"Start-Up" - Washington Post - January 23, 2006

Lab assistant Heather Jones, left, discusses efforts to screen protein diseases with Cindy Orser, vice president of research and development, and chief executive Alan S. Rudolph at Adlyfe Inc.'s Rockville headquarters. (By Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)

Name: Adlyfe Inc.

Location: Rockville

Funding: The company recently raised $3.3 million in a series A round of funding with venture capital firms Canaan Venture Partners and Burrill Associates. The company also raised more than $7 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command; the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; and Britain's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Big idea: Adlyfe is developing technology to screen for animal prion diseases and human wasting diseases that correlate with the accumulation of misfolded proteins in the brain. The company has created a test that measures and amplifies the misfolded proteins present in protein diseases by mimicking the disease process, chief executive Alan S. Rudolph said.

"We've taken a piece of the protein we're looking for and created a smaller synthetic peptide based on the same amino acid sequence," Rudolph said. "These synthetic peptides also fold and change their shape much like the parent target protein does."

When the synthetic peptide comes in contact with the target protein, it folds and changes color, confirming the presence of the target protein. The test can detect a buildup of misfolded proteins in the bloodstream before they accumulate in the brain, possibly leading to disease, Rudolph said.

Where the idea was hatched: Cindy Orser, Vice President of Research and Development, developed the idea while working with another company that was not interested in pursuing the technology. Adlyfe was founded in July 2003 and licensed the patent rights to Orser's technology. Orser joined the company in January 2004.

Example of use: The tests would be used in human clinical screening to detect human wasting diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. It also would be used in the public health arena to screen the blood and food supply for proteins associated with animal prion diseases, such as mad cow disease.

Price: Adlyfe's test for animal prion diseases will cost $10 to $20. The cost of the clinical diagnostic tests for human wasting diseases will vary widely, Rudolph said.

Who's in charge: Rudolph and Orser.

Employees: Ten. Rudolph plans to hire five more this year.

Web site: http://www.adlyfe.com

Partners: The Moredun Research Institute of Scotland and Georgetown University.

What the name means: "It has no specific meaning," Rudolph said. He said the company developed from "an investment in freeze drying [blood] platelets. Adlyfe was created with the theme of technology to support increased blood safety and availability." The company's blood stabilization technology has since spun out into another company called Cellphire.

Where the company will be in five years: "I think we'll have established our technology against a number of wasting diseases and will have demonstrated the strong correlation to clinical disease and very likely be well into the marketplace with a clinical diagnostic product," Rudolph said. "We hope to start clinical trials within the year. Our product might be available in 2008. We're focusing on the prion diseases first as a way to validate our technology, and Alzheimer's is our second target."

-- Andrea Caumont