A team from the i3S, three researchers - Maria Inês Almeida, Susana Santos, and Inês Alencastre - and two members of the Institute's Technology Transfer Unit - Sofia Esteves, and Bárbara Macedo - were selected to participate in this year's COHiTEC program. The team, called MyRNA Diagnostics - Translating Molecular Biomarkers to Disease Diagnosis, which also included a member of the Porto Business School, Kshitij Khode, presented a business idea based on a kit intended to diagnose depression through a blood test.
«The diagnosis of depression is currently based on clinical interviews that are subjective and depend on a good relationship between doctor and patient. Mental health care providers feel the need to use specific and sensitive methods to improve the percentage of patients with depression (of which there are over 300 million worldwide) who receiving effective treatment (less than 50%)», says Inês Almeida, one of the researchers who is from the i3S.
«MyRNA Depression Diagnostics», says Susana Santos, «is a kit to detect and quantify a specific panel of molecular biomarkers in a blood sample, which allows a quantitative diagnosis and a better monitoring of the disease». Compared to clinical interviews, which are subjective, Inês Alencastre adds, «our product does not depend on the operator or the patient's cognitive abilities. The results are analyzed by an algorithm and are provided within 24 to 48 hours after blood collection. The solution allows clinicians to base their therapeutic decisions on a quantifiable biological test, decreasing excessive prescribing, improving diagnostic accuracy and allowing disease monitoring during therapy».
With regard to the fact that the MyRNA Diagnostics project was chosen by the COHiTEC Program, it means for researcher Susana Santos, that «the project has the possibility to reach the market and those who need it most - the patients». Basically, adds Inês Alencastre, «we have been chosen to validate the commercial potential of the research project being developed and the way we write our proposal».
COHiTEC, says Maria Inês Almeida, «has allowed us to acquire tools to transform the technology and knowledge that we have acquired in the laboratory into a product with economic viability. In addition to acquiring knowledge in marketing, finance and intellectual property, it has helped us to improve the way we communicate the science we do outside the scientific community». In addition to business development, «we have learned how to do the financial part and how to explain to non-scientists what we do. We learnt to see what we do from different angles: What do non-scientists find interesting? Do you think you have the potential to go further? Do you see how important it is?», adds Susana Santos. Ines Alencastre concludes: «In COHiTEC I learned to consider a possible market for my research».
For Sofia Esteves and Bárbara Macedo, members of the i3S Technology Transfer Unit, who were also part of the MyRNA Diagnostics team, participating in the COHiTEC program was «an excellent opportunity and a challenge». «It allowed us to consolidate skills we’ve gained through our experience in the Technology Transfer Unit, as well as to have contact with new thematic areas in the financial area and the development of business plans«, they explained. The program, they add, «is intense and demanding, making it a unique and enriching experience».
After this stage, Maria Inês Almeida says the next objective is «to continue working so that we can put our product on the market as soon as possible».
The COHiTEC Program
The COHiTEC Program is an initiative of COTEC Portugal - Business Association for Innovation and was created in 2004 with the objective of supporting the participants in the evaluation of the commercial potential of the products or services resulting from technologies that have been developed and increasing the participants skills in entrepreneurship and commercialization of technologies. In essence, this is a training course in the commercialization of technologies, which aims to support the valuation of knowledge produced in national R&D institutions.
Throughout the program, participants have access to training in areas relevant to the commercialization of their technologies. For example; generation of product and service ideas, industrial property, finance, legal matters, development of business models, preparation of a business plan, etc.
The program's approach is hands-on, which means that researchers apply their lessons to their technology proposals and with the support of management students and mentors, develop a business project which is then presented publicly at the end of the program. The program is supported by Caixa Geral de Depósitos and Caixa Capital, and in partnership with Porto Business School, the New School of Business and Economics, and Professors from the North American universities of North Carolina State, Brown, and Rutgers. Since its inception, 180 projects have participated in the COHiTEC program, with a total of 928 participants, including researchers, management students and mentors. The business projects supported by COTEC have given rise to 37 technology-based companies, which have received approximately 39 million euros of financing to date.