Life-sciences expands

Life-sciences expands

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By Beth Wade Friday, 12 June 2009

The possibility that a scientist could discover the cure for cancer in Georgetown became a reality when Molecular Templates, Inc. made the decision to relocate from Canada to the Texas Life-Sciences Collaboration Center at 111 Cooperative Way, Ste. 200. The company, founded by researchers at the University of Toronto and the Ontario Cancer Institute, researches compounds that treat melanoma and is expected to begin human clinical trials in the next 18 months, Molecular Templates CEO Eric Poma said. Scientists are also looking into additional therapies for a variety of other cancers.

Intralink-Spine LLC biomedical engineer Justin Toungate • Photo by Matt Painter

“We work on bacterial toxins, which are naturally produced by bacteria and are very toxic to human cells, and we have been altering those toxins so that they are not toxic to human cells, but to human cancer cells,” Poma said.

Molecular Templates announced its move to Georgetown in April and moved into the center June 1. Poma and two others, including one of the company’s founders, will work at the center. Poma said the company will also hire one or two technicians.

“We will start a process, probably in July or so, to start recruiting for one tech position, maybe more,” he said. “We are anxious to draw from the local talent both for full-time positions as well as possibly for internships.”

The company received funding from venture capitalists Santé Ventures of Austin, which wanted Molecular Templates nearby, TLCC Executive Director Russ Peterman said. The lower costs for space, Georgetown’s quality of life and the collaboration center itself drew the company to Georgetown, he said.

TLCC

The concept for the life-sciences center began as a dream five and a half years ago, Georgetown Chamber of Commerce President Mel Pendland said at the company’s announcement in April. The center opened in November 2007 with three member companies: Radix BioSolutions, Intralink-Spine LLC and Quantum Logic Devices.

Since that time, Deaton Engineering, Inc. and Turnco Tool & Instrument, Inc., have joined the center, and Peterman said TLCC is still actively recruiting companies. With its structure, the center could handle 15 to 20 small companies.

Originally, the center bore the name Texas Life-Sciences Commercialization Center because of its focus on businesses that were in the post-incubation stage, but were still small and beginning to commercialize their products or services.

“In a nutshell, the idea is that we recruit young companies that have a lot of potential, and we nurture them for anywhere from one to three years in the center and help them with financing, business plans or with commercializing that product or service,” Peterman said. “Then they begin to grow and they move out of the center, but stay in Georgetown and create jobs and more and more critical mass for technology businesses.”

The name was changed later to reflect the nature of the center as a true collaboration when seeking nonprofit status, Peterman said.

“TLCC is a nonprofit so there is no profit motive for the center itself, but the companies that we recruit are certainly for-profit companies,” he said.

While the center is meant to nurture and accelerate companies so they can expand into their own space in the Georgetown area and create new jobs, the goal is to see companies collaborate, he said. One day, one company could be working on something, go across the hall and share a technique with another company that could lead to a breakthrough.

“We are looking at a broad array of technology businesses, but they all have some life-sciences connection,” Peterman said.

The idea was brought before the city council in 2007, and the group approved funding totaling $250,000 for the first three years of operation at TLCC. Southwestern University and the chamber of commerce are providing other funds for three years as well.

“More and more we are focusing on how [to] finance TLCC going forward,” Peterman said. “The consensus is that the original founders — the city, chamber and university — will probably continue to contribute, but more and more, we want TLCC to be self-sustaining.”

Southwestern’s involvement

One way to receive funding is through government and private grants.

The center received a $461,340 grant through Southwestern from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-District 31, who has said that the center will put the biotech industry on the “edge of a miracle,” presented the grant in April.

The money will be used to purchase equipment for three new labs, including a wet lab; tissue culture lab, which was built specifically for Molecular Templates; and a nanotech clean room. The labs will be accessible to all member companies; however, Molecular Templates will be the first to use the wet and tissue culture labs.

Wet labs can be expensive to construct because they require special ventilation, equipment and utility hook-ups, said Martin Gonzalez, TLCC advisory council member and associate professor of biology at Southwestern.

Not only will the center provide these facilities for its member companies, he said, it will bring more educational opportunities to Southwestern students and faculty.

Through its partnership with the center, students and faculty members will have access to the equipment and internship opportunities will be available.

“[TLCC] is an important resource for Southwestern University and not just for the students,” Gonzalez said. “In a more indirect way, the center provides a resource for faculty as well.”

While some of the equipment is not available in labs at Southwestern, other pieces are, Gonzalez said. But even though the school may already have a piece of equipment, having a “backup” just a few miles away is a valuable resource, especially if equipment malfunctions and critical research is in danger of being lost, he said.

The benefit of the extra lab space will allow researchers and scientists from both TLCC and Southwestern to come together to discuss research projects and science in general, he said.

“As companies come in, they bring specialists who speak the lingo,” Gonzalez said. “Molecular Templates looks at discovering and establishing effective cancer therapies, and we have three biology faculty members here doing cancer research.”

The labs could also provide a revenue stream for the center, Peterman said.

Texas Life-Sciences Collaboration Center program companies

Texas Life-Sciences Collaboration Center • TLCC • www.texaslifesciences.com • 864-1891

  • Deaton Engineering, Inc.
    • Founded: 1991
    • Founder: James “Ed” Deaton
    • Joined the center: April 2008
    • About: Deaton Engineering is a full-service engineering firm and offers a variety of solutions and services to a broad range of industries with a focus on turnkey engineering and product development services for the life-sciences industries. These services range from mechanical, electrical and process engineering to engineering and design of medical equipment, instruments and devices.
  • Intralink-Spine LLC
    • Founded: 2005
    • Founder: Thomas Hedman, Ph.D.
    • Joined the center: Aug. 10, 2007
    • About: The company was formed to develop, manufacture and sell a tissue revitalization reagent that can be injected into the spinal disk. The solution not only eases pain, but will treat the core problem of lower back pain — the destabilization of the lower back itself, President/CEO Eric Hauck said.
  • Molecular Templates
    • Founded: 2000 in Toronto
    • Founders: Leigh Revers, Ph.D. and Jean Gariepy, Ph.D.
    • Joined the center: June 1
    • About: The company developed a therapy for melanoma that could begin human clinical trials in 18 months and is researching therapies for other cancers.
  • Quantum Logic Devices
    • Founded: Fall 2000
    • Founder: Louis C. Brousseau, Ph.D.
    • Joined the center: Fall 2007
    • About: The company uses nanotechnology for an electronic medical diagnostic. The technology is used to help in diagnoses and has applications in biological research.
  • Radix BioSolutions
    • Founded: 2001
    • Founder: Kerry Oliver, Ph.D.
    • Joined the center: 2007
    • About: Radix BioSolutions develops chemicals and testing mechanisms for pharmaceutical companies to help them discover and test their drugs effectively and efficiently.
  • Turnco Tool & Instrument, Inc.
    • Founded: 1981
    • Founders: Grandville Turner and Sandra Griffin
    • Joined the center: 2008
    • About: Turnco Tool & Instrument, Inc. creates surgical instruments and orthopedic implants, and also services the aerospace and research and development industries.

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