Key Facts:
- UNSW spinout company working on cure for osteoarthritis
- University provides tailored support for key players working at company
- Recent building works on campus will complement promising work on arthritis cure
A potential cure for osteoarthritis has humble beginnings with a UNSW researcher accompanying her parent to a doctor's visit for back pain.
UNSW Chemical Engineering Associate Professor Sophia Gu took her mother to see Dr Ashish Diwan in 2020.
Dr Diwan is the Director of Spine Service at St George Hospital in south-west Sydney and works for the hospital's clinical school, by chance also run by UNSW.
He says it was "serendipity" to meet each other.
"During the appointment, I'm explaining the issue of arthritis and how we really don't have a preventative solution...she comes back to me and says, 'This is what we need to do.'"
A/Prof. Sophia Gu has spent two decades researching nanomedicine, the study of fighting illness at the molecular level.
They've started AZX Biotech together, a spinout company based on UNSW research. They've already reversed osteoarthritis in mice.
"We have a strategy with strong science and a strong molecule that is ready for human implantation, which rarely ever happens in discovery-phase work," Dr Diwan says.
The company is working its way towards clinical trials within the next few years.
UNSW is providing ongoing support to the spinout, with help on everything from staff recruitment to finding investors.
Joint success
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis in Australia, according to government data.
It's a chronic condition where cartilage that connects and cushions bones breaks down and gets worse over time. It can become highly debilitating for people over 70.
Around 2.1 million people have the condition, costing the country $4.3 billion a year for treatment.
Dr Diwan and A/Prof. Gu believe they're on a winning ticket for preventative treatment, combining decades of insights on spinal surgery and nanomedicine respectively.
"Not every engineer in my field gets to collaborate with a clinician. I can learn the scientific problem from research papers, but I realised it's important to learn from the front line."
Nanomedicine includes the study of creating materials to deliver a drug's key ingredient safely to its target. It was used to great effect with two of the leading mRNA vaccines developed to fight COVID-19.
Along with Chief Operating Officer Dr Quanbin Dai, AZX is making strides.
"Quanbin is a talented, well-rounded, young man," A/Prof. Gu says, "He's brought us to new networks and is really good at keeping that going."
The three of them are at different stages of their careers that mix academia with business, and UNSW facilitates their professional development.
Quanbin's first foray
Dr Dai completed his PhD in 2022 and was already part of A/Prof. Gu's research group before AZX Biotech officially kicked into gear.
After the two co-founders started putting plans in motion, he was brought on as COO to oversee day-to-day operations.
"I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time," Dr Dai says.
It's the first time he's pursued work outside pure research, and gaining the skillset needed to compete in any business market is a steep learning curve.
Last year, Dr Dai received an Early Career Fellowship from UNSW Founders, an initiative that gives academics the skills to commercialise their work.
"One of the biggest adjustments is engaging with different audiences," he says, "investors, customers, industry partners."
The fellowship provides mentoring and workshops on how to communicate with those stakeholders, and valuable opportunities to meet them in the flesh.
"As an engineer, you're just sharing your results and you want to be as detailed as possible…they've taught me how to change my communication style to think about what those different audiences are looking for."
Sophia's support system
AZX Biotech is the culmination of A/Prof. Gu's career, researching how nanomedicine can better deliver drugs that fight everything from restenosis (blood vessels tightening after surgery) to cancer.
Support from UNSW's School of Chemical Engineering to give her lab space and extra staff through a work experience arrangement for research students is making a difference.
"I have a very strong research team, they come together beautifully."
Assistance for Ashish
Dr Diwan's professional background brings decades of practical healthcare experience into the fold. He also has a separate business focusing on a new way to heal degenerative spinal discs.
Despite having a storied career, he is inspired by his colleagues and learns valuable lessons from them.
"Quanbin has this incredible ability to understand concepts that are completely alien to him very quickly, which I still have to figure out.
"And Sophia, oh my god, I have learned so much on how you can lift the investigative approach to science to the point that there are no stones left unturned."
He has similar praise for UNSW's Industry and Innovation team, who deal with business partnerships, resourcing and advice for commercialising research.
"They've been able to advise us where to pitch to investors. They've networked us into their venture capital community.
"All these small pieces of infrastructure that wouldn't have been possible unless UNSW had them put in place."
The company is also in a prime position to take advantage of the University's Health Translation Hub, a new space at UNSW's main campus that brings together health professionals and researchers under one roof to collaborate.
"We have leveraged a molecule on one side, and then we have this incredible facility to improve the science. So that, strategically, puts us in a very unique place in the arthritis world."
