BioMask Applications

BioMask applications will develop adhesive laser-resistant biopolymer technologies for use in cosmetic and reconstructive laser surger. Based in the University of Coventry Department of Engineering Nanoscience Centre, we bring together global experience and local expertise in clinical medicine, engineering and commercialization. Our mission is to develop, license and promote novel biopolymer medical devices in profitable niche areas of clinical application, and deliver a new era of speed, precision and safety for 21st century medicine.

bSure
1 in 20 babies are born with a genetic disorder. Prenatal diagnostic tests require procedures with a 1 in 200 chance of miscarriage and a 3-week waiting time for results. bSure's proprietart technology enables the detection of genetic disorders within hours from a simple maternal blood test. In the US over 2.5 million women receive genetic testing and a total of 4 million women can benefit with potential revenues reaching $900Mn by 2008 and $280Bn by 2013

Coventry InnoVision
With Coventry InnoVision's patent filed technology which recently won a Wall Street Journal European Innovation Award, we can create 3D digital models of real objects faster, cheaper and more realistic that currently possible. The applications include automatic sementation of medical images, archiving museum objects non-invasively, digitsing manufacturing parts and inserting digital models of real peopleand objects into computer games and movies. We have had tremendous positive response from over 90 institutions world-wide and we have arranged to start demonstrations of our technology to interested parties in April 2004. We require £10,000 in the first year to get us to the next stage and a further £700,000 equity funding in Year 2. Under modest assumptions, our financial projections show a turnover of £10.8 million in Year 5.

Coventry Laboratory Innovations Ltd
The humble fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is an extremely powerful and widely used model organistaion that has been used to tackle numerous biological problems from neurobiology to cancer. One attraction of working with Drosophila is that it is possible to carefully control the genetics, due to the short lifetime of the flies. However, in order to follow the genetics of each fly, it is necessary to know their parentage. Since fruit fly become sexually mature very fast, and will mate with their siblings shortly after hatching, this requires frequent sorting of fruit flies to collect virgin females and keep them aprt from males until they are to be crossed. Currently, the collection and sorting of these is done by hand, a time consuming and expensive process that is limithing their availability, and acting as a bottleneck to medical research. There is thus a recognised need for a better, high capacity, ideally automatic process, particularly as thies field of research is now accelerating. Coventry Laboratory Innovations' novel VirginCollector product will allow for automation of the virgin collection process, providing large savings in time and efficiency for researchers in this field.

Light Blue Optics
Light Blue Optics has developed ground-breaking holographic technology, which will prower a new generation of pocket-sized digital video projectors.

MultiProSys
MultiProSys is a biotechnology company with a product offering targeted towards Proteomics based research. It has a platform technology for rapid protein separation that will be directed at a $600m market. The product offers enhanced functionality compared with the current methods and will allow profiling of cellular systems across multidimensional physical and biological properties. The user base will include small drug discovery and large pharmaceutical companies as well as those at pricate and public research institutions. The product will be packaged together with a Bioinformatics capability that will be developed through a strategic alliance.

Quantel fs
Developing the next generation of Frequency Standard Instrument Modules (FSIMs) providing affordable frequency standards for telecommunication, research and other high technology applications.

Owlstone
Time and cost saving integrated detection technologies are in huge demand, with the focus on technologies offering increased speed and sensitivity and reduced size and cost. Owlstone introduces an innovative sensor technology shrinking the full functionality of conventional instrumentation onto a chip. It uses cutting edge micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) manufacturing to achieve a revolutionary size reduction, with benefits in terms of size, speed, sensitivity, power consumption and cost. This technology allows us to offer the most highly integrated solutions for a variety of analysis needs.

Setred (previously InDepth Vision)
Setred aims to become the leading procider for high-end 3D displays. The current prototype requires no headgear, has a wide and deep viewing area and projects a true 3D image in which it is possible to look around objects. Setred plans to capture 8% of the industrial 3D display market, achieving sales of £24 million by 2008. The company expects to become cash flow positive in 2006, and to have accumulated profits of £13 million in 2008.