human clinical trials will then be held in south Australia next year.
If the trials prove successful, the company will seek regulatory approval for the medical device before being able to sell it globally.
This is Powerhouse's first collaboration with an Australian university and comes ahead of its planned ASX listing in August.
Until now the incubator has mainly commercialised intellectual property sourced from the University of Canterbury and has 21 companies within its portfolio, and is due to add another one next week.
It raised $15 million earlier this year through crowd-funding and from institutional investors ahead of the initial public offering. A prospectus for the listing is due out this month and the company plans to raise a further $15 million to $25 million in the IPO. It's likely to have a market capitalisation of between $40 million and $50 million which precluded a dual listing on the NZX main board, Dawson said.
(BusinessDesk)
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