ITI sees first return from publicly funded project

Edinburgh Instruments makes a range of devices, including lasers (above).

The product, NanoTaurus, is a tool for drug discovery screening and assay development. ITI owns rights to certain core elements of the technology and associated intellectual property used in NanoTaurus, which were developed during a 17-month ITI programme that ended in June 2006. Edinburgh Instruments licensed this technology in February 2007

Eleanor Mitchell, Managing Director of ITI Life Sciences, said the sale of the NanoTaurus instrument represents an important milestone for ITI Life Sciences. “It demonstrates for the first time a completed cycle of the ITI model: an opportunity in cell screening was identified, from which an ITI research programme was developed and valuable intellectual assets resulted.”

“These assets were licensed out and further developed through commercial research into a product, the sale of which generates a royalty stream back into ITI Scotland. The process makes use of research expertise and business skills resident in Scotland and indicates the future potential value that can be created by the ITI model.”

Des Smith, Chairman and CEO of Edinburgh Instruments, said, “The NanoTaurus is being used in an ongoing research project with Dundee University to create protein kinase assays without the use of radioactive markers, producing advantages in speed, cost, processing steps, safety and waste disposal. We are also working with Edinburgh University to detect single base mutations in a DNA nanoswitch, which will have potential applications in immunoassay development and clinical diagnostics ultimately revealing fundamentals of gene selection.”