PROFILE: Seek and we shall provide

In 2005, Dr Jeffery Smith was at a bit of a crossroads. Like many before him, the biochemist had made the transition from years of university-based research to working as a scientist in the biotech industry. The demands and constraints of biotech were in danger of squashing his entrepreneurial spirit, however, so he decided to go it alone as a consultant.

That's when he got to thinking about the dichotomy between the public and the private and how it seemed that never the twain shall meet: on one hand the many university researchers with exceptional skills in specialist fields that no one knows about, and on the other the biotech and pharmaceutical companies desperate for new ideas but with no way of knowing where to find them.

So Smith came up with the idea of an online matching service. A comparison with online dating services, while slightly vulgar, is apt enough. One person uploads in their details - in this case their skills and knowledge in a particular area of technology - and the other conducts a search for people with those skills.

Thus, BioAssayLINK was born in late 2006. "The whole idea of this business is that people are time-poor and they want good, reliable information at their fingertips," Smith says.

"While medical researchers can access information fairly quickly it's not always the same for business-orientated scientists. They want information on quite specific stuff like who might be working on an enzyme or who has the expertise in certain types of skin cancer. Most biotech companies are developing a drug that works on a particular pathway but they may not have all the necessary in-house expertise. And of course business and scientists who discover things don't always work well together.

"So I've developed an online business where the seeker of a specialised assay can ask a very detailed question or they can ask a broad question, like who has the techniques in the lab now, not what they did five years ago."

Smith defines a bioassay as any biological system in which an effect can be assessed, including biological target molecules, animal models, specialised techniques, bioanalysis and genetic polymorphisms. Individuals or laboratories with specialist skills are called providers - they upload their details into a database highlighting their capabilities.

"Most labs have in the vicinity of about 10 assays or they perhaps 20 or 30 if they are a big lab," Smith says. "They might be working on something like toll-like receptors, so that would be one capability. What they can specify in their field is that they are measuring the mRNA by real-time PCR or they're measuring protein or measuring functional activity.

"University labs, if they operate at higher QA levels, they can also put that in. There is a field for competitive advantage as well, so if they feel they are one of two labs in the world - and they would know that - then they can put that in."

Providers and seekers

Then come the seekers. These are generally biotech or pharmaceutical companies, but can also be other researchers, that don't have particular in-house expertise who are looking for the best in the business, wherever they may be located in the world.

"BioAssayLINK really replaces people sitting down at a meeting or having lunch at conferences. You might meet somebody, you might get to talk to the speaker but it is pretty hard work. You basically have to push yourself in their face and scientists are often reserved and feel that people should come to them. A lot of scientists will think, 'I'm that good, they'll find me if they need me'. But if they're not out there and proactive about it, then ..."

Providers are charged a nominal annual fee to list their capabilities in the database. Seekers pay for an information request on-line. Once BioAssayLINK puts the provider and seeker in contact with each other, its job is done. Any contract work agreed to would then generally go through the university's commercialisation section to iron out the contract.

"It's very much a network approach," Smith says. "It's not just researchers but legal people who have to search about ideas on biotech: they might have a client and have to get together a report, so this is another way for them to find out who is doing this stuff.

"The indications are that a lot of the commercial arms of the universities may also find it useful to find out what is happening in their own universities. They find it hard to know what is going on too."

Smith says he wants to appeal to the entrepreneurial instincts of researchers locked away in the universities. He wants to highlight the benefits of having a pharmaceutical company or a biotech company come to the scientist, wanting to work with them closely.

"It could be that their research ends up as a cervical cancer vaccine or some novel HIV treatment," he says. "This is also a potential source of additional, scarce funds for their work. If they can spend a little time putting their details into the system, then the world's their oyster."

See www.bioassaylink.com for more information.