Local startup lands $1 million, partnership with large firm

Commerce secretary brings case for tax reform to area

SCC adds Clinton Center as a testing site for the ACT college entrance exam beginning April 9

Part-time Laurel Instructor to present scholarly paper at Medieval conference

Business First
January 14, 2005

Local startup lands $1 million, partnership with large firm
3DR Inc. follows strategic plan for new ventures

The company, which was formed in July, uses a computer program to analyze CT scans and MRIs performed at hospitals. Those individual scans, which are called slices, are sent from hospitals to 3DR, whose employees put the slices together to create a three-dimensional image of the person's body. Company employees then will send the image back to the patient's hospital or physician.

Local industry and economic development officials are touting 3DR as a perfect example of the Louisville Medical Center Development Corp.'s plan to grow life-sciences and health-related businesses in Louisville.

The LMCDC was formed in 1997 to oversee real estate acquisitions and to manage properties in the vicinity of the downtown medical campus. Its MetaCyte Business Lab LLC unit is a business-development program that supports and grows health-related, startup companies.

The first MetaCyte graduate is Aptamera Inc., which announced earlier this week that it was being acquired by a London-based biotech firm for $21.4 million slightly more than two years after it left MetaCyte.

Aptamera is developing a drug to fight cancer as well as diagnostic tools based on the work of University of Louisville researchers Dr. Donald Miller, Paula Bates and John Trent.

3DR could employ 300 in seven years
Effective Jan. 1, 3DR graduated from the MetaCyte program, and company officials are negotiating to move into office space in the Clocktower Building at 123 E. Main St. within the next 30 to 60 days.

The company currently works in space at MedCenter 3, which is an LMCDC property that houses early-stage businesses at lower costs than traditional offices.

In addition to office space and business guidance, 3DR also got its CEO from MetaCyte. On Jan. 1, Michael Lillig joined the company full time as its CEO, leaving his post as director of emerging development for MetaCyte. He had been working with 3DR for several months through his role at the business-development program.

Lillig said 31 individuals and organizations invested in 3DR in this initial round. He declined to identify the investors other than the company's strategic partner, Alliance Imaging, and Dr. Jareld Temes. He also declined to disclose the amount invested.

Currently, the only other 3DR employee is Jamie Gipson, director of laboratory operations. But Lillig said the company will begin hiring after it moves into new space, and he said it could have 10 to 15 employees within a year.

Within the next five to seven years, the company could have between 200 and 300 employees, Lillig said.

The company is the "type of enterprise we are focusing on to be the high-tech, high-paying jobs of the future," said Louisville Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson.

Because this is an emerging field with few trained workers available, 3DR's founders are working with Jefferson Community College officials to develop a degree program in three-dimensional imaging that eventually could create a pool of potential workers for 3DR.

Startup attracts large strategic partner
The company, which is the brainchild of 3DR co-founder and local radiologist Dr. Robert Falk, already has a strategic partnership with Alliance Imaging, an Anaheim, Calif.-based company that provides diagnostic services for hospitals across the country.

Alliance has invested in 3DR and has provided consulting services as well as introductions to its clients, said senior vice president Robert McElearney, who serves on the 3DR board. He declined to disclose the amount of Alliance's investment.

The relationship began about eight months ago through mutual contacts and was aided by discussions with representatives of the Kentucky life-sciences efforts, including Abram­son, during an industry conference last year.

"We were very excited about the fact that they did invest in 3DR and the fact that 3DR has now met its initial $1 million threshold," Abramson said.

Alliance was attracted to 3DR by the complementary services it provides to the larger company.

"The model made sense to us," McElearney said. "It potentially becomes another value-added service" to Alliance's existing offerings.

Alliance completed more than 1.5 million scans last year, and "it doesn't take much of a percentage of that to justify the (3DR) business model," he added.

Alliance Imaging is "going to be instrumental in the sales and marketing strategy" of 3DR's services to its clients, Lillig said.

The plan is for 3DR officials to contract with small hospitals and stand-alone imaging centers that do not handle enough volume to justify employing someone with 3-D training or that can not afford the technology, Lillig said. By outsourcing the work to 3DR, the facilities would not have to tie up radiologists or technicians to complete the 3-D images.

In addition to the smaller facilities, "we're finding that major medical facilities have a significant interest in it as well."

