Rebel Bios: From Science Fiction to the future of Brain Cancer Treatment
The Story Behind a Fourth Gen Engineer & First Gen Entrepreneur
“Throughout my childhood, my parents really nurtured my passion for science and technology; I distinctly remember my father sitting me down when I was about 7 to teach me in some detail about how a propeller engine worked — I wouldn’t know but I suspect that isn’t typical of everyone’s childhood!” Chris Bullock, biomedical engineer, entrepreneur & co-founder of QV Bioelectronics
“In particular, they instilled a real drive in me to really understand how things work and why they are designed the way they are. This is something that I think is sadly lacking amongst large parts of our society — the curiosity to look deeper really leads to those important insights that end up improving the world around us. It was also my parents who motivated me to become an entrepreneur; they were always keen for me to develop innovative technology and I think entrepreneurship goes hand in hand with innovation.”
“I am a fourth generation mechanical engineer in my family, so you could say I was born a scientist.”
“As a result, I was actively looking for emerging technology with real commercial potential throughout my PhD. Academia is not an easy career choice and I never saw myself becoming a professor. I was more interested in developing real-world applications for new technology rather than research for its own sake.
“With this mindset, I eventually found myself working to develop better designs of deep brain stimulation electrodes for use in treating Parkinson’s tremor, as well as using the same technology for cortical mapping (used during surgery to record the seizure activity of epilepsy patients). It was whilst I was performing this research that I met Richard, now my co-founder, who is a neurosurgery registrar working in the NHS.
“Richard’s research interest was in developing better treatments for brain tumours. Like many of his colleagues, he was frustrated about not being able to do more for these patients. He was aware of emerging electrotherapy approaches to treating cancer, however, he was also aware that the existing devices had a number of severe design flaws. He introduced this to me and asked me, as an engineer, if I could come up with some better approaches. We hit it off straight away and it wasn’t long before we were coming up with some really innovative ideas. After discussing the problem for several months, we realised that we were really on to something with our approach. We then formed QV Bioelectronics to develop our technology and ultimately deliver it to Richard’s patients.”
Brain cancer has amongst the worst outcomes of any type of cancer. In its aggressive forms, a diagnosis is often terminal. Current treatment for aggressive forms of brain cancer often involves the surgical removal of the tumour followed by chemo- and/or radiotherapy. Unfortunately, resistant cancer cells often remain in the surrounding brain tissue despite this.
QV Bioelectronics are working to improve the odds for these patients. They are developing an innovative electrotherapy implant that targets residual cancer cells, aiming at significantly improving the clinical outcomes and quality of life for brain tumour patients.
“I saw this as a way to use my knowledge and skills to make a profound difference in the lives of people who currently do not have any good options.
“I really love the interdisciplinary nature of my work as CEO, it requires a holistic scientific and commercial approach. Scientifically, you can’t just be a doctor or cancer biologist to develop a groundbreaking electrotherapy technology, you also need to consider physics, chemistry and engineering and I love that interdisciplinarity. I also take great pride in the knowledge that we are trying to change the world for the better — these patients have little hope and the impact of our technology on people’s lives would be huge. The business side of things is also fascinating, running a technology start-up is truly the challenge of a lifetime. The role I am now in is addictive, the inherent nature of it drives you to succeed because of what’s at stake.
“We are working on a few things that some doctors have already described to us as being ‘like science-fiction’ but if I say too much I’ll be in trouble with our patent attorneys!”
Next up, read about the Canadian who’s making the change he wants to see in the world using AI and start-up RIZE
QV joined the RebelBio portfolio in our VIII program. Check out who the other nine were.
By Susannah Williams
You have the science, but not yet the business case? — Let’s talk!
