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Indiana University

Economic Development & Engagement

Initiative: Business Startups in Bloomington
Location: Bloomington, Indiana

Precision Predictions

New business startup improves the outlook for health—and the economy

“Together we can change your destiny,” says the promotional material from Predictive Physiology & Medicine, Inc. (PPM), a Bloomington-based biotech startup. The company’s founders include professors from IU, the IU School of Medicine, and Purdue.

These professors worked together to create the NetFit platform, a personalized health and wellness analysis tool that helps individuals predict their future health. But the company’s existence, and that of others like it, could prove to be a strong indicator of the future health of Indiana’s economy as well. Combining innovative life sciences discoveries with inventive machine design, PPM is, in a way, the perfect marriage of manufacturing and science.

Capitalizing on New Capabilities

Inventors David Clemmer and Gary FleenerTheirs is a bold vision that aims to capitalize on innovative new measurement and informatics capabilities. Using a small amount of a patient’s blood, PPM can generate a molecular fingerprint that will aid doctors in understanding patient predispositions to disease as well as anticipated disease progression. Such analyses can help patients “achieve optimal medical outcomes, and improve quality of life as well as reduce long-term health care costs,” says company CEO Steve Naylor.

Innovation Born in IU Labs

This method of health profiling uses an ion mobility spectrometry technology and complex machinery initially developed in IU Bloomington Professor David Clemmer’s lab. The ion mobility method makes it possible to separate protein mixtures with remarkable speed (in milliseconds). The approach is based on differences in the mobilities of ions through gasses such as air. Such high-speed methods are revolutionizing the emerging field of proteomics.

A commercial version of the technology based on intellectual property licensed through the IU Research and Technology Corporation (IURTC) recently won the gold medal for best new instrumentation at the Pittsburg Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy.

Space for Growth

PPM was first housed at inVenture, a city of Bloomington—IU sponsored technology park and business incubator. A major mark of their success is that they have moved from the incubator to a larger space in the commercial McDoel building, where they have 1,500 square feet of lab space and 3,000 feet of office space. Their success underscores the importance of IU President Michael McRobbie’s first major Innovate Indiana initiatives: construction of a new Indiana University incubator facility in Bloomington and plans to add to existing incubator facilities in Indianapolis .

Changing Destinies

PPM could change a person’s destiny just by forecasting future health, and the life sciences are the future of Indiana’s economy. It’s remarkable to consider: the Doppler Radar of proteomics instrumentation that will make that possible began in a business incubator in a college town in Indiana.

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