BOSTON, Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Minds, a pre-seed investment corporation specializing in early stage university business ventures, has partnered with the University of Missouri-Columbia to establish a faculty start-up company to bring new breast cancer screening technology to the market.
Allied Minds is making its first major investment at MU to create LifeScreen, Inc., http://www.LifeScreeninc.com. The partnership will aid in the development of the technology and market it to hospitals and clinics around the world.
“Cancer screening technology saves lives,” said Mark Pritchard, founder of Allied Minds. “We can think of no better investment than for the advancement of early cancer detection systems and making these products readily available to the medical centers that need them.”
The new technology works non-invasively by analyzing breast fluid for early warning signs of cancer. Ninety-nine percent of breast cancer forms in the cells lining the milk ducts, according to Ed Sauter, MU professor of surgical oncology and one of the inventors of the new technology. Those cells slough off and can be retrieved by collecting breast fluid. The fluid is then analyzed for two related carbohydrates that are generally present when a person has cancer and absent in people who do not have cancer.
The newly formed LifeScreen, Inc. has exclusive license of the technology. In exchange, MU will gain equity in the company and royalties on sales when the product becomes commercially available. As the first step, LifeScreen will sponsor research at MU to validate the original findings by Sauter and co-inventors Tom Quinn, professor of biochemistry, and Sue Deutscher, associate professor of biochemistry.
“This allows MU to commercialize an invention of our faculty and form a start-up company right here, so the generation of wealth and job creation stays in the state of Missouri to help boost the economy,” said Mike Nichols, director of technology management and industry relations at MU.
About Allied Minds, Inc.
Allied Minds is a pre-seed investment company creating partnerships with key universities to fund corporate spin-offs resulting from successful early stage technology research. By providing corporate development support as well as finance, Allied Minds aims to guide early stage companies to commercial success, thereby generating value for all stakeholders. For additional information, logon to http://www.alliedminds.com.
Source: Allied Minds, Inc.
