Insights

Shining a light on UCL’s academic entrepreneurs for World Entrepreneur’s Day

21 August 2024

Lightbulbs.

At UCLB, we’re proud to help UCL’s academic community in realising the potential in their research and innovations, supporting them every step along the commercialisation journey from cutting edge academic research to market-ready life-changing products, services and innovations. Here we celebrate just some of these visionary and determined individuals:

 

Image of two men standing at an exhibition stand.

Belief in the power of magnetism: Professors Quentin Pankhurst and Simon Hattersley

These two UCL professors had a simple but powerful idea:  to use magnetic-based sensing to replace the need for radioactivity-based approaches to determine whether breast cancer has spread from the primary tumour site into the lymphatic system, which is an important staging decision in the treatment of the disease.

In collaboration with Professor Audrius Brazdeikis at the University of Houston and UCL Business they developed a magnetic injectable solution and complimentary sensing device to allow pinpoint precision in locating lymph nodes and importantly avoiding the need for conventional radioactive solutions – so patients can be treated outside of traditional large city hospital locations. UCLB supported them every step of the way as they built their spinout company Endomag and developed and tested their products which are now used by over 1,000 hospitals and have helped over 500,000 women to a more precise diagnosis and less invasive breast cancer treatment.

Two research in a scientific laboratory.

Thinking Big: Dr Martin Pule

Bringing a novel therapeutic from the lab to the patient is a long and hugely expensive business. Having advice and support from UCLB in attracting investors can make a crucial difference. UCL’s Dr Martin Pule developed a new approach to personalised cancer treatment, the CAR-T therapy. The therapy reprogrammes a patient’s T cells to recognize and kill their cancer cells, particularly leukaemia’s and lymphomas.

Dr Pule established Autolus following several rounds of proof-of-concept funding totaling £183,000 from ULC Business (UCLB) between 2010 and 2014, which successfully demonstrated the therapeutic applications and commercial potential of the technology. From then on, the company continues to grow, securing investment from the likes of Syncona and Blackstone Life Sciences. Autolus has raised $921.6m, now employs 450 people and has a UK-based manufacturing and infrastructure facility including 70,000 square foot production space.

 

Man standing in front of an exhibition stand

Utilising AI to transform operational efficiency: Dr Daniel Hulme

Founder and CEO of leading enterprise AI spinout, Satalia, and also Chief AI Officer of communications company WPP, Daniel is a thought leader in the AI and optimization space. Satalia’s foundations arise from research conducted by Daniel at UCL’s Department of Computer Science, along with co-founders Professor Anthony Finkelstein and Dr Alastair Moore. Combining machine learning and optimization, the company builds technologies that helps clients transform their business strategies and radically improve operational efficiency – for example by instantly identifying optimal delivery routes from trillions of possibilities.

Proof of concept funding awarded by UCLB in 2008 allowed Daniel to develop a prototype and conduct market research, leading to the formation of Satalia in 2009. 15 years on from its formation, the company has grown rapidly under Daniel’s leadership. Its clients have included Tesco, DFS, DS Smith, BT, PwC, Gigaclear and Unilever. The spinout was acquired by WPP in 2021, and it currently employs 140 people worldwide to deliver products and customised AI solutions solving some of the toughest problems for the enterprise sector.

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