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Canon U.S. Life Sciences

Canon U.S. Life Sciences and the Fischell Department of Bioengineering

The Partnership

In 2011, Canon U.S. Life Sciences, Inc. (a subsidiary of Canon U.S.A., Inc.) and the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the A. James Clark School of Engineering, University of Maryland launched a new research collaboration to develop a highly automated system providing rapid infectious disease diagnosis. Utilizing Canon U.S. Life Sciences' proprietary genetic analysis system, the project aims to expedite the delivery of infectious disease test results while also simplifying the test process to allow a variety of clinical staff to perform automated disease diagnosis.

Loh and Adachi
  

University of Maryland president Wallace Loh (left) with Canon U.S.A., Inc. president and CEO Yoroku Adachi (right). Photo by John T. Consoli.

The research team is led by Hiroshi Inoue, senior fellow, Canon U.S. Life Sciences, and Professor William E. Bentley, chair of the Fischell Department of Bioengineering in the university's A. James Clark School of Engineering. Together with their co-researchers, BioE professors Keith Herold and Ian White, they will pioneer the use of microfluidic chip technology in disposable testing cartridges containing human blood samples.

Using Canon U.S. Life Sciences' genetic analysis technology, the high-throughput cartridge system will identify bacterial pathogens in human blood by using genetic matching technology, thereby cutting the length of time required to test a sample from several days to one hour.

"The establishment of our relationship with Canon U.S. Life Sciences represents a major industrial collaboration for the University, the Clark School, and the Fischell Department of Bioengineering," said Bentley. "Leveraging our combined research capabilities will advance both Canon U.S. Life Sciences' commercial portfolio and the university's mission to create innovative knowledge and educational opportunities for its students."

Hiroshi Inoue, Professor of the Practice

InuoeThe Fischell Department of Bioengineering and the A. James Clark School of Engineering are pleased to welcome Hiroshi Inoue to its faculty as a Professor of the Practice.

"I am honored and humbled by my appointment at University of Maryland as Professor of the Practice," says Inoue. "I expect that it will provide a powerful linkage between the Global Canon Group and the University of Maryland. We already have an exciting collaboration with the Fischell Department of Bioengineering and I look forward to an ongoing relationship."

During his nearly 35-year career, Inoue, a graduate of the Engineering Science School at Osaka University, Japan, has pioneered numerous and diverse technologies while working for some of the world's most prominent companies, including Seiko, Epson, Ricoh, and, since 1983, Canon. These include the development, market introduction and market expansion of novel flat-panel displays; the introduction of the ISO/IEC Standard into the MPEG-4 file format, which enables users to view video on smartphones; and genetic diagnostics systems. In 2004, he founded and served as the first president and Chief Technology Officer of Canon U.S. Life Sciences, Inc., which is dedicated to the development of diagnostic instrumentation based on Canon's core technologies. In 2010 he was appointed Senior Fellow of Canon U.S.A. and Canon U.S. Life Sciences. Inoue holds almost 350 patents in Japan and the United States.

Inuoe's goal is to provide doctors and clinics with sophisticated molecular analysis tools capable of providing "bedside diagnostics" that can be performed by any trained hospital or clinic staffmembers and that will eliminate the need to wait for lab results.

Inoue Joins the BioE Faculty

At a ceremony celebrating the Fischell Department of Bioengineering's new partnership with Canon U.S. Life Sciences (CUSLS), CUSLS founder and senior fellow Hiroshi Inoue was inducted into the faculty as a Professor of the Practice. Left to right: past National Science Foundation director, National Academy of Sciences member, and Distinguished University Professor Rita Colwell; University of Maryland president Wallace Loh; Hiroshi Inoue; BioE Professor and Chair William E. Bentley; and Canon U.S.A. president and CEO Yoroku Adachi. Photo by John T. Consoli.

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"...we are excited to be aligning our efforts with the University of Maryland. The combination of Canon U.S. Life Sciences' core technologies and the University’s leading-edge research capabilities will allow us to create new diagnostic applications designed to offer enhanced flexibility as well as reduced costs and biomedical waste.”

Takayoshi Hanagata, president, Canon U.S. Life Sciences, Inc.

"We are honored to welcome Mr. Inoue to our faculty. His accomplishments and experience embody Dr. Fischell's vision, and our department's goals, of using entrepreneurship to move innovative new devices from the lab into clinical settings, where they can be used to improve the lives of millions of people around the world."

BioE Professor and Chair William E. Bentley.

 

  
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