REVOLUTIONARY RESEARCH TO SHOWCASE IN YORK

Two North Yorkshire companies will be in York next week, competing for an award worth £2,000 to assist them in their bioscience ventures.

The companies, Paraytec Ltd based in York and Nature’s Laboratory of Whitby, are two of five short listed bio-companies that will be presenting their research and its associated commercial potential during a special Technology Showcase at this year’s White Rose Bioscience Forum to be held in York next week.

The Technology Showcase is run by Connect Yorkshire, the organisation which primes technology companies for growth, and gives the brightest new bioscience talent from the region the chance to vie for a £2,000 award, sponsored by Bioscience York.

Each company will be presenting to a panel of experts at the event, held at the Central Science Laboratory, York. The presenters represent the very best of emerging bioscience from Yorkshire and the Humber and will explain how exactly they plan to become successful new businesses of the future.

Paraytec, a University of York spin-out company, first participated in the White Rose Bioscience Forum two years ago. The company has developed a patented miniaturised analytical detection system for liquid samples. The system uses capillaries the width of a human hair to carry the sample through a beam of UV light, then capturing and processing the images using an active pixel sensor similar to the technology used in digital cameras and mobile phones. The ActiPix imaging detector allows scientists to “see” a complex reaction taking place in real time, and to quantify the components.

Carolyn Parkinson, CEO of Paraytec, said: “Our technology has the potential to completely transform UV-vis absorbance detection, one of the most widely used analytical techniques in the world.

“We’re currently establishing direct sales and distributor networks for our first products which were launched in July 2006, as well as aiming to establish collaborative development with other commercial partners.”

She added: “It is a real honour to be invited to participate in the showcase two years after our first appearance at the meeting. The success of securing investment following our previous presentation means that we are very happy to return and update the forum on how far the business has progressed in the interim – with the successful launch of our ActiPix D100 imaging detector being a particular highlight.”

James Fearnley, managing director of Whitby-based Nature’s Laboratory, has indeed gone back to nature in an effort to find solutions to the many problems associated with modern medicine, particularly bacterial resistance. “Modern, drug-based medicine is at a crossroads,” he said. “We cannot invent new strains of antibiotics quick enough, as bugs can mutate and adapt to whatever the industry develops – witness the increasing threat of MRSA1. Yet most modern medicines have their origins in the natural world. The beehive is one of nature’s most remarkable laboratories converting plant material into a range of extraordinarily complex foods and medicines. “

Bees collect and process resins from trees and plants to form propolis, a highly complex chemical package which can contain up to 300 different chemicals and has been found to have antibiotic anti-inflammatory and anti-fungal properties. It is propolis that provides the bee colony with its immune protection system.

James Fearnley explained, “We are taking this natural material and by using the latest advances in analytical science, including nuclear magnet resonance, giving the material a standardised identity.

“Using propolis with a known chemical profile, we have extended our programme of clinical trials to look at the effectiveness of propolis being used to treat, among others, skin diseases such as eczema and psoriasis, respiratory problems including asthma and bronchitis, treatment of wounds and MRSA, immune deficiency diseases such as HIV/AIDS, as well as Alzheimer’s disease and a variety of dental problems.”

The company has been supporting a number of AIDS/HIV programmes in Central and Eastern Africa for many years, and is now undertaking clinical trials to assess the value of propolis in conjunction with anti retroviral drugs in both Zambia and Tanzania.

Nick Butler, executive director of Connect Yorkshire, said: “Businesses like Nature’s Laboratory and Paraytec are at the leading edge of medical advances. Having them based in Yorkshire is great news for the region and the UK as a whole.”

The Technology Showcase award will be presented to the most promising business proposition by Gareth Lloyd-Jones of Bioscience York, on Wednesday 1 November.