Pioneering project could aid disease diagnosis

Mar 5 2010 by Andrew Hebden, The Journal

ENTREPRENEUR Will Dracup last night unveiled his plans for a pioneering LifeBank which he believes could provide a major boost to the region’s life sciences and health care sectors.

The boss of Newcastle biotechnology companies Biosignatures and Nonlinear Dynamics hopes to collect thousands of blood samples from people in the region.

If any of the LifeBank participants subsequently become ill with a disease, the researchers would then be able to analyse their samples from years earlier to see if they can detect a signal for what caused it.

He says the project could help the North East become a world leader in the field of protein-based disease diagnosis. Last night, he detailed his ambitions for the project as he delivered the annual David Goldman lecture, marking the start of his 12-month role as David Goldman Visiting Professor of Business Innovation at Newcastle University Business School.

Mr Dracup, who established Nonlinear Dynamics 20 years ago, succeeds a number of other high-profile local entrepreneurs in the post, including last year’s holder, IHC Engineering Business founder Dr Tony Trapp.

He plans to team up with the university’s own Biobank Initiative, which he hopes will manage the samples that LifeBank generates.

In phase one, Mr Dracup will team up with healthcare professionals, academics and people from business to identify areas where a new approach to diagnostic testing is required. Examples might include diseases such as prostate cancer, where existing tests can be intrusive and unspecific.

The development of the vast LifeBank of samples – which would be anonymous to protect patient privacy – would form part two of the project.

Mr Dracup said: “Many very nasty diseases can be cured if they are caught early enough. There is good reason to believe the technologies we are working on might be able to achieve this.”

He said there were “potentially hundreds of protein-based diagnostic tests” which could be developed.

Mr Dracup said he hoped to use his year in the post to boost interaction between the university, business and clinicians.

And last year’s winner of the North East Business Executive of the Year for Tyneside and Northumberland told business school students in the audience that running a successful firm was “all about people” and urged them to “never stop learning”.

:: Anyone interested in finding out more about LifeBank can contact Mr Dracup at will@dracup.net