UT Southwestern research projects battle before judges in this year’s Pitch Competition
Ideas for innovative, potentially lifesaving research worthy of development took center stage recently at the UT Southwestern Pitch Competition.
The Shark Tank-style contest, open to UTSW physicians and scientists, pitted projects designed to fight cancer, to protect surgical staff from radiation, and to improve diagnosis of a rare neurological disorder against others vying for funding to propel them to market – and the chance to make a difference in the lives of patients.
“This competition is about harnessing the immense talent pool at our institution,” Marc A. Nivet, Ed.D., M.B.A., Executive Vice President for Institutional Advancement at UTSW, told the audience and judges as the event got underway at Pegasus Park, a redevelopment providing space for biotechnology research. “We want to provide support to individuals to ensure the most innovative and investible ideas move forward. That’s the heart of technology development.”
Researchers pitching nine different projects at the Oct. 27 event were each given five minutes to make their case before panels of business leaders, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists, including well-known figures such as Chris Garabedian, Chairman and CEO of Xontogeny; Vincent E. Letteri, Senior Managing Director for Blackstone’s Growth Equity Business; and Patrick Dey, Senior Vice President, Chief Data and Digital Officer at McKesson. Another seven minutes was allotted for questions from the different teams of panelists judging each of the three categories. A winner was named from each category. The finalists had been selected earlier by a review committee from 34 projects submitted.
Money for prizes was provided by McKesson, local philanthropist Lyda Hill, the Polsinelli law firm, UTSW’s Blackstone LaunchPad, and the UTSW Office for Technology Development, said Brad Phelan, Director of Technology Commercialization and UTSW’s Blackstone LaunchPad.
Winners in the Diagnostics/Medical Devices Category and the Digital Health Category each walked away with $50,000 to continue developing their projects, while the winner in the Therapeutics Category, where ideas typically cost more to get to market, received $100,000.
Targeting ribosomes to fight cancer
Michael Buszczak, Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Biology and a member of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, won in the Therapeutics Category. Dr. Buszczak, who came to UT Southwestern in 2007, discussed the possibility of using drugs to rebalance an overproduction of ribosomes (cell organelles that translate RNA to build proteins) in order to fight cancers. Cancers depend on enhanced ribosome production for their rapid growth, Dr. Buszczak explained.
The potential market for using ribosome biogenesis inhibitors to reduce the number of ribosomes in the cell cytoplasm, and thereby reduce cancer formation and inflammation, is estimated to reach $5 billion by 2030, he told the judges.
He said his group has identified a way to label new versus old ribosomes within a cell in order to gauge overproduction versus underproduction of ribosomes. It has also identified three promising chemicals that might work to rebalance creation of the tiny organelles within cells, he added.
“The grand vision is to come up with an extensive portfolio of different molecules that balance ribosome biogenesis in order to evaluate tens, if not hundreds, of possible treatments,” Dr. Buszczak said. “We think that most cancers are going to be sensitive to disruptions in ribosome production.”
“I was honored and excited to win this award,” he said. “These funds will also provide a foundation for starting a company focused on developing new and innovative ways to modulate protein synthesis in diseased cells.”
Reducing radiation risks
In the Diagnostics/Medical Devices Category, Melissa Kirkwood, M.D., Chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery and Professor of Surgery, gave a presentation about the risks that vascular surgeons and other interventionalists face from radiation exposure while performing fluoroscopically-guided interventions (those using X-rays for real-time visualization) and the solution her team has devised.
Up to 60% of interventionalists exceed their ocular radiation dose limit, and the average interventionalists’ head exposure can be much greater than their whole body dose, Dr. Kirkwood said.
“What can this equal? An increased risk of malignant brain tumors and cataracts in physicians performing these procedures,” said Dr. Kirkwood.
Personal protective equipment now can include leaded surgical caps and eyewear, she said. But the radiation hitting the physician’s eyes and head is from scattered radiation from oblique angles not protected by these caps and glasses.
Dr. Kirkwood said she and her team have designed a face shield that connects to eyewear and can reduce radiation exposure to the eye and brain by 85%. The shield is affordable and effective, she said.
Her device has already completed some introductory evaluations and, “We need to win this award so we can get this technology ready for licensing,” she told the judges.
“I’m so grateful and honored,” Dr. Kirkwood said after her project won the $50,000 prize. “This means so much for the future safety of interventionalists and their co-workers.”
Technology to improve diagnosis
Darin T. Okuda, M.D., Professor of Neurology, won in the Digital Health Category with a project he described remotely from Amsterdam, where he was presenting at a conference.
Dr. Okuda devised a digital biomarker platform that uses routine MRI data capable of more accurately diagnosing and monitoring a disease called neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD), which is often misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis (MS).
While only about 18,000 Americans have NMOSD, he said, the annual cost associated with treatment is enormous, exceeding $800,000 a year to treat a single person. Such treatment can continue for decades.
Meanwhile, the incurable disease can cause blindness and paralysis. It occurs when the immune system attacks the body’s own central nervous system, primarily affecting the optic nerve and spinal cord. Delays in treatment – and mistreatment as MS – worsen the disease.
Dr. Okuda has existing national and international patents and six pending patents in the U.S., Europe, and Canada for his work in this space. His innovations are currently being used in phase 3 and phase 4 clinical trials in multiple sclerosis.
“We’d like to see this test become a standard procedure when an MRI study is performed, providing clinicians with key data suggesting NMOSD as being causative for the presenting symptoms, even if the condition was not initially considered,” he added.
“NMOSD is a remarkably terrible disease,” Dr. Okuda said, adding that he became interested in finding an alternate and more universal way to properly diagnose the condition after seeing patients who had been misdiagnosed. “This award will help us help patients.”
Inventive solutions like these – ideas that translate into better lives for patients – advance our civilization forward, said J.H. Cullum Clark, a member of the President’s Advisory Board for Technology Development and Host Committees that helped put on the event.
“We need to be a society that really remembers that the very heart of civilization is making life better for people over time, and that happens through innovation,” Mr. Clark said. “I am very convinced that the more innovation we have here at UT Southwestern, the more our greater Dallas area will thrive.”