Processes (Case Studies)
Automation		Laboratory Research Equipment
Production Equipment and Fixturing		Electronic Devices
Motion Systems		Space Related Hardware
Laboratory Animal Care Equipment

Custom Medical Device and Laboratory Automation Solutions: Prosolia, Analytical Chemistry Tools - Enhanced Diabetes Research Equipment - Cancer, Stem Cell and Diabetes Research Equipment

Prosolia -- Analytical Chemistry Tools

For the past six months, Techshot has been providing new product development assistance to Prosolia, Inc., a fully integrated life sciences company that develops, manufactures, and markets revolutionary analytical chemistry tools that enhance and expand the use of mass spectrometers.

Prosolia was established in 2003 to commercialize technology arising from the laboratory of Purdue University Professor R. Graham Cooks, Ph.D. The company's first product line, Omni Spray® Ion Sources, utilizes the ambient ionization technology known as desorption electrospray ionization (DESI).

DESI, is a simple, sensitive, gentle, and versatile ionization method that allows for the direct and rapid sampling of surfaces without any sample preparation.

Last month DESI was the hero of an installment of the popular television series CSI: Miami, when it proved to be the critical technology needed to "crack the case" in an episode that aired November 24.

Among the tasks Techshot has performed are design changes which enable use of the Omni Spray® Ion System with a variety of mass spectrometer models, and work on other proprietary Prosolia products expected to hit the market soon.

 

For more information about Prosolia, please visit: www.Prosolia.com.

 

 

 

 

 

National Institutes of Health -- Enhanced Diabetes Research Equipment

In March 2008, Techshot was awarded $1 million by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop new automated laboratory equipment useful in diabetes research and treatment. The two-year PhaseII Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant follows a $100,000 Phase I SBIR award earned by Techshot in 2007, which proved the applicability of quadrupole magnetic sorting (QMS)to diabetes treatment. Techshot is fulfilling the role of engineering and product development partner to IKOTECH, LLC, a company that holds rights to the QMS patents and is seeking to commercialize the technology.

"We are very excited to be continuing our work with Techshot on this new application," said IKOTECH President David Kennedy. "This collaborative project brings together a number of world-renowned institutions to tackle the problem of type 1 diabetes."

Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease where the patient's ability to produce insulin and regulate his or her blood sugar has been compromised. It can lead to serious complications including cardiovascular disease, kidney failure, retinal damage (leading to blindness), nerve damage, and diabetic induced coma. Other complications may include microvascular damage leading to poor healing of wounds and, in many cases, amputation of the feet.

The disease is commonly treated by blood glucose monitoring and insulin injections resulting in multiple needle sticks per day, but a practical cure to juvenile diabetes currently does not exist.

Among the hopes for curing type 1 diabetes is the transplantation of Islets of Langerhans ("islets"for short) from the pancreas of an organ donor to the liver (or other suitable organ) of the recipient. Pancreatic islets are the clusters of cells found in the pancreas that produce insulin and regulate blood sugar levels. Islet transplantation has been shown to restore insulin production and blood sugar regulation in patients participating in clinical studies.

However, successful diabetes reversal in clinical trials typically requires two, three, or more donor organs per recipient, and donated organs already are in short supply. The primary goal of QMS is to obtain a higher yield of high quality, viable islets from a donor pancreas (human cadaver or pig) to improve the transplantation process. Current methods result in inadequate yield, viability, purity and reproducibility.

Medical researchers at the University of Minnesota began exploring magnetic separation of pig islets following a publication from the Netherlands in which rat islets were found to take up magnetic particles, which responded to magnetic extraction. After conducting initial studies, the medical researchers invited Techshot to provide instrumentation and engineering support to further the separations process.

Using a QMS device originally designed by Techshot for smaller-scale separations, researchers proved that magnetically labeled islets could be purified by QMS. And when transplanted, the magnetically labeled islets were capable of restoring insulin production in small laboratory animals.

The recent $1 million NIH award will be used to construct new QMS equipment that can purify islets on the larger scale required for human transplants, which will be proven in pig studies in the laboratory. Using QMS technology it finally may be possible to use only a single donor organ to treat each transplant recipient.

