Fall 2006

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Golden Horseshoe Biosciences Network n Fall 2006 n volume 1 n issue 1

Welcome to the GHBN newsletter

Inside – n Feature profile: Adjuvant Informatics [page 2]

n World bio-congress delegates visit Brock [page 3]

n McMaster Innovation Park update [page 4]

Welcome to the Golden Horseshoe BioSciences Network (GHBN) and to our first newsletter! It’s the vehicle – along with our shiny new website – by which our network will communicate with all of you in the biosciences community. GHBN is one of 11 regional innovation networks in the province. We’re a not-for-profit corporation made up of business leaders, researchers, entrepreneurs and economic development officers. The network is a partnership of McMaster University, Hamilton Health Sciences, St. Joseph’s Hospital, the City of Hamilton, the Regional Municipality of Halton, Brock University, Niagara College and Niagara Regional Economic Development Corporation. GHBN’s goal is to be both catalyst and resource. Located in the McMaster BioSciences Incubation Centre (MBIC) at the Michael G.DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery, we have been in operation 18 months. I am fortunate, as executive director, to work with a highly qualified and experienced board of directors. The biosciences sector is a significant driver of the province’s economic development strategy to foster innovation and meet the demands of global competitiveness.

n GHBN – The catalyst behind the biosciences sector

We have great advantages in the Golden Horseshoe: two universities, three colleges, two large teaching hospitals and more than 100 bioscience companies. We have expertise and innovation in such areas as clinical trials, health sciences, and imaging.

n Coming events

We’ve innovated too at GHBN, with programs such as the Innovation Café™ and the Better Business Practices Series. And now here’s our quarterly newsletter. See the GHBN story on page 5, enjoy the newsletter and give us your feedback. n

[page 5] [page 6]

Give us a name! We know who we are. We just don’t know what to call ourselves. That’s where you come in. What’s your suggestion for the name of this newsletter? We’ve looked at Helix or maybe Vector or Bio-signal. Name drop for us by emailing your choice by Jan. 31 to Ana Paredes at: paredes@mcmaster. ca Help give us a new identity in the New Year. 

Darlene Homonko Executive Director, Golden Horseshoe Biosciences Network

McMaster receives $1 million in HIV vaccine money from Gates Foundation McMaster University, already heavily involved in developing HIV vaccine protocols, will receive about $200,000 annually as part of a $287 million US package of grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates money will not only help develop vaccines but also allow researchers to test them using standardized protocols, to share data more widely, and to compare results to funnel down the most promising vaccine approaches. That will lead to clinical trials in humans more quickly.

Bill Gates Microsoft chairman and co-chair of Gates Foundation

The university’s Centre for Gene Therapeutics will take a leading role in a new international collaboration designed to produce effective HIV vaccine treatments. Dr. Ken Rosenthal, head of the viral vaccines division at the gene therapeutics centre, will work with researchers at Duke University in North Carolina and with the U.S. National Institutes of Health, in Maryland, on applications to block or neutralize HIV infections. “From my end, that’s the most exciting part of the grants,” said Dr. Rosenthal. “The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has enabled us to develop these new approaches to solving complex problems by forming larger collaborative relationships.” Overall, 16 grants totaling $287 million are being allocated over five years. Eleven international consortia will be set up within this network. Investigators in 19 countries will share findings in real time and compare results. (cont’d on page 3)

Ken Rosenthal Professor, Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University

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Adjuvant markets its pain service software to the world

It’s official – we now proudly wear a trademark. The name, Innovation Café, was published in the Canadian Trade-marks Journal on September 20, 2006. The popular discussion series, held by McMaster University and the Golden Horseshoe BioSciences Network, is set in a friendly, informal, interactive and casual milieu. Innovation Café™ covers a broad range of topics of interest to the Golden Horseshoe community with central themes of innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership.

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Five clocks sit on the wall behind Dan Meyer. Their faces – with five different cities and time zones: Utah, Hamilton, Oslo, Riyadh and Brisbane – tell the story of his company’s success in marketing its acute pain service manager software. Five years after its development, APS Manager is a global player. And now, Adjuvant Informatics would appear to have another success ready to market. Its preoperative assessment package has been commissioned for use at Toronto General Hospital. PreOp Manager offers a standardized information-gathering program for hospitals that take in patients scheduled for the OR. The intention is that this latest software suite will streamline pre-op assessment clinics and also assist in research into patient-risk analysis. That’s important in a province where anesthetists are in high demand and operating rooms must be reserved weeks in advance. The tiny Hamilton company, in the technology park at Highways 5 and 6, has another large marketing card, having just reached a deal with Cardinal Health, an $81-billion US company. Adjuvant’s software will be linked with Cardinal’s drug-administering pump infusion devices. It also means Adjuvant has secured a co-marketing platform for its own products.

