May 2006

In this issue:

Marketing on a Shoestring

Small companies and start-ups are often challenged to find extra room in their budgets for marketing efforts. It is vital to stretch every dollar as far as it can go and use only the most effective marketing tools. But how can you know what those are? How can you use them effectively?

Join Illini Professional Services on Tuesday, May 9, 2006 for a presentation and discussion about "Marketing on a Shoestring." The event will be held at EnterpriseWorks, 60 Hazelwood Drive, Champaign, from 12:00-1:00 pm. Lunch will be provided, as well as a fun and informative session to help you maximize your marketing effectiveness.

Whether you are just getting started, about to bring a product to market, or have already entered the market, you should be thinking about improving your marketing campaign. There are steps you can take at any stage to help plot a path to success. Come join IPS on May 9!  More information and details of this event can be found on www.illiniprofessionalservices.com/marketingShoestring.htm.

Illini Professional Services is a business consulting firm designed to help foster the growth and development of the Urbana-Champaign business community by offering high quality professional services at reasonable rates.

Scott Pickard, Manager, Research Park & Incubation Facilities EnterpriseWorks, will be hosting the luncheon.  

The next techMix! will be sponsored by The University of Illinois Office of the Vice President for Technology and Economic Development, IllinoisVENTURES and the Illini-ITEC on May 23rd from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the beautiful atrium of the Strata building.  The address is 2001 South First Street, Champaign, Illinois.  Please come and meet them in person while enjoying complimentary appetizers and beverages. 

techMix! is an informal social gathering sponsored by tech companies and hosted by the EDC once a month. It’s great for mingling with high-tech entrepreneurs, business consultants and representatives from the local banking community – or for just taking a break from the daily routine. 

Contact Tony Millenbine, Champaign County EDC Tech Manager at (217) 359-6261 for details on how your company can sponsor a techMix!

 If your company would like to sponsor a techMix!, please call Tony Millenbine, EDC High Tech Director, at (217) 359-6261 or email TonyM@champaigncountyedc.org.

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Eye on technology

ChemSensing customizes Metalloporphyrins, a family of chemically reactive dyes that form the core of their technology.  These molecules undergo measurable color change when they are exposed to volatile organic compounds. ChemSensing measures these color changes to produce clustered data that generates definitive results.

Metalloporphyrin dyes are unaffected by humidity and have excellent chemical/thermal stability.  ChemSensing is an expert at customizing these dyes by changing their chemical structure.  These changes allow the dyes to be tuned to specific volatile organic compounds. By measuring volatile organic compounds from human breath or from specimens such as blood, sputum and urine, a variety of analyses are possible including: detection of Stage 1 and 2 lung tumors and early detection and identification of bacteria.

ChemSensing is developing non-invasive diagnostic tests for a variety of disease states.  Their research and development strategy has resulted in a significant opportunity in early stage disease detection with markedly reduced result times and corresponding costs.  The company leverages its capabilities by collaborating with leading biomedical research institutions including Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Case Western Reserve University, University of Pennsylvania Hospital, and Northwestern University Hospital.

Lung cancer causes over 160,000 deaths annually in the U.S. This number could be dramatically reduced if the cancer could be detected earlier, when it is Stage 1 or 2, rather than in a more advanced stage. There is currently no widely accepted screening test for these early stage tumors.  Current tests for early stage lung cancer are expensive and therefore are infrequently performed.  Detection of smaller pre-cancerous pulmonary nodules through advanced imaging is also producing diagnostic challenges.  Current guidelines do not recommend CT screening for asymptomatic individuals at risk for lung cancer.  ChemSensing's technology can provide an inexpensive risk-free tool; patients with lung cancer exhale specific of volatile organic compounds that are biomarkers for lung cancer.

Lung cancer is a major public health problem. Early detection is crucial to the success of therapy. There is currently no accepted screening procedure for detection of early stage lung cancer as the available tests are expensive, can carry significant risk; and are sufficiently challenging that they do not yield a definitive diagnosis. Established technologies such as chest x-rays and sputum analysis have not yielded acceptable rates of diagnosis. Efforts at early detection and treatment have been frustrating to date and hence the overall prognosis for patients with lung cancer remains poor. Clearly, an easy to apply, risk free, sensitive, and inexpensive screening tool, used alone or in combination with currently investigated screening methods, would be a welcome addition to early lung cancer detection efforts.

