SU pursues insulin research with Iowa firm

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Aug 1, 2008 by Tampone, Kevin

SYRACUSE - A research group at Syracuse University (SU) will spend the next 10 years working with BioSym Technologies of Iowa on joint projects.

The university and the biotechnology company signed the 10-year, $5 million agreement earlier this month. It's a major milestone for the work of the research group, led by Robert Doyle, an assistant chemistry professor at SU.

"It's somewhere between great and fantastic," he says.

Privately held, Des Moines-based BioSym first came into contact with Doyle and his group as a result of their work on a method to deliver insulin orally, rather than through injections.

"When we started out, they were just interested in one piece," Doyle says. "They became interested in everything we were doing."

Specifically, the research agreement focuses on two projects of Doyle and his 12-person group. The first is the oral insulin work.

The other is a vitamin system Doyle says he can't describe in detail because of the sensitivity of the research.

Over the life of the research agreement, Doyle and the company will write patents together and BioSym will have the rights to license intellectual property surrounding the work from SU. BioSym's business focuses on drug-delivery systems and green technologies, such as biodegradable plastics and fermentation for ethanol production.

"This has wider implications than just the money for the department," Doyle says. "It's a great opportunity for students to learn how a company works and what a company is interested in. It offers the potential for jobs out of this."

The group's insulin research involves a way to sneak insulin into the body orally. Normally, Doyle explains, the human digestive system is hostile to the substance.

The project involves using vitamin B-12 to help insulin on its way through the digestive system. Similar to insulin, the digestive system is hostile to B-12.

But since the vitamin is essential to our diets, humans have evolved a complex process that allows it to pass through the digestive track and into the blood stream unharmed, Doyle says. The body never evolved a similar process for insulin, because it is naturally produced outside the digestive system in the pancreas.

Doyle and his team have developed a way to fuse insulin and B-12 together, however. By joining the two, B-12 protects the insulin on its way into the body.

If the technique catches on, it would alleviate the need for those with conditions like diabetes to take regular insulin injections. Diabetes results from the inability of the body to produce enough insulin or use it properly.

The research group received a financial boost last year as well, when it won $20,000 in funding from SU's Enitiative Project, an effort to spark more entrepreneurship in the region. The agreement with BioSym is especially gratifying, Doyle says.

"It's a vindication of what we're trying to do," he says. "It's nice to get that level of support. They back it up with money and equipment and they come and spend time here. They actually work with us in the lab."

Doyle and his group will work most closely with BioSym co-owner and primary scientist Daniel DeBrouse, whohas been appointed a research professor in SU's Department of Chemistry.

"This is truly a unique partnership," Mark Smolik, BioSym co-owner, said in a news release. "Both scientists have expertise across multiple disciplines of science. We always believed there wasn't any other scientist who thought like Daniel until we met Rob. Things could not have worked out better."