Dream Tech has been spun out to develop a better method for conducting risk assessments on food, pharmaceuticals and pesticides.

Indiana University disclosed the launch of a US-based biotech spinout called Dream Tech on Monday, formed to commercialise a more dependable system for conducting regulatory risk assessments. The research uses a Bayes estimator, a probabilistic concept that can compensate for the lack of demonstrative evidence when making predictions, in a bid to tighten the assessment of chemical toxicity. Dream Tech hopes the technology will aid federal and international regulators scrutinising the safety of chemicals in food, pharmaceuticals and pesticides. The business is based on research by Kan Shao, an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health from Indiana’s School of Public Health who has specialised in probabilistic risk. Shao now expects to secure capital to fund recruitment and business growth, with a view to obtaining the requisite regulatory permissions to use Dream Tech’s system for risk assessment. Indiana University Innovation and Commercialization Office (ICO), the university’s technology transfer arm, facilitated the launch of Dream Tech by licensing Shao’s work for further development. The office recorded 164 invention disclosures during 2016-2017, an annual rise of 9.3% on the previous year. Shao said: “Dream Tech can improve the dose-response modelling approaches to make the assessment more efficient and effective. “The Bayesian method incorporates historical and other types of data to reduce animal use in toxicological studies, which enhances the efficiency of risk assessment.”

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