Commercialisation success stories
We have a strong record of commercialisation success and our collaborations have led to the creation of several startup companies, licensing agreements and patents.
See a selection of our innovations below.
ImpediMed's L-Dex
More cancer patients will now have access to early lymphedema detection technology thanks to ImpediMed’s L-Dex device, developed by UQ’s Dr Leigh Ward.
Lymphedema is swelling that generally occurs in one of your arms or legs, most commonly caused by the removal of or damage to your lymph nodes as a part of cancer treatment.
L-Dex was the first FDA-cleared medical device using bioimpedance spectroscopy to assess lymphedema. It was developed to aid doctors in the clinical assessment of lymphedema by measuring extracellular fluid differences.
It produces a lymphedema index (or L-Dex), helping doctors determine if patients are building up excess extracellular fluid in their at-risk limb. The test takes only minutes to perform, is painless and gives an immediate result.
Microba
Microba uses innovative technology to analyse the human microbiome, uncovering how it affects health and providing advice on how to achieve a better balance between desirable and less desirable microorganisms in your gut.
With a detailed and highly-individualised portrait of a gut’s microbiome, clients have the power to make positive changes.
Microba uses the most advanced method available, called metagenomic sequencing. This creates a larger amount of data, providing a comprehensive, high-resolution picture of all the microorganisms present – including bacteria, archaea, fungi and protists.
Microba co-founder Professor Phil Hugenholtz appeared in 'The Gut Revolution', an episode of ABC TV's Catalyst program, in which experts explored the links between our gut microbiome and health.
QBiotics
QBiotics Group is an Australian biotechnology company established in 2000 to discover and develop new medical therapies from Australia’s tropical rainforest.
Since 2004, the business – formerly EcoBiotics – has worked with UQ to access the expertise of Professor Craig Williams and his research team, to identify and characterise natural compounds from rainforest plant extracts and synthesise those that have demonstrated potential benefits.
In 2011, it raised $10 million to further its research in Professor Williams’s lab and fund trials of its anticancer lead compound EBC-46.
The firm funded more than $4 million of research in Professor Williams’s lab from 2004 to 2014.
Q-Sera
Research into snake venom helped establish medical technology startup Q-Sera, which is working to develop an improved blood collection tube.
The technology aims to reduce the time required to produce high-quality serum in blood clotting tubes, used in biochemical and other pathology assays. It involves coating blood collection tubes with a naturally occurring coagulation agent, isolated from the venom of certain Australian snakes to accelerate the clotting of blood.
The serum-production technology was developed from the work of external and UQ collaborators, including School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences Emeritus Professor John de Jersey.
It has demonstrated successful clotting of such blood samples, providing more confidence around patient diagnosis and patient care. The species may be native to Australia, but the impact of this technology is likely to be felt worldwide.
Wild Yeast Beer
Beer is the world’s oldest and mostly widely consumed alcoholic drink, and it was brewed as long ago as 9500BC.
UQ’s Dr Benjamin Schulz and Edward Kerr are working to understand how differences in yeast and malt can influence the biochemistry, production and product qualities of beer. They aim to discover novel wild yeasts from Brisbane for use in beer fermentation and investigate how their diversity affects beer production and quality.
Their project integrates several techniques to investigate changes in yeast behaviour affecting process control during long fermentations. It discovers and uses Queensland’s microbial diversity, improving efficiencies in barley production and use, and develops more knowledge for the growing industry.