{"681431":{"#nid":"681431","#data":{"type":"news","title":"TopoDx: Pioneering Antibiotic Resistance Testing \u2014 From Lab to Market","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPeter Yunker boils down his advice for researchers wanting to commercialize their lab advances.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYou can\u2019t go it alone,\u201d said Yunker, an associate professor of physics at Georgia Tech.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn January, Yunker co-founded the biotechnology startup TopoDx LLC, with David Weiss, an Emory University School of Medicine researcher and director of the Emory Antibiotic Resistance Center, and Yogi Patel, a Georgia Tech alumnus with a background in business development and bioengineering.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cResearchers often think that they have a good commercialization idea to help people, but that alone does not guarantee success,\u201d said Yunker. \u201cLook for partners with complementary skills who understand aspects of the commercialization process that you don\u2019t. Find mentors with business and scientific backgrounds in the specific industry you want to enter.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETopoDx has developed a microbial test to identify antibiotic resistance and susceptibility rapidly and accurately. Current tests produce a result in three to five days. TopoDx\u2019s approach can gain a result within four hours. Every hour counts in treating serious infections. Delays in accurate treatment can increase antibiotic resistance, which is a global challenge, causing up to 1 million deaths a year.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe company\u2019s testing method was inspired by a fundamental biophysics project in Yunker\u2019s lab. His team was interested in understanding how bacterial colonies behave. They tested white-light interferometry, a technology that can measure bacterial colonies down to the nanometer level.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhite-light interferometry allowed us to identify changes in the topography of a colony that indicated larger changes in the volume of cells in the entire colony,\u201d said Yunker. \u201cWe thought this might have practical applications.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe next step was giving research talks at meetings and looking for collaborators. \u201cI wanted to find someone with expertise on the bacteriology side, and I was very fortunate to meet David Weiss,\u201d Yunker said, noting his proficiency in heteroresistance, a phenomenon where a small subset of a bacterial colony resists an antibiotic.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIf you have just one antibiotic-resistant cell in a hundred cells, it can cause treatments to fail,\u201d said Yunker.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe two collaborators hoped to commercialize their technology, identifying heteroresistance in microbial samples. However, they needed guidance in creating a business model. They consulted Harold Solomon, an entrepreneur with Georgia Tech VentureLab and a principal in the Quadrant-i program, a specialized program helping Georgia Tech faculty and students commercialize research.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESolomon became a key mentor. He guided them away from an ill-advised partnership and instead introduced them to Yogi Patel, who became a co-founder and the company CEO.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis new collaboration provided the team with an important lesson \u2014 one that Yunker passes along to other researchers looking to commercialize their discoveries. \u201cSeek expertise outside your field, be humble about your knowledge limitations, and view collaboration as a strategic partnership,\u201d he says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen Patel came on board, he conducted extensive interviews with more than 15 clinical professionals.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYou need to interview end users or purchasers of whatever solution you want to build,\u201d said Patel. \u201cAsk them if the problem you think you may have solved is a problem with scale, with a market need.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EClinicians, Patel learned, did not see heteroresistance as a significant issue. Instead, the slow pace of antibiotic testing was identified as a major problem. Faster testing could allow clinicians to prescribe targeted drugs more quickly and accurately, reducing unnecessary antibiotic use and the risk of multi-resistant infections.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith this survey information, Patel asked Yunker and Weiss to rethink how their technology could be commercialized.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cA company must solve a real-world problem,\u201d said Patel. \u201cI recommended that we switch from heteroresistance to solving slow antibiotic testing. We could keep heteroresistance as something we can still do as a second or third priority.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETopoDx\u2019s new technology can\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003Emeasure, with single-nanometer accuracy, how bacterial colonies are responding to antibiotics in real time. This method could revolutionize how antibiotics are tested and prescribed. Testing would be conducted on a countertop device about the size of a large microwave. The co-founders envision the device as eventually being used by urgent care facilities and hospitals.