How Future Diagnostics and Crossbeta Bioscience shape Hollands Glorie
No, the names don't sound very Dutch. Our national strength is simply rooted in our ability to adapt. Dozens of languages borrow words from Dutch. Latin, the language of science, not least. The Dutch technology companies Future Diagnostics and Crossbeta Biosciences are working together on freeze-drying oligomers in such a way that they can be sent around the world in the form of spheres to conduct research in various places into the effect of oligomers on the development of Alzheimer's disease. It is a wonderful example of how two relatively small scientifically oriented Dutch companies are making a difference on a global scale. They like to talk about it, Mike Martens, CEO of the FHI member company Future Diagnostics, and Guus Scheefhals, CEO of CVrossbeta Biosciences, a spin-off company of UMC Utrecht. What is this about, what are oligomers? “When Alzheimer's disease develops in patients, 'plaques' appear to form.” Guus Scheefhals is used to explaining complicated matters clearly. “It has long been thought that these plaques were the cause of the dementia process. Everything now indicates that it is not the cause, but the consequence of the process. As long as the protein that forms the plaques is still soluble, you call it an oligomer. These oligomers can be toxic and are probably an important cause of Alzheimer's. So if we could tackle them... The problem is that the oligomers are difficult to handle in the lab. We have now achieved a breakthrough in this. We have been able to stabilize the oligomers while retaining their toxicity. So research can now be done with it.” It sounds simple indeed. “We have now found an antibody, but a reference standard is needed to know what you are measuring. For this you need cells from people who are susceptible to the oligomers and antibodies. Now there is the specific problem that making the oligomers in the lab is difficult. We use amyloid beta peptides in this process.” We wisely avoid asking what exactly they are. Everything can be found via Google.
“We thought that we could perhaps use freeze-drying to make balls that could be transported to laboratories anywhere in the world where experiments could be done with people's own cells. When we started looking for people in the pharmaceutical sector who could do this, we surprisingly ended up with someone 'around the corner', Future Diagnostics in Wychen.” How do you find each other? At the beginning of 2014, Guus Scheefhals came across Future Diagnostics, in person of Mike Martens, via social media: LinkedIn! A message, 'let's call'. That was at the beginning of 2014 and both companies have now jointly developed the process for making the right balls. Moreover, according to Scheefhals, Crossbeta has “a crazy business form. We use shareholder money to develop IP for the pharmaceutical industry. There is no reliable diagnostic tool yet, but it could be a hit, which also affects our ethical sense of morality.” The first freeze-dried oligomers have now been delivered. “The fact that we are now going to supply spheres as a reference standard for the development of diagnostics and for the development of medicines is a wonderful result.” As CEO you can simply be proud of your product. Now for Future Diagnostics. Mike Martens was head of R&D at the company that started in 1997 for fifteen years. He has been the ultimately responsible CEO for five years now. “We have started developing tests for IVD, in vitro diagnostics. We now also produce diagnostic test kits ELISAs, Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assays as a calibration part of detecting antibodies. Another product line is systems to detect parathyroid hormone levels in the parathyroid gland. The fourth activity concerns vitamin D determination. “Future Diagnostics makes the freeze-dried spheres for Crossbeta with the 'accu-sphere' technology that they have in-house. “You drop droplets of liquid into nitrogen and then spheres are formed. The freeze-drying process then follows and very stable spheres of a few millimeters are created in a 96 well plate. They do not fall apart, but they do dissolve very quickly, which is exactly what is needed in the lab. What was most important was finding the right recipe for the accusphere. What should be the composition of the material with which we 'package' the oligomers?” The men talk about the 'accusphere matrix'. How does such a collaboration actually work? “We call our scientists 'technical architects',” says Martens. “They are in contact with the customer's technologists. Together they make a plan. We carry that out and we report the results. Contact is at least weekly; the progress check every two weeks. We work with 'sharepoint' to check with Crossbeta whether we are on the right track.” “It remains a human job,” Scheefhals emphasizes. “You have to test the process. How you do this must be carefully coordinated in advance. We were quite concerned. Crossbeta is only a small club and we were afraid that we would be snowed under. That didn't happen. In fact, the involvement is so strong that a Future Diagnostics employee simply joined a telephone consultation during his holiday.” What is the future? Scheefhals: “We are now working on particles in the brain. On the reverse side of plaques you will find polygons. In between are particles for which we think we can make assays, diagnostic tests.” There are worlds to be won.
“We thought that we could perhaps use freeze-drying to make balls that could be transported to laboratories anywhere in the world where experiments could be done with people's own cells. When we started looking for people in the pharmaceutical sector who could do this, we surprisingly ended up with someone 'around the corner', Future Diagnostics in Wychen.” How do you find each other? At the beginning of 2014, Guus Scheefhals came across Future Diagnostics, in person of Mike Martens, via social media: LinkedIn! A message, 'let's call'. That was at the beginning of 2014 and both companies have now jointly developed the process for making the right balls. Moreover, according to Scheefhals, Crossbeta has “a crazy business form. We use shareholder money to develop IP for the pharmaceutical industry. There is no reliable diagnostic tool yet, but it could be a hit, which also affects our ethical sense of morality.” The first freeze-dried oligomers have now been delivered. “The fact that we are now going to supply spheres as a reference standard for the development of diagnostics and for the development of medicines is a wonderful result.” As CEO you can simply be proud of your product. Now for Future Diagnostics. Mike Martens was head of R&D at the company that started in 1997 for fifteen years. He has been the ultimately responsible CEO for five years now. “We have started developing tests for IVD, in vitro diagnostics. We now also produce diagnostic test kits ELISAs, Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assays as a calibration part of detecting antibodies. Another product line is systems to detect parathyroid hormone levels in the parathyroid gland. The fourth activity concerns vitamin D determination. “Future Diagnostics makes the freeze-dried spheres for Crossbeta with the 'accu-sphere' technology that they have in-house. “You drop droplets of liquid into nitrogen and then spheres are formed. The freeze-drying process then follows and very stable spheres of a few millimeters are created in a 96 well plate. They do not fall apart, but they do dissolve very quickly, which is exactly what is needed in the lab. What was most important was finding the right recipe for the accusphere. What should be the composition of the material with which we 'package' the oligomers?” The men talk about the 'accusphere matrix'. How does such a collaboration actually work? “We call our scientists 'technical architects',” says Martens. “They are in contact with the customer's technologists. Together they make a plan. We carry that out and we report the results. Contact is at least weekly; the progress check every two weeks. We work with 'sharepoint' to check with Crossbeta whether we are on the right track.” “It remains a human job,” Scheefhals emphasizes. “You have to test the process. How you do this must be carefully coordinated in advance. We were quite concerned. Crossbeta is only a small club and we were afraid that we would be snowed under. That didn't happen. In fact, the involvement is so strong that a Future Diagnostics employee simply joined a telephone consultation during his holiday.” What is the future? Scheefhals: “We are now working on particles in the brain. On the reverse side of plaques you will find polygons. In between are particles for which we think we can make assays, diagnostic tests.” There are worlds to be won.
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