Source Precision tools check cell?s vital signs

BOULDER — Boulder-based Source Precision Medicine isn’t in the genomics business to search for cures for deadly diseases, but it does something just as important for medicine ­ it takes the vital signs of human cells.

Source Precision develops database tools for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies that in turn use them to make better medicines. The company also provides its customers with expert professional services to assist them with the powerful database tools.

Despite all the advancements in modern medicine over the last 100 years, scientists still are struggling to find an easier path to developing medicines that cure. Sure, a lot more chemicals compounds have been discovered to test with, but the number of targeted genes also has increased, making the choices for researchers agonizing.

SPONSORED CONTENT

Select your Republic Services residential cart now!

In preparation for Republic Services becoming the primary provider of residential recycling, yard trimmings, and trash, residents should now select the best cart size and service schedule for their household needs.

“You’re still trying to find that needle in the haystack,” Source Precision’s Vice President of Finance and Operations Vikas Tiku said. “The idea is to make better tools that help pharmacology companies to find that needle in the haystack.”

The last two years was spent proving the technology behind Source Precision in pre-clinical and clinical environments.

“If all goes well, Source Precision will be taken to the patient level,” Tiku said. “We’ve shown this has worked in different settings, including pharmacological and for herbal cosmetics.”

The kind of herbal cosmetics Source Precision has done studies on include those used to prevent irritation or inflammation, such as ultraviolet protection creams.

Source Precision uses its intellectual property to determine what targeted genes and chemical compounds go into the testing panes used to study the effects of drugs on humans with chronic diseases. “Our hypothesis is that the human body tightly regulates their gene expressions,” Tiku said. “If a drug works, a person’s gene expression goes back to a normal or stable pattern.”

As advanced as medicine may seem today, it’s still fairly easy to find areas where medicine is still coping with antiquated techniques. For instance, perhaps the only way a rheumatologist can tell if a particular drug has stopped working on you, or determines you’ve built up an intolerance to a medication, is to pinch that part of that body and ask you if it hurts.

With Source Precision’s tools, doctors could simply track the effects of drugs on a patient’s gene expression and monitor the health of those cells.

This cutting-edge tool can tell the difference between a subtle fluctuation of gene expressions, or if the gene expression has gotten back to its stable expression.

Michael Bevilacqua and a group of former Amgen scientists founded Source Precision in June 1998. Bevilacqua, chief executive officer of Source Precision, was a vice president and corporate officer at Amgen.

When Amgen consolidated its research department and moved it to California, Bevilacqua decided to stay in Colorado and build out his vision for developments in molecular biology tools.

Source Precision now has 20 deals with more than 12 non-disclosed customers. The privately held company has already received $10 million in venture capital in two rounds of funding in 1998 and 2000. Source is now in the process of raising more funding for expansion capital.

The company has 20 employees in Boulder and two in Germany, where it has a laboratory at the University of Munich. “We’ve had no problem finding talent either locally or internationally,´ said Tiku, adding, “The quality of life is so good here, so when they come out here they are almost hooked.”

According to Bevilacqua, more than $600 billion was spent in the United States last year to manage chronic disease. Bevilacqua believes his company’s technology will bridge the gap needed to get patients the medicines they need quicker and make them healthier faster.

Some people believe it will take about 10 years before genomics really start making substantial medical-care breakthroughs, Tiku said. “(But,) there are people like us that say it’s two to three years out.”