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe want to make microbial testing susceptibility accessible anywhere and everywhere,\u201d said Patel.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAdam Krueger, once a Ph.D. student in Yunker\u0027s lab, has continued to refine the technology. Now a post-doctoral researcher, Krueger joined TopoDx in a technical leadership role to expand the technology\u2019s capabilities for microbiological diagnostics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe will keep pushing the envelope forward scientifically while we try to commercialize the accomplishments that we have already made,\u201d Yunker said. \u201cWe hope that some fundamental studies we are doing now out of scientific curiosity could lead to further commercial applications.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech faculty members and graduate students, join the\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/quadrant-i-startup-launch\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQuadrant-i Startup Launch Program\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E to commercialize your research this summer\u003C\/strong\u003E: Over 12 weeks, you\u0027ll receive comprehensive support including guidance from experienced mentors, a $10,000 commercialization grant, and $150,000 worth of in-kind services. Showcase your innovation at Demo Day, where you\u0027ll have the opportunity to present to over 1,500 attendees, including industry leaders and investors. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/airtable.com\/appaTqlTL2zQkXBBR\/pagdkIvjQbvDbSD2F\/form\u0022\u003EApply today\u003C\/a\u003E! \u003Cstrong\u003EApplications close April 11\u003C\/strong\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPeter Yunker, an associate professor of physics at Georgia Tech, co-founded TopoDx LLC to revolutionize microbial testing. With partners David Weiss and Yogi Patel, TopoDx developed a test that identifies antibiotic resistance in just four hours, addressing a critical global challenge. Yunker advises researchers to seek complementary skills and mentorship for successful commercialization. Join the Quadrant-i Startup Launch Program to turn your research into real-world solutions!\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"TopoDx LLC, co-founded by Peter Yunker, David Weiss, and Yogi Patel, developed a microbial test that identifies antibiotic resistance within four hours."}],"uid":"36436","created_gmt":"2025-03-28 15:35:22","changed_gmt":"2025-04-16 19:43:23","author":"bdurham31","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-03-28T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-03-28T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"623758":{"id":"623758","type":"image","title":"Peter Yunker looking at territorial cholera strains","body":null,"created":"1564412886","gmt_created":"2019-07-29 15:08:06","changed":"1564412886","gmt_changed":"2019-07-29 15:08:06","alt":"","file":{"fid":"237578","name":"Yunker.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Yunker.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Yunker.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4750443,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Yunker.jpg?itok=g2xAvjJc"}}},"media_ids":["623758"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/quadrant-i-startup-launch","title":"Apply to Quadrant-i Startup Launch"}],"groups":[{"id":"583966","name":"CREATE-X"},{"id":"655285","name":"GT Commercialization"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"192255","name":"go-commercializationnews"},{"id":"168707","name":"Peter Yunker"},{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"194429","name":"TopoDx"},{"id":"194430","name":"David Weiss"},{"id":"194431","name":"Yogi Patel"},{"id":"194432","name":"biotechnology startup"},{"id":"194433","name":"microbial test"},{"id":"174503","name":"antibiotic resistance"},{"id":"194434","name":"susceptibility"},{"id":"194435","name":"white-light interferometry"},{"id":"182260","name":"bacterial colonies"},{"id":"2579","name":"commercialization"},{"id":"340","name":"collaboration"},{"id":"14601","name":"mentorship"},{"id":"194436","name":"Quadrant-I"},{"id":"194437","name":"Startup Launch Program"},{"id":"174430","name":"research commercialization"},{"id":"341","name":"innovation"},{"id":"194438","name":"urgent care facilities"},{"id":"4499","name":"hospitals"},{"id":"194439","name":"microbiological diagnostics"},{"id":"194440","name":"real-time testing"},{"id":"194441","name":"scientific curiosity"},{"id":"6713","name":"business development"},{"id":"569","name":"bioengineering"},{"id":"2161","name":"founders"},{"id":"3472","name":"entrepreneurship"},{"id":"166973","name":"startup"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193658","name":"Commercialization"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWritten By John H. Tibbetts\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EInternal Contact:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBreanna Durham\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMarketing Strategist\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["breanna.durham@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}