Team:Patras/Entrepreneurship

Education

Entrepreneurship

The 20th century could undoubtedly be characterized as the century of revolutions. During these one hundred years, humanity has made remarkable progress in many different fields, such as arts, science, and technology. One of the most silent ones took place back in 1983 when PCR’s invention redefined our perception of the perfect therapeutic approach.

Since ancient times, everyone was looking for this one drug that works in all the diseases. Today, everyone is looking for a way to make all drugs work in one patient, which is also known as personalized medicine.

Pharmacogenomics, the scientific field that studies genes responsible for the regulation of drugs’ metabolism, can be used to avoid the side effects of medications. However, the lack of knowledge, training, and equipment in this field are the most common reasons why physicians avoid pharmacogenomic implementation into clinical practice. To overcome these barriers, we introduce you “Project Hippocrates”; which consists of BentoLab, a molecular diagnostic device supported by an Artificial Intelligence software that would recommend physicians the administered drug dosage.

We envision our BentoLab-AI system as a start-up that will conquer the business world. To make our dream come true, we examined it’s after iGEM potential.

  1. Pharmaceutical Companies
  2. Universities
  3. Research Institutions
  4. European Patient Office
  5. Investors
  1. Decisive partnerships
  2. Intellectual security
  3. Investors
  1. Adjusting our BentoLab AI-system to work for more drugs.
  2. Acquiring more data to train our algorithm by analyzing more samples.
  3. Healthcare professionals engagement campaigns.
  4. Public engagement campaigns.
  1. Personalized assistance
  2. Automated services (in the future)
  1. Pharmaceutical Companies
  2. Academic Professors
  3. Researchers
  4. Health Professionals
  1. BentoLab’s cost
  2. Laboratory supplies
  3. No labor costs
  1. Mass Media
  2. Social Media
  3. Word-of-mouth approach through pleased costumers
  1. Reduction of cost
  2. Fast diagnosis
  3. Accuracy-Utility of results
  4. Ability of transfer
  5. Usability
  6. Patient’s Psychology
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Business Plan

In-depths analysis

The BentoLab-AI system is a novel device with lots of advantages to use it in clinical practice. It consists of 2 parts; the BentoLab, a portable molecular biology laboratory, and the AI software.

The operating cost of genetic analysis in our portable molecular biology laboratory is low compared to the cost of performing the same analysis in conventional laboratory devices. The BentoLab-AI System could be transferred in remote areas (rural areas, isolated islands, locations with limited infrastructure), giving every patient from all over Greece the opportunity to be examined. Thus, professionals and patients could save money from not transporting blood samples in laboratories based in big metropolitan areas. The establishment of genetic tests would also help Pharmaceutical Companies, and the National Health Care System estimate the dosages of drugs they produce. Finally, resources spent on the production of supernumerary quantities of simvastatin could be saved. Since the cost of genetic analysis in the BentoLab-AI system is inexpensive for physicians, it will also be affordable for most people. Our main goal is for our system to be accessible to all patients.

Through our system, the time needed for genomic analysis is decreased from 5-10 days to only 5-6 hours compared to existing methods. This can be characterized as one of the most important advantages as a physician could have the results only in a few hours to prevent his patient’s side effects and avoid hospitalization.

The portable molecular biology laboratory offers high accuracy and valid results at the same time since it follows the Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) guidelines. This testing device provides analytical validity (presence/absence of a genetic variant), clinical validity (relation of the genetic variant to the presence/absence/risk of the disease), and clinical utility (the tests provide information about the treatment of the disease). By using our BentoLab-AI system, statin nonadherence and drug discontinuation are avoided.

Το validate our in vitro findings, 81 samples were genotyped in a conventional laboratory device, and a comparison between them and the findings from BentoLab was conducted, using again as gold standard the results produced from the KASP assay. Regarding the 81 samples’ scoring assessment, the percentages of concordance between the three methods were also estimated. When it comes to the BentoLab method, 94% (76 out of 81samples) of concordance against the gold standard method was observed for samples with scores 3 and 4, which were the samples with a genotype that can be used for further statistical assessment.

