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UCD Start-Up Shortlisted for Dublin Regional Final of the 2021 InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Competition
EpiCapture Ltd, an early-stage University College Dublin (UCD) start-up, has been shortlisted for the Dublin regional final of the 2021 InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition. The company has been shortlisted in the early-stage category alongside 3 other Dublin-based start-ups.
The InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition, now in its 19th year, is the biggest business competition on the island of Ireland with a total cash prize fund this year of €300,000. It is aimed at early and new start companies which are under five years old, with a new equity funding requirement of between €50,000 to €299,999 (new start) or in excess of €300,000 (early-stage).
EpiCapture, a start-up which has emerged from research carried out in the UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science, is developing a novel urine DNA test for aggressive prostate cancer. The test measures six epigenetic biomarkers which are indicative of aggressive disease, using a widely available PCR platform.
EpiCapture’s test has potential as a non-invasive, early-detection and screening test to augment the current PSA blood test for the early-detection of aggressive prostate cancer. A second application of the test is as a repeated use, monitoring tool for men with low-grade disease, to identify tumour progression.
The members of the EpiCapture team are Associate Professor Antoinette Perry, UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science and Edward Simons.
Dr Antoinette Perry, UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science and co-founder of EpiCapture Ltd said, “We are thrilled to have been shortlisted for the Dublin regional finals of the 2021 InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition. We are now looking forward to pitching EpiCapture, which has the potential to significantly reduce the number of unnecessary, costly and invasive procedures for men with prostate cancer.”
She added, “Cancer epigenetics is my research passion and I feel incredibly privileged and excited to have this opportunity to translate our research from bench to bedside.”
The Dublin Regional finals of this year’s competition will take place in early November with the winners in both the new start and early-stage categories each receiving a €20k prize.
The Dublin category winners will then go forward to compete against the winners of the Connacht and Leinster, Munster and Northern Ireland regional finals at the all-island final on 25 November. The judging panel will select the two overall winners, one in each category, and these will be announced at the awards ceremony the same evening. Overall winners will receive their prize (either €50,000 or €100,000) payable by instalments based on achieving the key performance indicators in the business plan to finance the early stages of the venture.
Last November, EpiCapture was declared overall winner of the 2020 UCD VentureLaunch Accelerator Programme run by NovaUCD. The aim of this annual Programme is to support the creation and launch of sustainable and profitable new start-ups emerging from UCD.
Output Sports, a UCD sports technology spin-out headquartered at NovaUCD, was named winner of the early-stage category at the Dublin Regional Final of the 2019 InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition.
Further details on this year’s regional finalists are available via https://intertradeireland.com/funding/seedcorn/latest-updates.
ENDS
29 September 2021
For further information contact Micéal Whelan, Communications and Media Relations Manager, NovaUCD, e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie.