Isis Spin-out Founder named Entrepreneur of the Year

27 April 2009

Professor Hagan Bayley, founder of Oxford Nanopore Technologies, was named Entrepreneur of the Year by the Royal Society of Chemistry last week at the Industry and Technology Forum Awards. Professor Bayley is Professor of Chemical Biology at the University of Oxford.

Isis Innovation was instrumental in setting up the company with seed funding of £0.5 million in 2005.  Isis managed the business planning and the intellectual property aspects of creating the new business. Oxford Nanopore Technologies is developing the first single-molecule, label-free method of sequencing DNA. It has raised £24 million in the last year, expanding from 25 people to 60 scientists, engineers and informaticians. 

“We would like to congratulate Professor Bayley on the award, which recognises the both his scientific and commercial achievements,” said Mr Tom Hockaday, managing director of Isis Innovation. “At Isis we have the privilege of working with an exceptional group of inventors and entrepreneurs, and we aim to provide the technology transfer expertise, funding through the University Challenge Seed Fund, and support for the next generation of Oxford spin-outs.”

Professor Bayley has researched nanopores for nearly 20 years at world-leading institutions that include Harvard, MIT, the University of Massachusetts and now the University of Oxford. He founded Oxford Nanopore to transform the accumulated knowledge of nanopores into a highly competitive technology for single molecule analysis. Nanopores may be used to identify single molecules of DNA, and also a broad range of other analytes that might include proteins, biological or chemical weapons, drugs of abuse and much more.

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Oxford Nanopore Technologies
Oxford Nanopore Technologies is a nanobiotechnology diagnostic company developing highly innovative products for applications in genomics, pharmacogenomics and high thoroughput drug discovery as well as for the Home Defence and Security sectors.
www.nanoporetech.com

Isis Innovation
Isis Innovation is the University of Oxford's technology company and manages the University's intellectual property portfolio, working with University researchers on identifying, protecting and marketing technologies through licensing, spin-out company formation and material sales. Isis files on average one new patent application each week, has concluded over 400 technology licensing agreements, and established 62 new spin-out companies from Oxford. Isis also manages Oxford University Consulting, which arranges consulting services providing clients access to the world-class expertise of the University's academics to enhance innovative capability. Last year OUC arranged over 100 consulting deals. Isis has established a separate business division, Isis Enterprise, offering consulting expertise and advice in technology transfer and open innovation to university, government and industrial clients around the world. Isis was founded in 1987 and is today one of the world's leading technology transfer and innovation management companies.