Event to showcase Oregon’s bioscience industry

Oregon is a state celebrated for its expansive forests, vistas and abundant natural resources. However, bioscience hasn’t been one of Oregon’s well-advertised fortes, though that may soon change. On Nov. 2, the four major research universities in Oregon—Portland State, Oregon State, the University of Oregon and Oregon Health & Science University—will gather at the Portland Convention Center for the Oregon Innovation Showcase.

The annual event is intended to draw together academia from Oregon’s higher-education facilities and industry leaders who could be potential investors. This year’s showcase is focused on the design and implementation of

medical devices.

In a recent survey by the Battelle Institute, it was found that, compared to the national average, Oregon has been outpacing job growth in the biomedical sector. Despite Oregon’s poor economy in recent months, the biomedical industry is only growing.

Few people understand the long-term business implications of this as does the Innovation Showcase keynote speaker, Len Blackstone. His company, Blackstone Inc., is a consulting firm that has worked with some of America’s largest fortune

500 companies.

“If you look at bioscience as an industry, it’s one of the fastest growing employers in Oregon,” Blackstone said. “From a private equity standpoint, more money is being invested into bioscience here than IT technology and energy

combined.”

A study conducted by the Oregon Bioscience association in 2007 found that, at the time, 39 percent of Oregon’s bioscience industry was focused on the development of medical devices. In second place was pharmaceutical research, with 23 percent. It is also believed that medical device research has stolen even a greater percentage of Oregon’s bioscience attention since 2007.

The same study also noted that, in the last eight years, more patents have been issued in the bioscience field in the greater Portland area than Denver, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Seattle combined.

Here at Portland State, research is being conducted in the medical field that could not only save lives, but revolutionize the entire medical industry, according to Dr. Raj Solanki, a PSU professor with a joint appointment in the department of physics and electrical computer engineering.

For years, Solanki has been studying the field of electronics downsizing. The apex of his latest work has been the production of a prototype for a one-time-use device that could exponentially decrease the cost and time it takes to have blood-work done in clinics and hospitals.

“If you go to a doctor’s office, they will often times order a blood test to detect an illness,” he said. “Your blood is taken, sent to lab and you’re given a return appointment at a much later date when the results return. Only then can they begin to prescribe a treatment.”

Solanki’s prototype—a chip that requires only a drop of blood—can let doctors know the results within 10 minutes.

“Before you leave the clinic you know the problem, and can be prescribed a treatment,” Solanki said.

The chip is also slated to be available for around $10, significantly reducing the cost of traditional blood-work. Hypothetically, this could also allow diseases to be detectable in patients in third-world countries, where testing blood for diseases has generally been cost restrictive, Solanki said.

Solanki was hesitant to provide a firm timeframe for the market arrival of his project, but claimed that the

development was in its final stages.

“We’ve been working with a company called FlashSensors, and they are making the prototypes right now,” he said.

It is this project that has drawn Solanki to the Oregon Innovation Showcase. Along with his colleagues from the three other major research universities in the state, Solanki will take the stage to tout the innovative progress made in the field of bioscience.

After the presentations at the showcase, the attendees are offered a networking period during which academia and researchers mingle with industry leaders in the field of medical products. Oregon based companies Home Dialysis Plus, SAM Medical Products, S-Ray, Inc. and Bioject, Inc. will also be in attendance to share new products in

the field. ?