With the direct-to-consumer companies’ policy, where the patients send the sample from their home to the lab, it can be challenging to determine the test quality. Customers may not be capable enough to collect their samples (saliva or blood) on their own. They face technical issues as they might not follow the right procedure, and there is a higher risk of sample contamination while the sample collection process in our portable lab is easier and more effective. This leads to specimen stability and ease of handling, especially for scientists, and there is no need to transport a sample back to a typical laboratory. A few requirements are demanded for the test operation and storage because of the flexibility, safety, and easy operation of the portable molecular laboratory. Finally, the portable molecular laboratory will provide health records accessible both to patients and healthcare professionals.

As we noticed, the portable molecular biology laboratory could be transported in remote areas to be accessible to all patients. A trustful relationship is built between the patient and the physician by answering any questions immediately about the genetic tests while consulting the provided step-by-step guidance. It is widely accepted that doctors would positively influence their patients by informing them about the advantages of such an analysis and urging them to try it out. Of course, the reduction of the risk of a wrong sample collecting procedure is annihilated.

Moreover, using the BentoLab-AI system for genetic analysis, anxiety, and other emotional risks are avoided due to the short time required to show the result. Thus, there is a lower impact on the patient’s occupation or personal life and risk for his/her life insurance to expire.

Pharmacogenomics is a new and emergent track in the world of medicine. Thus, many physicians aren’t adequately qualified and need to be educated to use it in clinical practice. Nowadays, genetic tests are not widely used due to the lack of doctors’ education. For this reason, we first created step-by-step guidance to assist and encourage physicians to perform genetic analysis on their own.

Moreover, to inform Health Professionals about the usability of genetic tests and how to implement them into clinical practice, our Wet Lab team has designed seminars and webinars about the BentoLab-AI system and its applications.

Finally, an educational sub-project of our team called 2MoBiL (Mobile Molecular Biology Laboratory) has been established to inform the public (potential customers, students, etc.) about Synthetic Biology. Through this, our team members visited many high schools, university departments, and scientific events all around Greece to inform about the value of Pharmacogenomics.

Artificial Intelligence in healthcare is often used for classification or to identify high-risk patients for population health. The breadth of applications is rapidly increasing. For example, AI is being applied to the high-cost problem of dosage issues, where findings suggested that AI could save $16 billion. In 2016, a groundbreaking study in California found that a mathematical formula developed with the help of AI correctly determined the accurate dose of immunosuppressant drugs.

Combining AI with Pharmacogenomics in a diagnostic tool could have a significant impact on our society. Our AI system could operate numerous data that can be analyzed to find the right dosage for each patient. Although an AI system must be trained, it is less likely to make mistakes compared to human handling. Moreover, an average person will work for 4–6 hours a day, excluding the breaks. But using AI, we can make machines work 24x7 at a reduced cost, without any breaks, and they don’t even get bored, unlike humans. Using AI, we can make machines make decisions and carry out actions faster than humans. Artificial intelligence has massive potential advantages, as it could allow physicians to make decisions recommended by our BentoLab-AI system.

The key for humans will ensure the “rise of the robots” doesn’t get out of hand. Some people also say that Artificial intelligence can destroy human civilization if it falls into the wrong hands. But still, none of the AI applications made at that scale can destroy or enslave humanity.

SWOT analysis

Using SWOT Analysis is a way to assess your organization’s current position before deciding on any new strategy. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This is a technique for assessing these four (4) aspects of a business and making the most of what you’ve got to your organization’s best advantage. Thus, you can reduce the chances of failure by understanding what you’re lacking and eliminating hazards that would otherwise catch you unawares.