Research using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to analyze exhaled alveolar breath samples from patients with different types of malignant tumors has revealed a number of exhaled VOC that can serve as biomarkers of cancer in humans. This technique, however, is both too expensive and elaborate to provide a practical diagnostic test.  ChemSensing has identified several chemical classes of exhaled biomarkers for lung cancer and has developed sensing dyes that can detect these biomarkers at diagnostically useful levels. Chemsensing has now begun work with clinicians to study human patient populations for primary tumorigenesis.
A device to screen smokers and other high-risk groups for lung cancer can be part of a routine check-up.

Sinusitis affects 14% of the U.S. population with over 33 million cases of chronic sinusitis reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention annually. While much of this is due to the common cold, acute bacterial sinusitis occurs in 0.5% to 2% of these cases. However, the diagnosis of sinusitis can be difficult to make, as it may be confused with a host of other nasal conditions. In addition, there is no single standard for diagnosis of sinusitis infection. Typically, diagnosis is made by clinical criteria combined with the identification of bacterial pathogens in cultures of secretions from the involved sinuses. 

The question for doctors that ChemSensing resolves is: does the patient have a viral or bacteriological infection? The answer to this question has a major impact on the next treatment steps for the patient.

Chemsensing’s technology is also useful in diagnosing Ventilator Associated Pneumania (VAP) and nosocomial pneumonia.  VAP is the most frequent infection among intensive care patients and nosocomial pneumonia is the second most common hospital acquired infection with the highest case/fatality ratio.

This information was taken directly from www.chemsensing.com.  A PDF of their technology can be downloaded from their website. 

Chemsensing is located at the EnterpriseWorks business incubator in the University of Illinois Research Park. 

Matt Placek, CEO
60 Hazelwood Drive
Champaign, IL 61820

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 May Techmix! Sponsors

Illini-ITEC is a state-funded grant program that opened its doors in June 2003 to serve technology-based companies in the central Illinois area.  The organization's mission is to stimulate development of advanced technology enterprises by transforming innovation into reality.

Illini ITEC is located at 2001 South First Street, Suite 201, in the University of Illinois Research Park.  The program is funded by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity as part of a state-wide network of enterprise development centers.

Illini-ITEC provides one-on-one start-up services to entrepreneurs, pre-seed and seed stage companies with proprietary technology.  Their  services include:

· Development of business start-up and commercialization strategies

· Review and refinement of sales and marketing strategies

· Basic market research and networking

· Assessment of company funding strategies

· Assistance with federal funding programs including SBIR and STTR

· Location of strategic partners and service providers

· Management assistance and coaching including human resource management, accounting and financial management, legal structure and identification of specialized service providers.

Dr. James A. Weyhenmeyer
Executive Director
Illini-ITEC
2001 South First Drive, Suite 201
Champaign, IL 61820
217.265.5453
fax. 217.265.5444
weyhen@uillinois.edu

The Office of the Vice President for Technology and Economic Development (OVPTED) oversees and facilitates the transfer and commercialization of University-based technologies and intellectual properties. The OVPTED seeks to support the growth and development of Illinois’ high-technology economy while strengthening the University’s premier education and research programs.

The goal of the University is to provide every opportunity for faculty, staff and students to realize the commercial potential of their research results. This is accomplished through a seamless system of support services that guide a technology or innovation from initial disclosure to patent protection, marketing, licensing and, if appropriate, new company start-up.

Vice President –

David L. Chicoine
 

Administrative Aide –

Heidi Rockwood
 

Associate Vice President – James A. Weyhenmeyer
 

Assistant Vice President – David Gulley
 

Assistant Vice President – Melissa Miner

IllinoisVENTURES, LLC was created to catalyze the creation and accelerate the early development of technology-based companies, with a particular emphasis on those deriving from research conducted at the University of Illinois and other regional research institutions.

IllinoisVENTURES has three offices.  Their main office at 20 N. Wacker Drive in the Chicago Loop, and one located on each of the Champaign/Urbana and Chicago campuses of the University of Illinois. The IllinoisVENTURES professional staff brings to bear extensive experience in industry, start-up, and private equity investing.

IllinoisVENTURES deploys funding from public and private sources. IllinoisVENTURES acts as the General Partner of the Illinois Emerging Technology Fund - an early-stage, technology-focused venture capital fund, and as the fulfillment partner for the Chicago and Illini-ITECs (Illinois Technology Enterprise Centers) on behalf of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity of the State of Illinois.

The contact information for the Urbana-Champaign Campus office is:

2001 South First Street
Suite 201
Champaign, Illinois 61820
Phone: (217) 239-1950
Fax: (217) 239-1948

Please join us on May 23rd from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at 2001 South First Street for the May techMix!  The social will take place in the atrium of the Strata building.

If you would like to sponsor a techMix, please contact Tony Millenbine at (217) 359-6261 or email tonym@champaigncountyedc.org.

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