Enterprise Ireland 'Big Ideas' - Michael Maguire Profector

Profector -- Rapid, Easy, Cost Effective Transfection of Hard to Transfect Cell Lines

Profector Life Sciences is a start up business spun out from National University of Ireland, Maynooth that will target growing markets in gene therapy, tissue engineering and drug discovery. Dr. Michael Maguire and collaborator Dr. Shirley O'Dea have engaged extensively with academic labs, drug discovery companies and large pharmaceutical companies throughout the development of Profector. The business will develop and sell devices and consumables built on its patent pending cell transfection technology platform.

Transfection is the introduction of foreign material into cells and is a core activity in biology laboratories and life science companies. The material may be biological or non-biological. DNA and siRNA are the most commonly transfected molecules. The market for cell transfection systems and consumables will reach $850M in 2012.

Customers of transfection systems currently face significant challenges in overcoming the limitations of physical, viral and chemical cellular delivery methods. Existing transfection methods are harmful to cells in vitro, are costly and include multiple protocols and steps. They normally preclude in vivo use and have low transfection rates that are unsuitable for clinical use. The Profector technology transfects cells that cannot be transfected by other means with lower toxicity and fewer steps and facilitates seamless translation from in vitro to in vivo research.

The technology will be available as a bench top laboratory transfection device, as a medium-throughput device and as a high throughput system element. The end customer is the research scientist in life science companies and in academic laboratories.

Presenter: Dr. Michael Maguire, NUI Maynooth
Collaborator: Dr. Shirley O'Dea, NUI Maynooth

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Enterprise
• Ireland
• 'Big
• Ideas'
• Michael
• Maguire
• Profector
• Dublin