CONNECT YORKSHIRE SMELL A WINNER

The very best of Yorkshire and the Humber’s bioscience companies battled it out this week for a £2,000 award at the White Rose Bioscience Forum, the region’s flagship bioscience event.

The five short listed bio-entrepreneurs presented their research and its associated commercial potential during a special Technology Showcase run by Connect Yorkshire, the organisation which primes technology companies for growth and investment.

After much deliberation by the panel of judges - Tony Robards of the University of York, Malcolm Skingle of GlaxoSmithKline, Cathy Prescott of Avlar Bioventures, Peter Harrison of Walker Morris and David Garnett of Harrison Goddard Foote - it was Scensive Technologies that walked away with the £2,000 award, sponsored by Bioscience York.

Presenting the award to Tim Gibson of Scensive Technologies, Gareth Lloyd-Jones, chair of Science City York, said: “I am greatly impressed by the talent and technologies on display here at the Technology Showcase.”

The company, based in Normanton, West Yorkshire, has developed a non-invasive, multi-application diagnostic tool for the medical industry. The BloodhoundTM electronic nose is capable of seeking out subtle scents often indistinguishable to the human nose, as part of the global campaign to diagnose TB and cancer. The instrument works by detecting scent molecules either directly from the infection, as in TB, or changes triggered by the body for diseases such as cancer. These odours are picked up by highly sensitive sensors and analysed by a software system trained to recognise the source from a database of complex odours.

The other four taking part were: AGT Sciences, which has developed a unique hydrogel to solve a range of life science problems; Josephine Bunch from the University of Sheffield, who gave a presentation on her research in the bimolecular mass spectrometry field; Nature’s Laboratory, which has formulated a method of standardising highly complex natural products for medicinal use, and Paraytec, which has patented analytical detection technology that has a range of applications in industry and research.

Connect Yorkshire’s executive director Nick Butler said: “The depth and breadth of bioscience talent on display at our Technology Showcase reflects the wealth of talent in the region as a whole. This event confirms our belief that this type of Forum is an ideal way to bring together the bioscience community.”

Release Date: 2/11/06