Page 4 - Periodic Issue 02

Spinning Out

Success

The Department of Chemistry has an unrivalled track record in protecting and commercialising the
innovative work of research staff. Millions of pounds have been raised for the University as a result of spin-
out activities based on research carried out by Oxford chemists. This success has been made possible in part
through a partnership with IP2IPO, a company specialising in the commercialisation of university intellectual
property rights. This partnership was described by the Financial Times as ‘the way universities should be
financed in the future’.

OxSyBio (2014 onwards)
1 2 This new company has been set up to develop 3D printing
techniques which can be used to produce synthetic materials
for wound healing and drug delivery. The 3D droplet printing
technology devised by Professor Hagan Bayley’s group is already
able to print tissue-like materials from thousands of tiny water
droplets, each coated in a thin film mimicking a living cell’s external
membrane, and studded with protein pores so that they act like
simplified cells. Electrical impulses can be transmitted through the
networks of droplets in a similar way to cells in the nervous system.
In the longer term the company aims to develop a printer that can
create synthetic tissues for organ repair or replacement.

1 Sequence showing droplet network folding into hollow ball
c.400 microns across [Oxford University/G Villar]

2 Droplet networks c.1 millimetre in diameter encapsulated
inside an oil drop [Oxford University/G Villar]

A revolution in pH measurement HydRegen (pre-spinout)
Professor Richard Compton’s group at Both research and industrial
the University of Oxford has developed chemists are increasingly looking
the world’s first calibration-free pH meter, to natural enzymes to assist in
representing the first major advance chemical synthesis because in
in pH measurement for 80 years. This general these processes are
groundbreaking technology was patented cleaner, more energy-efficient and
and then licensed by Isis Innovation (the generate less waste. One of the key
technology transfer arm of the University enzyme cofactors used in synthesis, NAD+/NADH, is often
of Oxford) to San Francisco-based more expensive than the chemicals it is used to synthesise,
Senova Systems Inc. The company was founded in 2007 but Professor Kylie Vincent’s research group has found a way
with the sole aim of developing a commercial calibration- of recycling NAD+/NADH so that it can easily be re-used.
free pH meter based on the Compton research. In the The catalytic system, called HydRegen, uses cooperative
first instance Senova designed a prototype hand-held pH sets of enzymes mounted on graphite beads. HydRegen was
sensor called the pHit Scanner. It has a number of significant one of the winners of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s 2013
advantages over existing pH meters: it is temperature Emerging Technologies competition, and the team is now
stable, intuitive to use, scalable for production and – most taking its first steps towards commercialisation.
importantly – requires no calibration. In March 2013, the pHit
Scanner was recognized with the Pittcon Editors’ Gold Award
for the best new product.

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Periodic The Magazine of the Department of Chemistry