Spring 2008

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Bio-Matrix

Golden Horseshoe Biosciences Network

n Spring 2008 n volume 2 n issue 2

McMaster a key to pain study McMaster University is working with the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College to test the efficacy of an electro-stimulation technology for treatment of musculoskeletal pain. The project, part of a research study for the Neuro Resource Group of Plano, Texas, has $316,000 in funding over two years. Researchers will use computer-tracked readings in concert with the InterX system, a technology with origins in Russia, to treat patients with chronic neck and shoulder pain. NRG spokesperson Gretchen Wild said her company had wanted to secure “a multi-disciplinary principal investigator team” for the study.

Inside – n Small company, big reach [page 2]

n Innovation in horticulture [page 3]

n Mick Bhatia [page 4]

A mecca in the medical isotope industry Hamilton is poised to become “the mecca” in Canada for the medical isotope research industry with a new $25-million public-private centre to be located at McMaster Innovation Park. The facility – with its focus on developing standards and protocols and converting intellectual property into medical and economic realities – will play a leading role in the growing shift to personalized healthcare, say doctors and scientists in nuclear medicine. “The centre will have a tangible and significant economic and clinical impact,” said John Valliant, scientific director of the new Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization. The initiative includes such players as the federal Networks of Centres of Excellence, Cancer Care Ontario, GE Healthcare Canada, and Pfizer Inc.” Ultra short-lived radioisotopes are used both to diagnose and treat several diseases, including cancers, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and arthritis. Imaging isotopes enable scientists and doctors to make early-disease detection, to better understand the molecular pathways of disease, and to offer therapies against a disease. Focusing academic and private-sector research and development within this new centre has the potential to “spin off a completely new industry,” says Dr. Gurmit Singh, director of research at Juravinski Cancer Centre. “This is going to be the mecca for all this probe development.”

John Valliant Scientific Director, CPDC

Pat Causey (pictured below) uses remote manipulators

Moving isotopes through research, evaluation, compliance, and commercial stages is a demanding task. McMaster has taken at least two isotope products to market, says nuclear medicine specialist, Dr. Karen Gulenchyn, associate professor of radiology at the university.

during the production

In the case of one radiotracer, the “burdensome process” took more than three years to result in a certified safe and effective product. That length of time and the learning it imposes come with their own costs: scientists consumed by regulatory and compliance demands have less time to do research and other work.

isotopes produced

The CPDC will help to validate the promise of such probes and will be a key to developing “skill sets” among researchers. All of this “has the potential to significantly improve the innovative capacity of various research groups” that use the facility, says Dr. Gulenchyn. The new centre arrives as researchers, scientists, and healthcare professionals take healthcare closer to predictive medicine and to personalized therapies. In the balance, there is the possibility of reduced health system costs. Next-generation imaging platforms and medical isotope therapies – combined with gains in such areas as bioinformatics, proteomics and genomics – bring the promise of critical early diagnosis and of stopping or managing disease before it spreads. “The aim of all of this is to develop methods of treatment that are tailored to the individual with that specific disease. This is custom-designed therapy,” says Dr. Chris O’Brien, head of the Ontario Association of Nuclear Medicine, and medical director of nuclear medicine at Brantford General Hospital. Scientists and technicians who administer such radiopharmaceuticals – used both in disease detection and in delivering targeted radiation to a disease site – can make real-time clinical assessments as to the therapeutic efficacy of their treatments and limit the cycles of cytotoxic therapy based on the level of that response, adds Dr. Gulenchyn. The new centre arrives as researchers, scientists, and healthcare professionals take healthcare closer to predictive medicine and to personalized therapies. In the balance, there is the possibility of reduced health system costs. – Continued on page 2

of a new molecular imaging probe derived from medical at the McMaster Nuclear Reactor.