APS Manager, the company’s first product, is the niche software with huge prospects. A National Research Council search found Adjuvant apparently had developed the world’s first mainstream researchable APS database. APS Manager is now used in Canada and the United States, in Scandinavia, in Australia and the United Kingdom. Adjuvant hopes to get its package into Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, too.

“You can’t ask meaningful questions of paper charts sitting in boxes”

Thanks to a federally funded project, Adjuvant will also develop a national clinical anesthesia database, allowing hospitals to make comparisons between their own patient outcomes – such as side effects and length of stay – and those of other hospitals. This has international implications too. Databanks with standardized nomenclature coding, no matter the language, can be adapted to markets around the world.

“If we successfully create a central anesthesia database, we would never look back,” says Meyer, president of privately held Adjuvant. “The effects would be revolutionary.” The point is to make the use and tracking of pain medicine more accessible to hospital staff and hospital systems. Nurses, for example, can use handheld units to enter patient-visit data. Says Meyer: “You can’t ask meaningful questions of paper charts sitting in boxes.” Adjuvant’s systems allow hospitals to do systematic reviews of patient outcomes, of critical incidents, of cost management related to giving medical narcotics to patients. The process helps to educate both front-line care staff and hospital managers. All this was born in 1997 of a predecessor sister company, Med-Tel Software. Nine years later, Meyer and two key associates, vice-president Dr. James Paul and chief operating officer Anders Elmik, are bulking up with more sales and marketing people. And Meyer – at [email protected] – said Adjuvant is looking for investors and an advisory board. Ultimately, the company would like to be a player in the new McMaster Innovation Park. n

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The bio-world comes to the Golden Horseshoe The bio-world came to Ontario this summer. And along the way, some delegates to a world congress in Toronto made it to the Golden Horseshoe to discuss common industry research issues and learn about bio-products being made in Canada. Several delegates from the regions of Picardie and ChampagneArdenne, in northeast France dropped in at Brock University, in St. Catharines, and also visited the Casco plant in Port Colborne and the Biox bio-diesel facility on Hamilton Harbour. France has centuries of winemaking history. But the country of chateaux knows the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute at Brock has a first-rate research program. “I think they were really surprised by all the technology we have here. It’s really about building a network and knowing where you can find complementary research expertise,”

said Dr. Isabelle Lesschaeve, director of the CCOVI and a native of Champagne herself. Among complementary research areas are yeast selection and metabolism, and diseases that affect grapes and the wines themselves. There have been several exchanges between French and Niagara counterparts in the past. Both sides are interested in ideas that help bio-tech start-up companies survive and prosper and in developing bio-products – through genetic engineering – from the agricultural industry and grape sector in particular. For example, Brock University is doing intensive research into plant genomics and plant metabolic pathways. Brock has worked for years on the bio-chemistry of certain types of alkaloids that produce compounds such as vinblastine and vincristine. Both are found in the periwinkle plant and are used to treat some cancers.

The university has also studied a glucosyltransferase gene. An enzyme made by the gene has a key role in making resveratrol glucosides, well-known for their benefits to cardiovascular health. The French and Ontario delegations also discussed the tremendous impact of pests on crop survival. In Ontario, the aphid-loving Asian Lady Beetle has threatened the $1.5 billion wine industry. A beetle compound, isopropyl methoxy pyrazine, devastated the 2001 vintage year. Both Brock and the University of Guelph are studying the beetle’s behaviour. Niagara College has also done extensive research in the use of shaker tables to sort out beetles from grapes. Some delegates also stopped at the Casco Inc. corn wet-milling factory in Port Colborne and at Biox Corporation’s commercial-scale refinery in Hamilton. n