Gaining access to Alliance Imaging's sales force and distribution channel will be an important factor in helping 3DR succeed and is an approach that other MetaCyte startups could try, said Steven Spalding, LMCDC executive director. "You can't replicate that distribution channel (by) building it from scratch."

Market opportunities growing each year
Three-dimensional imaging is "emerging more and more in medicine as a necessity," Lillig said. "The reason is you get better diagnostic capabilities and better surgical planning."

The detailed planning enabled by the 3-D images is critical for today's minimally invasive procedures, said Falk, who is chief of medical imaging for Jewish Hospital. He also is 3DR's president and chairman of the board, although he is not on its payroll.

Overall, CT usage is increasing by about 15 percent each year, and the use of 3-D images continues to rise as well, Falk said. About 20 percent of CT scans are done with 3-D imaging, and about 5 percent to 8 percent of MRIs are done with 3-D technology.

Because the overall percentage of scans and MRIs being turned into 3-D images still is so small, 3DR employees "can do it better than someone doing it a few times a day," Falk said.

Technology advances in the past five years have transformed medical imaging, said Dr. Jareld Temes, a retired thoracic surgeon and part-time professor in the University of Louisville Department of Surgery. He also invested in 3DR, but he declined to disclose the size of his investment.

"The original images were hazy and difficult to measure," Temes said. "The new images are terrific. It's going to be more and more used over time."

Local officials help launch 3DR
Company founders and local officials credited the fast progress of the company to its relationship with MetaCyte.

"There's definitely very significant growth" with MetaCyte, said Tony Newberry, president of Jefferson Community College.

Temes agreed. If MetaCyte can continue to grow and draw more entrepreneurs, then "I think it's going to have a broad-reaching effect across the community," he said.

The idea for 3DR came as a result of the work with MetaCyte, Spalding said. Initially, Falk was interested in pursuing another business venture, but he and MetaCyte officials decided to flesh out the idea for 3DR instead.

The result is "a truly MetaCyte-developed company as opposed to some of the ones that have been developed outside," Spalding said. "But for MetaCyte's involvement of its team, (3DR) probably wouldn't exist. It would still be an idea in Dr. Falk's head."

Developing similar relationships with other local physicians could lead to development of more untapped ideas, Spalding said. "It's important for MetaCyte to get that word out to the broader medical field that we're open for business."

The LMCDC's strategic plan, which was unveiled last year, calls for the group to create or attract 33 companies to Louisville in the next six years, Spalding said. Those would be companies that continue on, in addition to those that fizzle out. "For every one we create, there will be some that don't make it," he said.

Spalding added that the goal is "very achievable."

The Daily Independent
January 13, 2005

Commerce secretary brings case for tax reform to area

Host, who also appeared at Morehead State University Thursday, is holding a series of public forums around the state to stump for Fletcher's proposed tax overhaul.

The changes Fletcher proposes will make Kentucky more competitive and business friendly by reducing the burden on most companies in the state, Host said.

The plan would lower some taxes on business and close some loopholes. It would offset reductions in part by stiff hikes in cigarette and alcohol taxes.

Any changes would have to be revenue-neutral, Host said. "That's 100 percent firm."

The complete plan is still being developed and Fletcher probably will unveil it Feb. 2 during his budget address, Host said.

According to figures released by the governor's office, Fletcher's plan would create 7,000 new jobs in the first year, generate business in the state and reduce the tax burden on 98 percent of working Kentuckians.

About 300,000 low-income people would pay no tax at all under the plan.

Host said the plan depends on bipartisan agreement. Fletcher's attempt last year to overhaul taxes got bogged down when the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democrat-controlled house couldn't agree.

Bipartisan cooperation won't be a problem this time around, said Rep. Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, who attended the forum.

"I do think there is a bipartisan effort. There is compromise. I'm here today to show that. But there is going to be debate. We hope to continue the dialogue," he said.

What has changed is that the House is willing to negotiate the budget and tax changes together, he said. Last year, Senate Republicans had insisted on linking the two issues while the House wanted to negotiate them separately.

House legislators think the budget is the more important issue, however, Adkins said. "The number one priority should be the budget, but we're also willing to debate and talk about tax modernization."

A cigarette tax hike - Fletcher is expected to propose about 40 cents per pack - is gaining ground.

The Kentucky Farm Bureau, which never before has advocated an increase, "could live with a rate that is the average with surrounding states," said Larry Smith, area program director for the bureau.

