Case Study - Life Science Research - Orla Protein Technologies
Sector: Healthcare
World leading technology developed by Orla Protein Technologies is bringing exciting advances to life sciences research.
The Newcastle company has teamed up with Newcastle University and The UK Stem Cell Bank in a project that could dramatically improve how stem cells are grown in laboratories.
This has a £200,000 Government grant from the Government’s Technology Strategy Board.
Orla’s latest technology could overcome problems encountered in growing stem cells, which may be used in regenerative medical treatments for wasting diseases such as Parkinson’s.
Newcastle Science City has highlighted stem cell development as a major focus of its plans for the Science Central business campus it is creating in the city.
“We’d like to think we can play a role in helping Science City achieve its aims,” said Orla’s Chief Executive Dale Athey.
The company has developed technology for coating surfaces with micro-thin, uniform layers of proteins. These are highly effective, for example, in electronic sensors and medical diagnostic equipment used to analyse diseased body tissue.
Orla is based in the Bioscience Centre at Newcastle’s International Centre for Life. It was created in 2002 by Dale and Scientific founder Professor Jeremy Lakey, a structural biochemist at Newcastle University.
In 2009, Orla formed a formed an important joint venture – OJ Bio – with Japan Radio Co Ltd, a major Japanese telecoms company.
The new company, also located at the Bioscience Centre, is developing a bio sensor to compete for the global diagnostics market. The device could be used anywhere to test for and monitor infectious diseases and transmit the results to a health centre.
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