McMaster receives $1 million in HIV vaccine money from Gates Foundation (cont’d from cover) The Rosenthal group within the Michael DeGroote School of Medicine is seeking to develop delivery systems for HIV vaccines, including mucosal vaccines that work through the body’s mucous membranes. McMaster’s first grant, $120,000 annually over five years, deals primarily with the role of IgA (immunoglobulin A) antibodies, which are found mainly in mucosal secretions in the body. IgA antibodies, the body’s first line of defence, make up about 10 to 15 per cent of antibodies in the body.

workers in Kenya – exposed to HIV but resistant to the virus – have a formidable array of IgA antibodies. The second grant of $80,000 a year relates to the body’s primitive innate immunity system which works as protection against everyday infections and as a trigger for specific immune responses to a more serious infection. Almost 60,000 Canadians live with HIV. Worldwide, the United Nations estimated about 40 million people were infected with HIV in 2005. n

100 years old and still growing Nothing like being a century old and still trying out new things. That’s the story of the University of Guelph’s Vineland research station in the Niagara Peninsula, which has provided the world with more than 150 new varieties of fruits, vegetables and ornamental plants. The research station celebrated its 100th anniversary on Aug. 26.

Vineland has developed and released 77 varieties of peaches, apricots, cherries and plums. About 70 per cent of the peaches in the peninsula can trace their ancestry back to the station. “If it wasn’t for the Vineland research station, we wouldn’t have a tender fruit industry today,” said Ray Kaczmarski, manager of the research station.

Research has found a large percentage of sex-trade 3

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McMaster Innovation Park – a window into the New Economy

Waste powers your world Hamilton and Halton Region are turning waste into green power. In both cases, methane – the main constituent of natural gas – is being captured to fuel engines that drive electrical generators. The payoff is enough power for thousands of homes and the potential for provincial dollars by way of renewable energy programs. Hamilton uses bacteria that chews on sewage wastewater at the city’s Woodward Avenue plant to produce its methane. Halton will capture the vented methane, a byproduct of decomposing refuse, at its landfill site on Highway 25. The Hamilton project expects to produce 1.6 megawatts of power. The HaltonOakville Hydro plan, online next year, should generate slightly more power.

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Parks are often the showcases of their community. McMaster Innovation Park (MIP) will be just that – a premier open-space research hothouse that will be a leading-edge investment and economic driver for the Hamiltonarea economy. The biosciences sector will be one of those drivers. Development of the 15-hectare (37acre) parcel is a classic conversion of fallow brownfield property into a revenue and economic engine. The intent is for the park to offer services and infrastructure to support research and technologies right up to the going-to-market stages. “What I expect is to see the park transform the regional economy of the area,” said Nick Markettos, interim director of the park. The idea is to combine public and private interests in one location.

The plan is for the MIP to contain more than 1.5 million square feet that will accommodate laboratory, office, teaching and training, and conference space. It is expected that about 1,500 long-term knowledge-

“What I expect to see is the park transform the regional economy of the area”

intensive jobs will be created, with an estimated annual payroll exceeding $100 million.

The park will also be home to the Golden Horseshoe Biosciences Network and the non-profit biosciences incubator / accelerator complex, a seed to help move early-stage start-up companies to commercial market. MIP is meant to be the technology driver that results in business spin-offs in many industrial sectors. The park has already attracted General Motors Canada’s corrosion engineering research facility and the federal materials technology laboratory. McMaster’s park is modeled to some degree after the University Park at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the Boston area. Many biotech firms there were attracted largely because of the proximity to MIT and its biotechnology resources. n

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GHBN – the catalyst behind the biosciences sector

Tackling an epidemic It’s an epidemic that costs the Canadian healthcare system about $4.3 billion a year. About 18 million Canadian adults and children are said to be nG  HBN’s Darlene Homonko reviews revenue forecasts with Duane Chung of Fighting Chance Inc., a start-up in the network’s incubator facility.

n T he GHBN Executive Director chats with Carol Carte, of PreMD Inc., an incubator firm developing diagnostics for cancer and cardiovascular disease.

obese and overweight. Now, thanks to an $800,000 federal

Ontario’s knowledge-creation cities and centres – prime drivers of Canada’s economy – have always been strong in technology research. The stumbling block has often been, in the words of Bill Mantel, assistant deputy minister in the new Ministry of Research and Innovation, making “a contact sport” between research investment and commercial spinoffs. But recent government programs, such as the Biotechnology Cluster Innovation Program, have put money and movement into the biotech arena. The programs led to innovation clusters and to the birth of biomedical/bioproducts gateways or networks. In October 2005, the non-profit Golden Horseshoe Biosciences Network (www.ghbn.org) became one of those gateways. The GHBN brings together business leaders, researchers, entrepreneurs and economic development officers who all have stakes in the biotechnology field. The network’s goal is to culture a strong environment for growth and investment in biosciences and biotechnology in Hamilton, Halton, and Niagara. Area bioscience strengths include biomedicine, clinical trails and related convergent technologies