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A small company with a large reach

The art of the wine sell Is it the shape of the bottle or the instant ‘nose’ that greets the buyer? What about the wine label or the setting in which the wine is displayed? How about the country of origin? Those are some of the things that researchers at Brock University’s new consumer lab and its partners will study in looking at consumer attitudes about wine and what leads people to buy certain wines. The Consumer Perception and Cognition Laboratory will do traditional research, focus groups, simulated consumer

Yousef Haj-Ahmad (pictured at left) delights in rhyming off some of his big customers: there’s Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Harvard Medical School, Princess Margaret Hospital. They’re all top-flight healthcare giants familiar with his company’s brand name. Norgen Biotek may be a small Thorold company – fewer than 20 employees – but 95 per cent of its sales are from outside Canada.

Haj-Ahmad won’t reveal annual revenues but says the eight-year-old company’s cash burn rate is getting smaller, meaning a profit is likely to occur this year. All this essentially from an entrepreneur who has relied largely on his own and colleague sources of funding and from shares of an earlier biopharma that later went public.

“We’re a best-kept secret in terms of growth. Nobody really knows about Norgen and here’s this company coming from left field. We didn’t receive (venture capital) funding because we’re not sexy.”

Sexy or not, Norgen’s global shape has been noticed. In 2003, the federal government recognized the company as one of the country’s innovation leaders. Last year, the enterprise was named one of Canada’s Top 10 life science companies by a panel of Canadian and U.S. venture capitalists. This recognition of, and success in, his adopted country is returned by the Syrian-born scientist: he often wears a Maple Leaf flag pin on his lapel.

Not sexy as in not being a biopharma targeting a relentless disease or not on the leading edge of ‘tomorrow’ stories, such as stem cell research. Yet Norgen really is there: its adenovirus vector expertise and multi-patented sample isolation kits are key elements in the lab work done by many of those same headline companies.

Haj-Ahmad has so far resisted suitors looking to buy Norgen. Now, he is looking at out-licensing its patented technologies and expanding his distributor network. “I’m looking for champions,” he says. Doing an IPO is a consideration but the strategy leans more to spinning out companies from the various product lines and research-diagnostic strengths.

Norgen’s most recent offering, a four-in-one product, allows researchers to isolate RNA, microRNA, DNA and protein macromolecules sequentially from one sample. Its RNA and DNA bioconsumable kits provide “high yield from low cell numbers,” a Novartis scientist has noted.

There is a sense that the sky is large: a much older competitor, the Netherlands-based assay and sample company, Qiagen, has about 2,000 employees and a market cap of more than $4 billion US.

This whole sample purification market is huge, about $1 billion worldwide, with potential to quadruple that amount. Norgen distributors sell into 25 countries, a nice reach for a company that lacks a substantial marketing and sales arm.

There is room at the Schmon Parkway location for at least two additions to Norgen’s 24,000 sq. ft. premises. (The top floor is leased to a U.S.-owned microelectronics firm.) Haj-Ahmad, a professor of molecular biology at nearby Brock University, would also like to partner with a Canadian robotics liquid-handling firm that could bundle Norgen’s 96 well-plate extraction kits. n

environments, and mapping of preferences and perceptions.

A mecca in the medical isotope industry

– Cover story continued

Next-generation imaging platforms and medical isotope therapies – combined with gains in such areas as bioinformatics, proteomics and genomics – bring the promise of critical early diagnosis and of stopping or managing disease before it spreads. “The aim of all of this is to develop methods of treatment that are tailored to the individual with that specific disease. This is custom-designed therapy,” says Dr. Chris O’Brien, head of the Ontario Association of Nuclear Medicine, and medical director of nuclear medicine at Brantford General Hospital. Scientists and technicians who administer such radiopharmaceuticals – used both in disease detection and in delivering targeted radiation to a disease site – can make real-time clinical assessments as to the therapeutic efficacy of their treatments and limit the cycles of cytotoxic therapy based on the level of that response, adds Dr. Gulenchyn. n



