Cagri Savran - One Cell in a Billion

Sal's Investment Syndicate: Click to Join Sponsored by: Purdue University entrepreneurship Peter Fasse, patent attorney at Fish & Richardson I invested in Savran Tech back in 2017 around the time of the first part of this interview. Recently I sat down with Cagri Savran to review the progress of his remarkable biotech startup in the last four years. Listen to the original interview followed by a recent update. Here is a list of the topics discussed: Çağrı Savran Bio (Çağrı Is Pronounced Cha-re) Accident that Took Çağrı Savran from Turkey to Indiana Purdue University's Remarkable Support for the Commercialization of Faculty Inventions Çağrı Savran: "So, when I say "extremely rare," I mean one-in-a-billion rare." Çağrı Savran: "Our technology can find those five or six or ten cells that are, among about a billion." "…from a blood sample, you have a glimpse into the tumor without cutting into the person." The Promise of Monitoring Cancer Treatment with a Blood Draw "The advantage is if you can do this with a blood sample, it gives you a chance to do this test frequently, right?" Applicable to the Prenatal Monitoring of the Fetus Savran's Tech Is Simple, Fast and Results in High Purity and Yield – 1000 Times Faster than Typical Microfluidic Systems Like Alexander with the Gordian Knot, Savran Has Loosened One Constraint to Great Effect Bigger Scale and Faster Flow Allows the Fast Separation of Rare Cells Device Seems Amenable to Large Scale Usage – Handling Many Patients at the Same Time How the Invention Came About Why Çağrı Savran Founded a Company Purdue's New Commercialization Policy Played a Big Role in the Decision to Found the Company Why Turbocharging Cell Separation Is So Important Other Use Cases: People Are Always Suggesting New Ones but Need to Concentrate Savran's Tech Is a Game Changer because of Throughput and Parallelization Other Techniques Look at Pieces of DNA – Savran's Tech Is Capable of Finding the Entire Genome Sal Daher Reads the Review by Spizzy Spong on iTunes and Asks for Your Review How Savran Landed Bigwig Advisor Ken Morse How Savran Found Its CEO – Patrick Rivelli "Oh, you have no idea how I wish that somebody would say that about me, that I'm 'quietly competent.'" Savran's Choice of the Right Patent Attorney Was Crucial – Peter Fasse Helped Way Beyond Patents Patrick Rivelli, CEO Proposed a New Go to Market Approach What Makes the Savran Lab at Purdue so Productive Çağrı Savran Urges Fellow Academics to Bring Their Inventions to Market Update on the Original Interview with Çağrı Savran, Ph.D. In December of 2017 Savran Was Operating with Essential Components Handmade in the Lab – In October 2021 the Main Components Are Produced by a Vendor Early Technology Was Used in a Major Clinical Trial at Indiana University School of Medicine and Significantly Improved the Ability to Predict Recurrence of a Breast Cancer The Existing Technology for Capturing Circulating Tumor Cells Is Not Scalable – Savran's Tech Is Amenable to Scale Strategic Players in Prenatal Diagnostics Are Interested in Sequencing the Cells Captured – Savran Is Uniquely Positioned to Provide That Ability The Basic Technology Is Like a Kitchen, the Different Assays Are Like What's Being Prepared in the Kitchen Savran Has Recruited a Capable and Involved Board Sal Daher Summarizes Savran's Progress in the Last Four Years