| With a synthetic molecule invented by Mosaic Technologies, medical researchers can identify pathogens such as hepatitis and HIV in blood samples with greater accuracy and in a fraction of the time the process took three years ago. And without ENG's Photonics Center as a partner, the company's groundbreaking chemistry might never have made it to market. |  Mike Woehler, president and chief executive officer of Mosiac Technologies, believes that the partnership with the Photonics Center helped Mosaic beat competitors to the market. |
| Mosaic Technologies is the first company to announce its emergence from the Photonics Center's incubator program for high-tech start-ups. The medical test equipment firm, now based in Waltham, Massachusetts, is off to a strong start. During its four-year partnership with the Photonics Center, Mosaic grew from four to thirty employees, secured more than $6 million in venture capital funding, and landed a distribution deal for its first product, a molecule called Acrydite.
"Our partnership with the Photonics Center provided us with access to laboratories, equipment, and support-resources that are difficult and costly for a developing technology company to acquire on its own," says Michael E. Woehler, president and CEO. "It gave us a considerable advantage in developing our product prototypes."
Mosaic Technologies was founded in 1994 by Christopher Adams, a former senior technical associate at MIT, who with fellow MIT researchers Stephen Kron and Chris Boles invented a new way to screen DNA for mutations. They found that by creating a molecule that could adhere to a solid surface and thus anchor other molecules, called oligonucleotides, that attract and bind to specific DNA mutations, many pathogens could be detected in blood samples simultaneously, as well as more quickly and with less contamination than with current processes. A laser is used to examine the surface, making even a single strand of mutant DNA detectable.
Once Adams could prove that his concept worked, he raised $500,000 from private investors and was given incubator space at the Photonics Center, where he and his colleagues began working with faculty members. Combining the Photonics Center's engineering expertise with Mosaic's original idea for the molecule, the group made two prototypes. In early 1998, Mosaic began licensing Acrydite to research laboratories worldwide.
The company is now developing a diagnostic instrument that will allow medical practitioners to use Acrydite to test donated blood for eleven different forms of bacteria. The product, called Hybrigel, will have profound implications for the safety of the world's blood resources, says Adams, and should be on the market in 2001.
"Blood donations aren't tested for bacteria now because the process takes two days and the life of the blood platelets is at most five days," he says. "The new product would let the Acrydite chemistry be used to test the platelets for bacteria in much less time." Adams estimates that the market for screening blood has the potential for $100 million in annual revenue.
"Right now, there is no competition in that market, so the opportunity it represents for us is incredible," he says. The market for DNA screening technology in general is competitive, however. In fact, Adams believes that had it not been for Mosaic's partnership with the Photonics Center, another company probably would have come up with a product similar to Acrydite first. "Our growth would have been seriously retarded," he says. "There are at least a dozen companies trying to develop similar technology."
The Photonics Center enters partnerships with investors and industrial start-ups, turning emerging high-tech concepts, particularly those employing laser and fiber-optic technology, into commercial products. The partnerships give the start- ups laboratory space and the opportunity to interact with faculty and advanced students. There are now seven companies in the center's incubator. As part of its partnership with Mosaic, BU has an undisclosed equity share in the company.
"It's wonderful to see Mosaic move forward from the prototyping stage to having an actual product going into clinical trials," says Shawn Burke, deputy director of the Photonics Center. "This is external validation that not only is there a niche for its product, but that the market believes in the company's ability to execute the idea.
"That's one of the ways the center helps companies," Burke continues. "We reduce the business risks associated with the execution of the development program. And that gives a big boost to the company in attracting investors." 
Further information about the Photonics Center and its partners is available at http://www.bu.edu/photonics. |