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Windows of innovation into horticulture Lasers that prune plants or act as early warning radar for disease, algae as biofuel, and remote sensors to ‘read’ a plant’s stress aura. They’re all part of a sweeping wave of innovation in the world under glass. Technology is everywhere in horticulture. Operators are looking to cut energy costs, reduce fertilizer usage, recycle wastewater, grow healthier product, improve yields, and be better earth stewards. At Niagara College, the innovation has landed in the photonics department. “It’s very neat,” said Alex McGlashan, co-ordinator of photonics technology and from a farming family himself. “It’s really fascinating stuff to get into.” His department is deep into multi-year research – with the help of Ontario Innovation Trust money – on adapting the use of lasers in pruning and detecting diseases. The laser story begins at Sunrise Greenhouses. The familyowned Vineland company had a costly problem: it was losing thousands of dollars worth of plants to botrytis, a fungal disease. Mechanical pruning can spread microbes as the equipment moves from rack to rack. A high-energy laser beam might be a solution, thought Sunrise general manager Rod Bierhuizen. So he turned to Niagara College. Now, staff and students in the laser lab are using a carbon dioxide laser with a beam in the infrared wavelength range. The beam can cauterize the cutting point, blocking access to pathogens. No mechanical contact, no spread of disease.

Energy remains a big greenhouse concern. In Dunnville, Rosa Flora Ltd. has put in three biomass boilers that take wood chips and waste. Biomass is cheaper than natural gas which has roller-coastered from $7 to $15 per gigajoule in the past three years, says operations manager Ralph DeBoer. Rosa Flora also has an attention-getter: a Germanengineered wind turbine that can produce 600 kilowatts per kW/h when the wind blows right. That helps for a company, with thousands of growlights, whose power demand can reach 600 kW. Many greenhouses have installed microclimate sensors that can assess plant temperature, photosynthetic activity, humidity conditions and even plant stress levels. The software behind such sensors can be installed so the microenvironments can be read from a remote laptop in an office. Greenhouses are also the focus of a University of Guelph research proposal to the provincial government. Joseph Ackerman, associate dean of environmental sciences, is working with industrial partners to study algae propagation as potential biofuel.

Ontario vintner Inniskillin is bottling more than wines, it’s making power. The Niagara-on-the-Lake company is teaming up with energy firm StormFisher Biogas to use grape pomace – seeds and skins that formerly might have been dumped – to produce methane gas that will be used as fuel.

“I think you can appreciate the fact that you can use wastewater streams (from plant production) and that algae grows quite nicely in greenhouses anyway,” said Ackerman, who anticipates such projects could be used in nurseries and golf courses too. n Toronto-based StormFisher works with engineers and technology specialists and converts food and beverageprocessing byproducts in industrial tanks into renewable fuels for use in electricity generation and the production of natural gas.

A robotic laser system might cost at least $100,000 but research “has showed it works,” said Bierhuizen, whose enterprise has 200,000 square feet under glass. Sunrise has since cut its botrytis losses by working closely with its feedstock plant suppliers, but remains very interested in the laser research. The college is also pursuing early-stage detection of disease not visible to the naked eye. For example, fluorescence microscopy can show a specific colour identified with symptoms exhibited by cells ravaged by a disease. This fluorescence imaging can be captured on plants using UV excitation.

Vines with extra power

Sunrise general manager Rod Bierhuizen with a robotic potting machine.



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Offers of collaboration ‘have been massive’ An interview with Dr. Mick Bhatia, Director and Senior Scientist of the Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute (SCC-RI), at McMaster University. [For the full interview, go to www.ghbn.org and click on What’s New] Q. What’s the staff complement at the stem cell and cancer research institute now and do you anticipate more hires?

Funding for life sciences If you’re a venture capital specialist, a clinical services provider, or maybe a pharma executive, BioFinance 2008 on May 6-8 is this year’s conference to make. The forum at the Toronto Marriott Eaton Centre is the Canadian life science industry’s leading investor conference. It brings together industry and investment players, analysts and experts, in biotechnology, medical devices, diagnostics and research tools. Go to http://www. biofinance.ca/ for further information and for program details.