Hiking taxes could give the state "a jump start on the future," said Don Fleu, the finance director for Boyd County schools, who was in the audience.

However, that's not in Fletcher's plan, Host said.

Higher education could suffer from a revenue-neutral plan, said Monty Fowler, who is director of grants and contracts for ACTC. Tuition hikes, which resulted in part from decreased state funding, is among factors that are stalling enrollment increases, he said.

"We've got to fix the tax reform aspect first," Host said.

He predicted "a couple of years of pain, and once things get worked out, we'll be in better shape."

Clinton County News
January 13, 2005

SCC adds Clinton Center as a testing site for the ACT college entrance exam beginning April 9

Somerset Community College has added its Clinton as a test site for the April 9, 2005 ACT exam. The ACT is a national college admission examination. Virtually all U.S. colleges and universities accept ACT test results. Beginning in February 2005, ACT will offer an optional 30-minute Writing Test. The ACT test is also given at the SCC Somerset Campus North.

The ACT includes 215 multiple-choice questions in Mathematics, English, Reading and Science. The test takes approximately 3 hours and 30 minutes to complete with breaks (or just over four hours if you are taking the Writing Test). Actual testing time is 2 hours and 55 minutes (plus 30 minutes if you are taking the Writing Test). Some colleges will require the Writing Test; others will not. Most colleges will accept scores from the Writing Test even if they do not require it. You should decide whether to take the Writing Test based on the requirements of the institutions to which you are applying.

In the U.S., the ACT is administered on five national test dates-in October, December, February, April, and June. People of all ages and grade levels are eligible to take the ACT Assessment. This includes junior high or middle school students and those who have already graduated from high school. Testing is done on Saturday.

In addition to the tests, the ACT also provides test takers with a unique interest inventory that provides valuable information for career and educational planning and a student profile section that provides a comprehensive profile of your work in high school and your future plans.

Even though the test date isn’t until April, examinees may register now for the April exam. The registration deadline for the April 9, 2005 ACT exam date is March 4, 2005. Students may register between March 5 and March 18 for an additional late fee. The basic registration fee is $28. The late registration fee is $17. The fee includes the cost of sending test scores to up to four colleges of the student’s choice. If you cannot afford the registration fee, a waiver may be available. Check the ACT website for more information. The Clinton Center’s name is SCC - Clinton Center, while the test center code is 068570. The Somerset North code is 015700.

Students may request a registration packet from the admissions office in Somerset or at the Clinton Center; or they may register online at www.actstudent.org. The Clinton Center is scheduled to host the ACT exam during each of the April and October test dates annually, while the Somerset North Campus offers the test in all five months in which it is offered.

London Sentinel-Echo
January 12, 2005

Part-time Laurel Instructor to present scholarly paper at Medieval conference

In many ways, Jennifer Geouge is typical of employees of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS). She believes in lifelong learning.

In addition to holding down a full-time job in academic affairs at the KCTCS System Office located in Versailles, Geouge is working on her Ph.D. dissertation. Once it is complete, she will be awarded her Ph.D. in history from the University of Kentucky. In addition to all that, Geouge is a part-time or adjunct history instructor at the Somerset Community College - Laurel Campus North.

An article she wrote, which resulted from the research for her dissertation, was selected to be presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies. The work is entitled “The Anglo-Portuguese Alliance: Portuguese in England and English in Portugal.” The conference is held at Western Michigan University annually in May. 3,000 history teachers and others from around the world are expected attend. The Medieval Institute is the sponsor. This will be the 40th International Congress of the organization. More than 170 scholarly academies, associations, centers and societies are expected to participate in the event.

According to Geouge, the most recent scholarship on Anglo-Portuguese trade in the Middle Ages was done more than 100 years ago.

“Since then, a significant number of additional primary sources have become available for study,” Geouge explained.

“The general conclusion I came to was that the Portuguese made attempts to accommodate English merchants living in their country, while the English made it difficult for Portuguese merchants living in England,” Geouge said.

Geouge and her husband, Paul, live in Winchester. They have three children. Erik, a student at Lexington Community College, is 20. Cedric is 14 and Kyla is 13. In her “spare” time Geouge likes to read and sew. She is also a girl scout leader.

Geouge received her bachelor’s degree from Glenville State College in Glenville, West Virginia. Her master’s degree is from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. She is a member of several professional organizations including the Richard III Society, the Society for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies and the Renaissance Society of America.