Sep 3 2015
Australian prostate cancer technology company Minomic International Ltd has jointly won a prestigious Australian science prize recognising 'outstanding' science that uses its patented antibody.
The company, on track to globally launch a novel prostate cancer diagnostic test known as MiCheck® next year, was part of a high level consortium taking out the peer-reviewed Australian Museum Eureka Science Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research.
This prize is awarded for ground breaking research that has only been made possible by combining two or more unrelated disciplines.
Minomic and its scientific partners, Professor Jin Dayong from the University of Technology Sydney/Macquarie University and Professor Tanya Monro from the University of South Australia, demonstrated that combining Minomic's proprietary MIL-38 antibody with "Super Dots" nanoparticle technology will enable ultra low levels of cancer cells to be identified in blood or urine samples, paving the way for early stage cancer detection.
Minomic Chief Executive Officer Dr Brad Walsh said: "This was a fantastic scientific achievement, and we are delighted that we have been able to contribute to this potentially ground breaking research finding."
"This Eureka Prize accolade is internationally regarded and formally recognises the intrinsic science embedded in our technology," he said.
"Our patented antibody is the centrepiece of our novel MiCheck® prostate cancer diagnostic test, but this scientific collaboration demonstrates its longer term value across a range of technologies."
"This award augurs well for our company and its commercial prospects, because it provides further evidence that our platform is scientifically sound having been peer reviewed at the highest level."
Dr Walsh added: "Super Dots are the brightest nanoscale tags for single molecule detection. By combining Super Dots with our prostate cancer technology in a trans-disciplinary approach we are able to break through some of the technical bottlenecks in cancer detection allowing us to achieve much higher levels of sensitivity."
The Eureka Science prizes are awarded annually to recognise outstanding endeavour in scientific research and innovation, science leadership, science communication and journalism and school science.
Minomic is a Sydney based immuno-oncology company committed to developing new therapeutics and diagnostics for prostate cancer.
The Eureka Prizes are regarded as Australia's most comprehensive national science awards and were established in 1990 to reward outstanding achievements in science and science communication.