Temple Rotary - Newsletter - Archive (May 5, 2010)

May is the Membership Drive Month so bring a prospect to this weeks meeting. If you bring a guest who joins the club, those club members names will be put in a drawing to win $100 toward their Paul Harris fund. Let's get motivated!!

Kurt Toliver announced a new Paul Harris matching fund drive for the month of May. The club will match up to $200 toward a members Paul Harris.

District 5870's outgoing GSE Team is currently in Japan. If you'd like to get a taste of what they're experiencing, go to http://gse2010austintojapan.wordpress.com/ to look at their blog. You can also subscribe to the blog there and then they'll send you an e-mail whenever it is updated. They are short entries but always include lots of pictures, so it's a quick and fun read!

If you are interested in joining this committee please get with Barbara Bozon. To find out more about this program go to the Early Act First Knight website is www.eafk.org.

Rotarian of the Day, Randy Garrett, began our program with an introduction of Michael Norman and Chris Thornton, founders of Global BioDiagnostics (“Global”). He then gave us a brief overview of the Temple Business Incubator located in Downtown Temple. The Incubator provides office space and counseling services for start up companies until they gain a foothold. Randy said that typically, after 2 to 4 years, the start up company will “graduate” from the Incubator and integrate into the business community.

Michael Norman and Chris Thornton have been at the Incubator for about 2 years and great things are starting to happen for them. Michael’s background is in legal counseling of businesses, especially in the area of business planning. Chris’ background is in process and technology, after having worked for several years at Texas Instruments.

Global is concrete evidence that the community investment in a business incubator and in a Health and BioScience District is working. Global is a collaborative effort of the founders and the Texas A & M University Health Science Center and the Office of Technology Commercialization. The first product focus is on a diagnostic tool for tuberculosis (“TB”).

Michael Norman reminded us of the effort of Dr. Sam Crumine who served on the Kansas State Board of Health from 1904 to 1924. Dr. Crumine asked brick masons to put the phrase “Don’t Spit on the Sidewalk” on their bricks. This was an effort to reduce the spread of disease. TB is a serious concern globally. While it is not a major threat in the United States, there are pockets of outbreaks. In Texas, large cities like Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, have increased instances of TB. The concern is effective treatment of TB to avoid the development of more drug resistant strains of the disease.

TB is a difficult disease to diagnose because is grows slowly. A person can be contagious but not display symptoms of the disease. Consequently, by the time the person is ill enough to be diagnosed with the disease, they have spread the disease to others. The primary victims of this dreadful disease are the poor and the young. In 2006, the World Health Organization estimated that in areas of high incidents of TB, a child dies every 30 seconds. That same study estimated that 2 million people a year die from TB.

There are two primary tests for TB. The smear test which takes a sample of sputum. This test will detect 10,000 bacteria in the sputum. Thus, you need a high bacteria count for this test to diagnose a case of TB. There is also the culture test in which a sample is grown in a petri dish. This test takes time to diagnose the disease. There are other more sophisticated tests, such as a DNA test, which tests are often used after there has been a diagnosis of TB using the primary tests. One critical problem with diagnosing TB is that the technology to test a person requires resources which may not be available globally, such as money, electricity, trained personnel, etc.

Enter Global, which is helping Texas A& M University and the Office of Technology Commercialization to take a revolutionary product to market. The “product” was developed by Texas A & M and Stanford Universities. These two educational institutions were aided by funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The product is a chemical reagent that produces light when it interacts with a TB bacteria enzyme. Generally, a sample of sputum is placed in a test tube containing the chemical reagent. The test tube is then inserted into a fluorometer that measures the fluorescence and diagnoses cases of TB. This testing technique takes about 20 to 30 minutes, and the fluorometer is battery operated. In short this testing technique can be used in more settings than the current primary methods of diagnosing TB. The product is still under development because it must meet specifications and be accurate in a variety of geographic and temperature settings.

Global has networked with a variety of “stakeholders” who can provide expertise, advice and/or funds to continue the commercialization process. WHO, the U.S. Center for Disease Control (“CDC”), the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (“LSTM”), Medecins Sans Frontieres (“Doctors Without Borders”), the Texas Department of State Health Services and Scott & White Healthcare have been vital in helping to identify issues relevant for the development of such a testing device. The LSTM is a key participant for a start up company in this field because a device must meet U.S. AND international standards. This understanding resulted in Global aligning with a United Kingdom office in Daresbury, England. This office has a relationship with LSTM.

There are also funding stakeholders such as the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (“FIND”) which also backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. FIND focuses on TB, malaria and HIV/Aids research. The Wellcome Trust also funds research on tropical diseases.

The challenge is to take this testing technology to the actual point of care. By so doing:

Global has the prototype and is now focused on the factors that will take this product to market, and support continued enhancement of the product. Michael and Chris are seeking out sources of funding as the product must be subjected to intense and aggressive testing. If all goes as planned, Global will be part of providing a product to the international health community that is profitable for Global, Texas A & M and Stanford and readily accessible to potential users.

For our specific community, Global is a test case of the vision of the Reinvestment Zone 1, Scott & White Healthcare, the City of Temple, the State of Texas and the Temple Health and BioScience District. This effort could drive more economic development and jobs in the health care industry in our community.

By the way, Daresbury, England is famous for another reason. Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland, was born about 1.5 miles south of the village. I am not saying that Michael and Chris are “madhatters.” To the contrary, they are dreaming big and it may be a critical lifeline for our community. As Michael put it, what a great project to provide profits to keep a business going and provide a vital humanitarian benefit to those most in need.

The February, 2010 District Newsletter is currently posted on the District Website. The link to the district newsletter is http://www.rotary5870.com/Newsletter.cfm

Please let me know if you have a program you would like to share and we will book them.

May 6 - Leland Gersbach on US National Parks

May 13 - Lanelle Holbrook - Western Hills Elementary

May 20 - Lakewood Elementary School to discuss EAFK

May 27- Lamar Eidson - Kids Against Hunger of Central Texas

June 3 - TBD

June 10 - Sheri Givens - Texas Public Utility Council

June 17 - TBD

June 24 - Rotary Assembly