  • Pharmacogenomics is an innovative and pioneering approach to Therapeutics.
  • Our Artificial Intelligence system assists healthcare professionals to make the right decision regarding the administered dosage by providing all the necessary information.
  • Even physicians without previous genetic analysis experience can use the BentoLab-AI system due to the provided step-by-step guidance.
  • The cost of operating our portable molecular laboratory device is inexpensive compared to the cost of performing the same analysis in a conventional laboratory.
  • A physician could have the results only in a few hours and efficiently prevent a patient from the prescribed drug’s side effects.
  • Anxiety and other emotional risks are avoided due to the short time required to show the result.
  • There is a lower impact on the patient’s occupation or personal life and risk for his/her life insurance to expire.
  • A few requirements are demanded for the test operation and storage because of the system’s flexibility, safety, and easy operation.
  • The portable molecular biology laboratory offers high accuracy and valid results at the same time since it happens according to good laboratory practice.
  • Our molecular diagnostic device can be transported to remote areas.
  • Our BentoLab-AI system has only been tested in Statins.
  • A Machine Learning code needs millions of images to be properly trained while we have only used about 10.000.
  • Collecting all the results in 1 database, easily and accessible through computer programs.
  • Large scale production of our system.
  • Making the BentoLab-AI system available to the public health system.
  • Other competing laboratories may hack our BentoLab – AI system.
  • Our systems are not fully optimized yet.
  • The team lacks the financial support needed to continue this project.
  • Ethics problems are arising from the use of AI.

Plans and Interactions

We believe that it’s crucial to present our project to experts in order to improve it and understand its impact on society, especially on patients with cardiovascular diseases who take statins.

The experts we got in contact with are:

Hellenic Society of Cardiology: We approach two cardiologists to investigate the functionality of our project. We concluded that approximately 1 out of 3 patients who take Statins do not achieve effective regulation. So, “Project Hippocrates” appears to be more than useful for them to reduce side effects.

Clinical Pharmacist: He advised us to continue our project by making it a key turning solution as hospitals and health professionals need something easy to use that works perfectly fine and facilitates the daily work. Then, he insisted that to convince the public health system about the cost-effectiveness of our innovative idea is to compare the cost of performing the same genetic analysis in our BentoLab-AI system to a typical laboratory. Taking into consideration that our proposed solution is ten times more economical, we believe that we have created an extremely attractive diagnostic tool.

Experts in computer sciences: They described all the benefits of Artificial Intelligence, how we could use it, and the risks we need to consider. Their contribution to guiding us towards our future steps was vital.

Our project is based on BentoLab, a portable laboratory presented by the UCL_E iGEM Team back in 2013. So, there was no better advisor than the team members who end up creating their own start-up company “BentoLab” and producing their portable laboratory on a great scale. We discussed with Philip Boeing, co-founder of Bento Lab, who gave us some advice for the iGEM competition and their invention’s use. He urged us to think about our project’s communication early on and promote our work on social media and websites regularly whilst encouraging us to prioritize the ideas to achieve an excellent result. Thus, we tried to punctually stay up-to-date on social media with daily posts to promote our business idea to potential customers.

Finding someone to guide you through your entrepreneurship journey is fundamental. For iGEM Patras, Phillip is more than a mentor. He is the one that showed us how dreams come true and especially what are the steps that take a start-up to the highest level of the business world.

A goal without a plan is just a wish. So, to achieve our goals, we wrote down all our future steps. Below you can see a timetable we crafted for the upcoming years.

1) Fundraising
Investments will allow us to transform our scientific project into a sustainable company.

2) Optimization of BentoLab’s test
Our main goal is to make our system as accurate as possible. To achieve our Machine Learning algorithm need to be trained with more images produced by our wet lab team.

3) Extension of Tests range
According to PharmGKB, there are more than 160 drugs whose metabolism is regulated by certain human genes. Making our system a diagnostic tool able to be used to analyze most of these genes is what will skyrocket our company.

4) Patenting our System
Applying for a patent is what will let us avoid competing companies and ensure our market share.

5) Database
Collecting all the results in 1 database, easily accessible through computer programs (such as application, website), in order to create a genetic profile for every patient.

6) Mass production
The BentoLab – AI system’s large-scale production will allow us to supply laboratories, hospitals, and physicians worldwide. Finding a company to co-operate in this field would be extremely beneficial.

7) Public health
We aim to collaborate with the Ministry of Health to make the BentoLab – AI system available to hospitals while the public health system could cover the operation cost. Being inexpensive, non-time-consuming, and easily transported to remote areas is what we will use to persuade the government.

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16 students from Patras blending Pharmacogenomics with Artificial Intelligence to redefine medicine

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