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As the physicians struggled to keep the priest alive in the former Medical College of Ohio intensive care unit nearly 10 years ago, their frustration transformed into determination.

“He developed a severe case of capillary leak syndrome, which is triggered by the body’s response to severe injury or insult,” Shapiro, a nephrologist, professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine at The University of Toledo, recalled. “Unfortunately for many, capillary leak syndrome is a death sentence.”

Shapiro and Assaly – a pulmonologist, critical care professor, director of The University of Toledo Medical Center’s intensive care unit and director of the internal medicine residency program – treated the priest for months with existing medications. Whether good fortune or a higher power intervened, the priest joined a minority of patients who survive capillary leak syndrome. His narrow escape, however, was the impetus for a new treatment that could revolutionize how physicians treat it in the future – whether in a university hospital, on a military battlefield or in a Third World village.

Soon after the priest recovered, Shapiro, Assaly and their colleague, Dr. J. David Dignam, professor of biochemistry and cancer biology at UT, developed a new drug in Dignam’s lab. The development process was relatively simple; getting the drug into the mainstream of medicine, however, was a different matter.

“These physicians possess the knowledge and experience to make a significant contribution to medicine,” said Megan Reichert, UT’s director of incubation. “What they needed was a boost to form a solid connection between their knowledge and northwest Ohio’s business and economic communities.”

With assistance from The University of Toledo’s Science, Technology and Innovation Enterprises, Shapiro, Assaly and Dignam have formed a start-up business, ADS Biotechnology Corp. In February, representatives from UT and ADS signed a licensing agreement to develop and market the company’s innovative pharmaceutical product, polyethylene glycol (PEG)-modified albumin, which has effectively stifled the effects of capillary leak syndrome in test studies.

UT’s partnership with ADS is one of several offered through specialized University programs. These partnerships assist small businesses by providing funding, collaborative research opportunities and facilities, spurring growth and self-sufficiency.

“Our goal is to help nurture these businesses so they can transition successfully into northwest Ohio’s economy,” Reichert said. “It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved. The businesses benefit from our experience and a knowledgeable research base, and the local economy benefits from the addition of a viable entrepreneur. It fits perfectly with UT’s strategic plan to be a leader in economic development.”

As soon as funding is secured, ADS will submit an application to the Food and Drug Administration in preparation for human clinical trials. Animal studies have found the drug to be effective with minimal side effects.

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PEG-modified albumin could be distributed within five years.

Several tenants inhabit research facilities within UT’s Clean and Alternative Energy Incubator, which underwent a $2.2 million expansion this summer. SuGanit Systems, Inc., is one of the most recent businesses to take advantage of UT’s academic expertise and eager student workforce.

Praveen Paripati, CEO, created SuGanit in 2006 to further the research and development of renewable and clean energy resources. Based in Reston, Va., SuGanit moved its research and development facility to UT’s main campus.

Dr. Sasidhar Varanasi and Dr. Patricia Relue, associate professors in the fields of chemical and environmental engineering and bioengineering, have worked tirelessly with the SuGanit team to perfect an affordable method of producing cellulosic ethanol, a renewable replacement for gasoline, from non-food biomass substances, such as corn stalks and poplar.

The process, Paripati said, is complex. Cellulose, the man component of biomass that is converted to sugars, is crystalline and hard to break.

“UT professors were the first to show that cellulose could be broken down into sugars quickly,” Paripati said. “We think we have created a process that is technically sound and economically promising.”

UT and SuGanit have signed a licensing agreement to develop and market the technologies that Paripati hopes will lead to mass production of cellulosic ethanol.

SuGanit’s business plan involves developing the process further at a pilot facility in northwest Ohio within the next year and building a commercial-scale plant in 2010. Paripati expects that 40-50 jobs could be created at such a facility. Ohio, he added, is an ideal location for the first of what he hopes will be numerous manufacturing plants across the country.

The success of a company like SuGanit, he said, can be instrumental in restructuring a new manufacturing economy in northwest Ohio, which has seen significant job loss and economic recession during the past few years.

“We think we are just at the beginning stages of realizing the potential of renewable chemicals and fuels,” Paripati noted. “We’ve established a viable process for producing ethanol at smaller scales. We have to be able to produce the same results at a much larger scale.”

The UT connection will continue to assist SuGanit as the enterprise expands.

“UT has been helpful in every direction,” Paripati said. “The faculty was cooperative and creative in solving hard problems and modifying their approaches while keeping economics in view. People within The University’s Office of Research and Development and Technology Transfer also have been extremely open and helpful.

“When I came here, I had just an idea. UT said, ‘If you want to try it, we’ll help.’”

UT’s partnerships with ADS and SuGanit have attracted local, state and federal funding, as well. Collaborating with SuGanit, UT shares in a $4.4 million grant from the Department of Energy for biofuel research, and also received an Ohio Third Frontier Advanced Energy Program award.

Both ADS and SuGanit have received assistance from the Regional Growth Partnership.

In the end, UT’s partnerships with local businesses will have advantages for both the local economy and those who must think small before making it big. Ultimate benefits will undoubtedly stretch far beyond northwest Ohio.

“Our success will lead to more energy security for the U.S. and to the reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases,” Paripati said.

For his part, Shapiro remembers patients who weren’t as fortunate as the young priest.

“This product,” he said simply, “will save lives.”

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