A. I moved my team from the Robarts Research Institute and therefore started with a staff of 25. Within less than 2 years, we recruited 4 additional Faculty members who operate as scientists towards research-intensive goals within the Institute. Their staff and programs are just getting off the ground, but we’re already at 40 members and growing. I anticipate with the new Braley project and the ramp-up of the junior PIs that by the end of this year we would be above our originally envisioned capacity of 50. It’s important to note, these members are of the highest quality, eg. postdoctoral fellows and post-MD fellows . . . Q. An astonishing amount of stem cell research is going on around the world, with new findings reported daily, it seems. What do you consider McMaster’s strengths and contributions are in this research? A. T he SCC-RI strength will clearly lie in understanding basic principles that govern human (not mouse) stem cell biology. We intend to work strategically with the clinical departments so that these basic principles can be focused on applications, diagnostics, biomarkers, etc., for patient care. . . Q. How onerous are the demands on your time with requests for speaking and presentation engagements and interviews, particularly after the Nature article and similar publications about McMaster’s nichemicroenvironment findings? A. Very. As Director and Senior Scientist of one of the largest programs within the Institute, there are immense demands on my time, and unfortunately I’ve had to prioritize. . . On average, I’m invited to close to 20 international conferences per year, but am able to attend less than half. Now, with more senior postdocs and PIs recruited into the Institute, the invitations that I’m unable to accept will be offered to them . . . Q. With McMaster occupying a leading-edge position, has this resulted in any new or unanticipated research collaboration as a result? A. The offers for collaboration have been massive. We have collaborations at the level of Institutes: Howard Hughes in Seattle, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, etc., and are working at further defining these in the next year. Q. Have you been able to manage and yet stay close to your science and maintain a hands-on research capacity at McMaster? A. As Director and Scientist, I’m always torn between the two, but feel there’s a greater understanding of the support needed to sustain a research-intensive institute at McMaster... Q. In November, the federal government announced $25.6 million in renewed funding over the next four years for stem cell-centred research and training. How much annual spending is being directed to stem cell research in Canada? Is that spending comparable to or lagging that of other countries? A. The amount of money put toward basic research in Canada, irrespective of stem cell research or other, is staggeringly low. I believe independent evaluators have recently put out an article in Nature making these comparisons, and in the end the analysis shows we are not close to being at par with countries in Europe, or with the United States on a per/scientist capita basis. Internationally, agencies and governments have not understood that work with human cells, and specifically human stem cells, exceeds the norms of basic operation grants and infrastructure grants that are available. . . n



Dr. Mick Bhatia, Director, Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute McMaster University.

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New capital – a timeless Canadian question Is our bioscience industry being hollowed out or is the world of capital migrating in? That’s a straw man question that might be posed after the release of last year’s venture capital investment figures by the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA). The figures show that the amount of new capital raised in Canada by domestic VC companies for their portfolios continued to shrink – for the fifth time in six years. But the numbers also indicated that money flowing to the biopharma / life sciences sector in Canada, much of it from foreign investors, was up 23 per cent from the previous year.

Life sciences investment up again

The decline in Canadian VC capital-raising prompts the worry that technology recipients might have to shift to the United States to get more capital – taking their science and intellectual property with them – if they cannot secure enough money in Canada. And that could mean they will lose control of their operations.

Biopharma and other

Rick Nathan, President, Canada’s Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA), Managing Director, Kensington Capital Partners

“The fundraising trend for Canadian VC firms is a serious concern,” CVCA president Rick Nathan said in an interview. “The thing you worry about is that most of these (Canadian companies hungry for VC money) are relatively small and mobile. What sometimes happens is (some of) these companies will effectively migrate south of the border.” In a CVCA release issued earlier this year, Nathan, who is managing director of Kensington Capital Partners, said: “Virtually all the growth in our markets has been driven by the increased investments made by U.S. venture firms extending their reach into Canada.”

life sciences firms continued to reap investment dollars in Canada last year, second only to money going into the information technology sector (see story at left). Investment in life sciences by venture capitalists,

Over at Genesys Capital Partners, Kelly Holman has another perspective. The managing director of Genesys, whose entire VC portfolio is geared to biosciences, agrees there is a need for a strong domestic investment sector, particularly to fund later-stage science companies “where it is much more competitive.”

labour funds, and similar

But he sees no “hollowing out” of life sciences firms. And he is impressed that “very sophisticated investors” from the U.S. and elsewhere believe there is “real value” in putting their VC money into Canada. It’s true they may demand that key management at VC-recipient firms be American. But they still want to invest here, he says.