(particularly in Hamilton); bioproducts and bioprocessing, particularly the wine industry (mainly in Niagara); and the biomedical sector, with its medical devices and bioinformatics (a building block in Halton’s economy).

grant, the Canadian Obesity Network, led by Dr. Arya Sharma, of the school of medicine at McMaster University will tackle the problem.

the GHBN will be both catalyst and enabler in getting to market

The network, which will work with both Canadian and international partners, hopes to reduce “the health and economic impacts of

Under the leadership of the network’s board of directors and executive director Darlene Homonko, the GHBN will be both catalyst and enabler in getting to market. The network’s role includes fostering linkages at regional and provincial levels with industry, academic and government bodies. But tomorrow builds on today. So the GHBN will also be involved in community infrastructure and outreach programs, including nurturing an entrepreneurial and innovative culture and training and education programs for teachers and students. n

obesity”, said Dr. Sharma. The forum will promote research, train researchers and build consensus on obesity policy.

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Nysa gets noticed

Events inside the Golden Horseshoe

It’s nice to get

Innovation CafeTM series

  

attention from the

Young Inventors: Realizing the Innovator’s Dream

world, even nicer when your story is told in cyberworld where everyone can see it. That’s the tale of Nysa Membrane Technologies, located in Burlington. Nysa’s membraneseparation technology was featured in the July/August online edition of the Canadian Foundation for Innovation’s ‘magazine’. The feature laid out the technology, venture financings, and Nysa’s work with protein extraction for pharmaceuticals, protein purification for foods, and wastewater

Feature speakers: Anne Swift, Founder and President of Young Inventors International and Pankaj Sood, Founder of Akiliy Date: Thursday, November 23, 2006 Time: 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm                                        Location: McMaster University, Hamilton Hall, Math Café, 2nd Floor     

T he Journey from Academic Research to Company Formation and Back

Feature speakers: T.B.D. Date: January 31, 2007 Time: 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm                                        Location: T.B.D.

Networking Breakfast Water & the Environment – Remedial Action Plan/Canada Centre for Inland Waters Connecting with Scientists Date: Monday, November 27, 2007 Time: 7:30 am to 9:00 am                                        Location: Nature Centre of the Royal Botanical Gardens, 680 Plains Road, Burlington Register: by email to [email protected]

filtration uses. The original research behind the structured hydrogel membrane technology was developed by McMaster University chemistry professor emeritus

Events outside the Golden Horseshoe

Hamilton’s Inaugural Health Research in the City Date: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 Time: 8:00 am to 4:00 pm                                        Location: Hamilton Convention Centre, 3rd Floor 1 Summers Lane, Hamilton For more information: visit www.ghbn.org/events or email [email protected]

Ronald Childs.

Golden Horseshoe Venture Forum Green Opportunities Date: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 Time: 7:30 am                                        Location: Royal Botanical Gardens 680 Plains Road, Burlington For more information: visit www.ghvf.org    

Gaining Traction in the Medical and Assistive Technologies Market Date: Thursday, December 7, 2006 Time: 8:30 am to 12:30 pm                                       Location: htx.ca – The Health Technology Exchange 1380 Rodick Road, Lucent Showcase, Markham Registration Deadline: November 20th (required) For more information: contact Harold Schroeder, Schroeder & Schroeder Inc. Tel: (416) 244-0892 or by email to [email protected] 

AllerGen NCE Inc. Second Annual Research Conference Innovation – from Cell to Society Date: February 11-13, 2007 Location: Sheraton Hotel, Hamilton For more information: visit www.allergen-nce.ca 

Bacchus at Brock Third International Interdisciplinary Wine Conference in Niagara Date: June 7-9, 2007 Location: Brock University, St. Catharines For more information: visit www.brocku.ca Please visit our website for the latest updates on events: www.ghbn.org/events

President Lisa Crossley created Nysa in October 2004.

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: Ana Paredes

Graphic Design: Nadia DiTraglia