photograph courtesy university of memphis
Dr. Ernő Lindner
Editor’s Note: There are always plenty of new and exciting ventures to be found in Memphis. The Bluff City has become something of a hub for innovation, daring creators and dreamers to discover new breakthroughs that move our community forward. In 2023, for our eleventh annual Innovation Awards, Memphis Magazine features five progress-focused individuals and organizations who are showcasing Memphis’ continued evolution through innovation. This year, we recognize UTHSC’s state-of-the-art center for healthcare improvement and patient simulation, Dr. Stephen Haynes and Rhodes College’s curated curriculum that bring the liberal arts to incarcerated students, Dr. Ernö Lindner’s fast-acting drug detection technology which improves medical response time for overdose patients, Tennis Memphis and its commitment to making the sport accessible to all, and the Overton Park Shell’s mobile “Shell on Wheels” that brings live music to every corner of Memphis. They’re all worthy winners in their own right, and are doing their utmost to move Memphis forward. We will celebrate our winners at the 2023 Innovation Awards breakfast on Tuesday, October 10th, sponsored by Protech Services Group and eBiz Solutions. — Samuel X. Cicci
When lives are on the line, science matters. Take it slow. Do it right. Be careful.
That’s innovation advice from Dr. Ernő Lindner, professor emeritus of biomedical engineering and a retired professor of chemistry at the University of Memphis. The United States Patent Office recently awarded him and his research partner, Dr. Edward Chaum, a professor at Vanderbilt University, a patent for a method and device that could streamline medicine and save lives from fentanyl overdoses.
The idea also shows commercial promise. But for Lindner, it’s more important to get it right slowly than to get rich quickly. Lindner was recently asked about this by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. (He immigrated from Hungary to the U.S. at the age of 50.) The group wanted to know what science should work quickly and efficiently to fix.
“I wrote that science never works quickly and efficiently,” says Lindner. “It is a painstakingly slow process. That’s why this company, InfuSense, needed such a long time. Because at the very end — the area where [the technology] will be applied — those are people. That means that you really cannot make a mistake, because if you do, it might have terrible consequences.”
His patience shows. The road to the patent took more than 10 years. That road began at a seminar at the University of Memphis and with one question: “Can you measure propofol?”
Chaum, then working for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, had a contact in the U.S. Army interested in making battlefield medicine more efficient. Propofol is an anesthetic that works quickly and with few side effects. But it can be lethal. So, caregivers must closely monitor patient doses.
Lindner says Michael Jackson’s doctor started the singer on propofol, left him to take a nap, and returned to find him dead. Entertainer Joan Rivers also died of a propofol overdose, he says.
“This recently issued patent is a great example of a much-needed collaboration between clinicians and biomedical engineers in order to advance biomedical technologies. I look forward to seeing the commercialization of this licensed technology that will help physicians improve patient care and clinical outcomes in the near future.” — Dr. Bill Hardgrave, president of the University of Memphis
So, if Chaum and Lindner could devise a way to measure the drug with technology, that meant nurses and doctors could be freed to treat more patients, instead of hovering around to administer a drug.
The professors started a company to support funding efforts for ongoing research to help broaden the technology’s application. If the sensor was good at quickly detecting propofol, what else could it find?
InfuSense, now based in Nashville, recently won a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to find fentanyl in blood samples faster. The drug is lethal even in small doses, and fentanyl has found its way into many recreational drugs sold in the U.S. — leaving thousands of overdose deaths in its wake.
Using an InfuSense sensor in the emergency room could cut the time for a fentanyl drug test by hours. The sensor is about the size of a matchbox and plugs directly into a smart phone. With a blood or saliva sample, doctors can detect drugs like fentanyl within two to five minutes.
“If somebody is overdosing and shows up at the clinic, it’s a very complicated measurement,” Lindner says. “You have to send the blood down to the laboratory and it comes back in two hours. In the two hours the patient has probably passed away.”
Linder, Chaum, and the InfuSense team are also researching the tech’s possible usage in the cannabis industry. Testing THC levels in products like gummies is difficult and expensive, Lindner says. He hopes their sensor can be used to streamline this process, too, adding yet another practical (and commercial) opportunity for the science.
Dr. Bill Hardgrave, president of the University of Memphis, lauds the patent, the company, and the project as a whole. “This recently issued patent is a great example of a much-needed collaboration between clinicians and biomedical engineers in order to advance biomedical technologies,” Hardgrave says. “I look forward to seeing the commercialization of this licensed technology that will help physicians improve patient care and clinical outcomes in the near future.”
But, again, for Lindner, the timing of commercialization will be guided by science.
“It is tempting to tell the very best results,” he says. “But over here we have to make measurements, which will always be reproducible. It is not enough to have a wonderful response one time. We have to have it tomorrow and the next day. It means you have to be careful.”
