DNA Electronics to present at UKTI’s Healthcare and Life Sciences Summit

23 July 2012

DNA Electronics Ltd, a developer of semiconductor solutions for real-time DNA and RNA detection, has announced that Chairman and CEO Professor Chris Toumazou FRS will be presenting at the Healthcare and Life Sciences Global Business Summit on 2 August.

The Summit is hosted by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) as part of the business events around the London Olympic games.

Professor Toumazou will join other key innovators, dignitaries and industry figures from the UK life sciences community who have been invited to address delegates on the future of the sector.

The summit, entitled “Rising to the Healthcare Challenges of the Next Decade — the Global Business Summit on Healthcare and Life Science”, will focus on the challenges facing healthcare delivery around the world, in both developed and emerging economies, and will discuss and debate the ways in which transformational change in healthcare can be achieved through collaboration between industry, academia and healthcare providers.

The event is being hosted by Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint, Minister of State for Trade and Investment and Professor Lord Darzi of Denham, UK Business Ambassador for the Life Sciences and Chair of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London.

The one-day gathering will bring together an impressive cadre of speakers joined by top industrialists and entrepreneurs, eminent clinicians and researchers, leaders from the UK’s NHS and Health Ministers from around the world. Key themes explored during the summit will include translational research to develop novel therapeutics and medical technologies, and the expanding role of informatics and digital technology in healthcare delivery. The seminar programme will also consider how the UK is contributing to life sciences research and healthcare development at an international level. 

Professor Toumazou’s presentation, “Disposable semiconductor healthcare — from the bedside to point of care genetics” will explore how a revolution in genetics and molecular biology is being driven by the confluence of advances in life science and semiconductor-based technologies. A key disruptive innovation that will be highlighted is the first label-free DNA amplification and detection based upon ion-sensitive, field-effect transistor technology, which is enabling the creation of on-the-spot DNA diagnostic tests.

Professor Toumazou will examine the technology trends and business models for rapid, lab-free and pipette-free DNA diagnostic testing, and the transformative opportunities it presents in global healthcare provision.

DNA Electronics, a spin-out of Imperial College London, was founded by Professor Toumazou following his invention of the company’s core technology that allows CMOS transistors to be switched on and off with DNA — the key invention enabling semiconductor-based sequencing.

Prof. Toumazou’s innovation has culminated in the world’s first DNA logic on standard CMOS technology. DNA Electronics has worldwide non-exclusive licensing agreements with Roche’s 454 Life Sciences and Ion Torrent (Life Technologies Inc.) for the field of semiconductor sequencing, enabling these global leaders to access certain parts of the DNA Electronics proprietary technology portfolio.

In March 2012, DNA Electronics announced that it is licensing its ground-breaking Genalysis technology platform for rapid, lab-free DNA detection to geneOnyx, a company that is delivering on-the-spot genetic analytics services for cosmetics and skincare applications.

More information

Global Business Summit on Healthcare and Life Sciences, 2 August 2012: www.ukti.gov.uk/export/sectors/globalsportsprojects/
britishbusinessembassy/item/314060.html