{"id":8643,"date":"2016-04-29T06:47:01","date_gmt":"2016-04-29T06:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/?p=8643"},"modified":"2023-08-09T22:52:35","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T17:07:35","slug":"brenners-simpler-fertility-test-is-basis-for-promising-uw-madison-spinoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/brenners-simpler-fertility-test-is-basis-for-promising-uw-madison-spinoff\/","title":{"rendered":"Brenner\u2019s simpler fertility test is basis for promising UW-Madison spinoff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Doubts about their ability to become pregnant affect as many as 25 percent of American women, and solving that problem is the basic business plan for BluDiagnostics. Although the startup company was born in the University of Wisconsin\u2014Madison Biochemistry Department, co-founder Katie Brenner says the idea came directly from her own difficulty with conception.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many would-be parents, Brenner was advised to select the optimum time for conception based on blood and\/or urine tests of hormone levels, but the tests are cumbersome at best and inaccurate at worst, she says.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Brenner<\/a>
Brenner in biology Professor Doug Weibel\u2019s lab. PHOTO: BRYCE RICHTER<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Working in the lab of BluDiagnostics co-founder Doug Weibel<\/span><\/a>, an associate professor of biochemistry at UW\u2013Madison, Brenner developed a quick, saliva-based method for measuring progesterone and estrogen. Variations in estrogen levels, in particular, are closely related to ovulation, and are considered the gold standard for conception timing, she says.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe looked at how many women struggle to become pregnant, and they don\u2019t know if it\u2019s something about their body, their partner\u2019s body, or just poor timing,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to find information at a time when you want a lot of information and control.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brenner came to Weibel\u2019s lab in 2012, after getting a doctorate from the California Institute of Technology and spending several years full-time with her kids. As she worked on infant nutrition with Weibel, she was also thinking about fertility.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWomen need daily information on hormone levels,\u201d she notes, adding that such information could be available from a daily blood test. \u201cBut nobody wants to take a blood test every day, so we developed one using saliva instead. Being a bioengineer in a biochemistry department, I realized it was just a matter of developing the technology.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Users wet a paper strip with saliva and within minutes the device holding the paper will deliver measurements of progesterone and estrogen to the patient\u2019s smart device.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe readings are compared to your previous levels so you see the overall trend,\u201d Brenner says. \u201cThat tells you what your body is doing and helps you understand your fertility.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things have moved quickly since Brenner came up with the basic, patent pending innovation about two years ago. One key step was the 2014 Wisconsin Entrepreneurial Bootcamp. \u201cIt was a one-week crash course in getting a business started.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[pullquote]Brenner says Madison has proven a fertile place to develop this technology. \u201cHaving the lab, sharing this vision with Doug Weibel, my lab leader, and having great support from our department have all been key. [\/pullquote]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKatie is a great example of those gifted scientists we hope to inspire and educate as part of the bootcamp,\u201d says director Dan Olszewski, director of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship at the Wisconsin School of Business. \u201cHer ability to take her cutting-edge research from the lab to a product that will have such a positive impact on so many is truly impressive and a great example of the Wisconsin Idea.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With assistance from the third co-founder, Jodi Schroll, BluDiagnostics won the 2015 Governor\u2019s Business Plan Competition<\/span><\/a>, held last June. \u201cTo write a business plan required understanding our market and establishing a pricing structure, which I had not been trained to do as a scientist and engineer,\u201d Brenner says. \u201cIt was incredibly encouraging to see that other people thought this technology would fill a big need. It took me a long time to believe in the idea, since it was so personally motivated.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winning the competition led to investments that have totaled about $1.2 million, she says.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Katie<\/a>
Katie Brenner is pictured in the DeLuca Biochemistry Building with a prototype testing strip designed to detect estradiol and progesterone hormones in a woman\u2019s saliva, which can be used in conjunction with an app on a mobile device to measure fertility. PHOTO: BRYCE RICHTER<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Brenner continues to study the nutritional needs of premature babies in Weibel\u2019s lab, in collaboration with De-Ann Pillers<\/span><\/a>, a UW Health neonatologist at UnityPoint Health-Meriter. \u201cWe are undertaking a large clinical study of preterm infants, trying to understand why some fail to thrive,\u201d she says. \u201cOur ultimate goal is to optimize nutrients for preterm babies,\u201d who cannot digest many nutrients.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with fertility, Brenner has a personal motivation. \u201cOur first child was born early, and I experienced the angst of a parent whose child is in the neonatal ICU.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BluDiagnostics aims to obtain Food and Drug Administration approval and reach the market by 2017, but Brenner is already thinking beyond fertility. \u201cWe will provide unprecedented data, and we are thinking creatively about how it can contribute to women\u2019s health. Most studies collect self-reported data on menstrual cycles: what you ate, your mood and exercise, and try to reach medical conclusions. For the first time, we will marry that data with cold, hard numbers to support a better understanding of relationships between hormonal trends and underlying disorders.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brenner says Madison has proven a fertile place to develop this technology. \u201cHaving the lab, sharing this vision with Doug Weibel, my lab leader, and having great support from our department have all been key. I was given plenty of space, and all the tools I needed, to explore the idea.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Working in the lab of BluDiagnostics co-founder Doug Weibel, an associate professor of biochemistry at UW\u2013Madison, Brenner developed a quick, saliva-based method for measuring progesterone and estrogen. Variations in estrogen levels, in particular, are closely related to ovulation, and are considered the gold standard for conception timing, she says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":8646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medicine","category-research"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Brenner-lab-775x516.jpg",448,298,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Brenner-lab-775x516-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Brenner-lab-775x516-300x199.jpg",300,199,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Brenner-lab-775x516.jpg",448,298,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Brenner-lab-775x516.jpg",448,298,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Brenner-lab-775x516.jpg",448,298,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Brenner-lab-775x516.jpg",448,298,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Brenner-lab-775x516.jpg",448,298,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Brenner-lab-775x516.jpg",448,298,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Brenner-lab-775x516.jpg",448,298,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Brenner-lab-775x516.jpg",448,298,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Brenner-lab-775x516.jpg",448,298,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Brenner-lab-775x516.jpg",448,298,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Brenner-lab-775x516.jpg",95,63,false],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Brenner-lab-775x516.jpg",448,298,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Brenner-lab-775x516.jpg",96,64,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Brenner-lab-775x516.jpg",150,100,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Amrita Tuladhar"]},"category_info":"Medicine<\/a> Research<\/a>","tag_info":"Research","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}