AIAS Fellow Tomasz K. Wojdacz behind MethylDetect ApS company – an Aarhus University spin-out
From research to commercialization? AIAS Fellow Tomasz K. Wojdacz and collaborator Lise Lotte Hansen from the Dept. of Biomedicine have taken their research into another level by making cancer detection tests based on the technology they developed available for everyday use in research laboratories. They do not stop there, but now aim to introduce those tests to in-vitro diagnostics in the near future.
It is much easier for a small knowledge intensive company to start out as a university spin-out. The company MethylDetect ApS is a spin-out from Aarhus University. Hear co-founders Associate Professor, AIAS Fellow Tomasz K. Wojdacz and Associate Professor Lise Lotte Hansen from the Dept. of Biomedicine talk about the advantages and the help they have received from the Corporate Relations and Technology Transfer Office at Aarhus University in the short video (partly in English; partly in Danish).
Investment manager Steen Palle who represents Borean Innovation A/S, an investment environment company that invested in MethylDetect, explains why it is necessary that universities contribute in creating high tech knowledge intensive companies.
What is Methyl(ation)detect(ion)?
DNA Methylation is a mechanism of the gene expression regulation and the changes of methylation contribute to most diseases, including e.g. cancer. The company MethylDetect commercializes a method (named Methylation Sensitive High Resolution Melting, MS-HRM) that allows fast and sensitive detection of methylation changes.
Currently, the company offers ready-to-use tests* available for a growing number of specific genes implicated in cancer development and progression. The tests can be performed by using standard laboratory equipment, what makes Methyl Detect’s products easy to adapt in a majority of laboratories. In the future, MethylDetect aims to enter also the in-vitro diagnostic market with those tests.
* for research use only
See more about the company at www.methyldetect.com
Contact
Tomasz K. Wojdacz, Associate Professor, AIAS Fellow
Mobile: +45 40289007
E-mail: wojdacz@biomed.au.dk