Techshot will utilize its expertise in the design of integrated systems, including a team of mechanical, electrical, and software engineers, to develop the automated system and disposable single-use components. The company will contract with researchers at Indiana University and at the University of Minnesota to magnetize and digest pig pancreas tissue for QMS purification studies. The university researchers also will assay the viability, yield and biological activity of the purified islets.

"Techshot's systems-level approach, integrating mechanical, electrical, and software design with its scientific capabilities, is a perfect match for IKOTECH's needs," said Kennedy. "The University of Minnesota is a global leader in pancreatic islet transplantation, and Indiana University adds a more local but very capable team to help solve this problem. Altogether we have an excellent set of collaborators to help us solve the problems associated with this application."

Depending on the outcome, clinical trials may be initiated at selected institutions to which IKOTECH, LLC will plan to sell FDA-qualified QMS islet purification systems and services.

"The Phase I research already has garnered the attention of Fortune 500 companies for IKOTECH," added Kennedy. "I'm hopeful that someday soon QMS technology routinely will be utilized as a component of the ultimate solution to type 1 diabetes."

Do you need to develop complex automated laboratory equipment but don't have all the required resources? Contact Techshot's Rich Boling and tell him what you're up against. Our team of mechanical, electrical and software engineers and technicians - plus our Ph.D. biophysicist - are ready for you.

 

IKOTECH, LLC -- Cancer, Stem Cell and Diabetes Research Equipment

As with the old parable of the blind men and the elephant, you may get very different answers if you ask an assortment of Techshot customers what kind of company they've hired.

"…Techshot is a process automation company."
"…it's medical device company."
"…it's a laboratory automation company."
"…a NASA space hardware contractor."
"…they're a defense electronics company."
"…it develops custom laboratory animal care and use equipment."

Such responses are common…and each is correct.

Ask IKOtech, LLC about Techshot and you may hear it described as a company specializing in the development of custom medical devices and laboratory equipment.

For nearly three years, Techshot has been helping further technologies related to nine patents that IKOtech licensed from the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and The Ohio State University.

An assemblage of mostly off-the-shelf components on a bench top at the university has proven that it's possible to quickly and gently isolate desired biological cells with a quadrupole magnetic sorter (QMS). Separations are achieved by labeling the targeted cells in a mixed cell population with magnetic nanoparticles and sorting them based on their resulting magnetic properties. The process has broad applications, but is especially helpful in stem cell, cancer and diabetes research. From the beginning, IKOtech has relied on Techshot to refine each component and every process while integrating it all into one easy to use automated system. The company's engineers and scientists not only are developing the capitalized laboratory equipment portion, but also the sterile disposable flow channels and tube sets that each experiment requires. Second-generation prototypes of the QMS, IKOtech's flagship product, were tested at the University of Minnesota, Ohio State and the Cleveland Clinic with promising results. Third-generation prototypes, also developed by Techshot, currently are in beta test at several other Midwest locations. Although the initial market for QMS is the research industry, applications are being developed for it that will meet four needs in the clinical arena:

" The positive or negative selection of hematopoietic stem cells from peripheral blood for transplant as cancer therapeutics; " The enrichment of rare cancer cells from circulating blood and bone marrow samples through the depletion of T-cells to aid in rapid cancer diagnostics; " The depletion of alloreactive T-cells from bone marrow samples as part of a stem cell transplant for cancer therapeutics; and " The positive selection of pancreatic islets from digested pancreatic tissue for transplant into individuals with Type 1 diabetes. Techshot's services uniquely meet IKOtech's hardware development needs. While many contract engineering and product development companies can provide some combination of mechanical or electrical or software engineering services, few maintain a staff that includes all three disciplines.

Techshot's unique ability to integrate these disciplines with in-house scientific and regulatory capability under its ISO 9001-compliant design configuration control system allows it to develop products that are designed and documented to meet the FDA regulatory requirements for good design practices. Techshot's innovative use of novel pumping technologies, cost-effective injection molding and extruding processes, computer controlled automation, and a custom software user interface have significantly improved IKOtech's QMS product line. Besides the bench-top machine itself, IKOtech also will market the system's associated disposables, reagent kits and protocols. Development of a second IKOtech product also is underway, with beta testing expected to begin next summer. For additional information about QMS, to inquire about IKOtech investment opportunities, or to learn more about how Techshot's services have added value to IKOtech, please contact David Kennedy, the company's president.