in 70 companies was up

Here’s the backdrop to this discussion. More than $630 million in new capital from both domestic and foreign VC sources went to biosciences firms last year. That’s nicely up by 23 per cent from the previous year’s total of $514 million, according to the figures compiled for the CVCA by Thomson Financial. Much of that gain is due to U.S. venture capital investors who increasingly look north to Canadian enterprises, such as cleantech, information technology, and life sciences. U.S. investment activity amounted to 41 per cent of all VC dollars in Canada last year and more than half the investment funds invested in Ontario. On the other hand, Canadian VC firms once again saw less capital raised from pension, insurance and other sources. VC firms secured $1.2 billion last year, compared to $1.64 billion the year before. That’s a drop of more than 25 per cent in new capital going to all tech sectors, including life sciences. For life sciences, an aggravating factor is that only a handful of Canadian VC companies – Genesys among them – fund biosciences. Genesys was one of the successful companies getting new capital from pension funds, notes Holman. He adds that part of the funding gap has been filled by provincial and federal innovation money.

sources totalled $633 million. This investment 23 per cent from the total in 2006, said CVCA, the country’s venture capital and private equity association. While U.S. investment was up, a continued distressing sign is that Canadian VC money again declined – down to $1.19 billion, from $1.64 billion the year before.

Holman believes that Canada does need “a vibrant early-stage venture platform.” He thinks that Ontario’s innovation strategy, in particular, has worked well in providing more research monies than were available in past years. And in general, his perspective is that the Canadian life sciences industry and Canadians at large “shouldn’t get spooked by foreign money coming in to Canada. “ n 

The new Health and Biosciences Research Complex at Brock University will be a ‘green’ centre where plants are converted into ‘factories’ to make drug molecules and products, says the university’s president Jack N. Lightstone. The complex, funded in part by more than $30 million in provincial government infrastructure money, will be joined by the Centre of Innovation for Biomanufacturing. The two will be part of a Niagara cluster dedicated to biofactories and health and wellness, said Lightstone. The centre will include research labs, classrooms, greenhouse facilities and an incubator to nurture bioscience and healthrelated firms.

OCE Discovery 2008

Innovation Showcase 08

Date: May 12-13, 2008 Time: 8:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.  Location: Toronto Metro Convention Centre City: Toronto For more information: visit www.ocediscovery.com

Date: June 5-6, 2008 Time: 7:00 p.m.  Location: McMaster University City: Hamilton For more information: visit http://milo.mcmaster.ca/showcase

Innovations in Healthcare IT Breakfast 2008

The 2008 TBI Golf Classic

Date: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Time: 7:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon  Location: IBM Toronto Software Labs, Amphitheatre, 8200 Warden Ave. City: Markham For more information: visit http://www.yorkbiotech.ca/breakfast.php

Date: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 Location: Copper Creek Golf Club City: Kleinburg For more information: visit www.ontbi.org/2008TBIGolfClassic

n This year’s all-day research conference down, next year’s event already developing a profile.

A Healthy Future

Brock’s new ‘green’ world

Events listing

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That’s one result coming out of Hamilton’s second annual Health Research in the City conference, held February 6. This year’s theme was Brain and Bugs. Next year’s will be themed Health, Genes and Environment. More than 275 participants took part in the conference at Hamilton Convention Centre. Feedback obtained from the event showed that delegates found the day met their expectations and also led to their gaining new knowledge from panels and related sessions. Among comments received were these two: “Excellent topics – panel presentations related very well to each other.” and “Enjoyed the diversity of presentations.” A report prepared by Daniela Bianco, research liaison officer at the Office of Integrated Research Services, Hamilton Health Services, noted that “the desire to continue planning an annual conference bodes well for Hamilton and its research community in that it is indicative of the need for exploring opportunities to interact and create synergies between research groups.” While the event did not make money, planners hope that the 2009 conference will turn a profit and aim to get more sponsorship funding. n

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

Graphic Design: Nadia DiTraglia