The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the Tyndall institute are combining ideas to produce innovative medical devices, writes CLAIRE O'CONNELL

IMAGINE THIS: you walk into your doctor’s clinic and give a finger-prick drop of blood. Your sample goes into a device and, in less than an hour, there’s a read- out that signals whether you have a genetic condition or can predict which course of treatment will suit you best.

That device is currently being developed between the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and Tyndall National Institute.

The two groups signed a memorandum of understanding last month to link the clinical expertise and global network of RCSI and the ICT and fabrication specialists at Tyndall in Cork.

Not that the two centres weren’t already busy commercialising their own technology and devices – the centre for innovation in surgical technology at RCSI’s Colles Institute had been set up to help doctors who spotted a better way to do things develop their ideas for the market, while Tyndall has extensive experience of working with industries in the ICT sector.

But the new marriage will, hopefully, generate offspring in the form of innovative medical devices that combine ideas from both sides.

Like any courtship, the partners got to know each other better in the run-up to the official signing of the memorandum of understanding. Brainstorming sessions were something of an eye-opener as it became apparent how existing technologies could be validated and applied in the clinic.

“It was interesting how the RCSI group was able to classify Tyndall devices into areas we hadn’t thought about,” says Carlo Webster, business development executive at Tyndall’s central fabrication facility. “This [alliance] will help to give the ideas direction and ease the commercialisation.”

The scale of the collaboration between the two institutions has already aroused interest internationally, according to Webster, and companies are taking note.

Key areas the two sides have defined as being ripe for collaboration include orthopaedics, where they are working on approaches that can help with consistency during bone operations, diagnostic imaging – including more sophisticated detection of colorectal tumours during endoscopy and using LEDs to help identify diseased veins – and the cardiovascular area.

Both the RCSI and Tyndall believe devices arising from the partnership will start to hit the market in around two years. In many instances it’s a case of joining up existing technologies or furthering collaborations that were already in train.

One advanced project is the machine that can screen genetic information rapidly from a drop of a patient’s blood.

Tyndall now has a prototype device that isolates and amplifies DNA from a blood sample, then washes it over specific probes that highlight when certain gene variants are present.

The desktop machine currently takes about an hour from start to final read-out, but that time will probably shorten.

The approach targets a gap in the market for quick and practical analysis, according to Dr Paul Galvin, who heads the nano-biosystems group at Tyndall.

“Currently there’s no system suitable for near-patient genetic analysis,” he says, noting that the speed of their system is key. “The idea here is if it takes longer than the patient will be present in the clinic it won’t work.”

The Tyndall group has so far been validating the approach using the well-characterised cystic fibrosis gene, but Galvin points out that the system can be tailored to pick out other clinically-relevant gene variants or signatures.

A collaboration with RCSI is now leading the technology towards personalising treatments for high blood pressure, which affects over half of adults in Ireland over 50, according to Alice Stanton, an associate professor of molecular and cellular therapeutics at RCSI.

Six classes of drugs are currently used for treatment, but not all patients respond well to each one, she explains. “When we have someone with too high blood pressure, we advise them on lifestyle and we usually start them on a drug, but it’s pretty well guesswork as to which of the classes of drug we use. So there can be a delay in getting people’s blood pressure under control.”

Stanton’s group is currently identifying gene variants that can predict how well a patient will respond to particular blood pressure-lowering medication and linking in with Tyndall’s platform offers a way to quickly screen patients and get them on the ideal treatment immediately.

Even beyond the patient and commercial benefits, this movement of technologies towards the clinic also offers a boost for the researchers themselves, says Galvin.

“One of the big challenges for academics and companies is getting access to clinicians to provide the information about the clinical need. None of us wants to be developing technologies that are not needed. And from a point of view of personal satisfaction – the main driver, the reason for getting out of bed in the morning, is thinking you can make something that is of use to somebody.”