Connor Barth graduated with a PhD in 2018 from the BME department after completion of his doctoral work in Dr. Summer Gibb’s lab. Dr. Barth worked on testing and optimizing fluorescent dyes that bind preferentially to nerves. These dyes have great potential for use clinically, where it is often difficult for surgeons to distinguish nerves intraoperatively, often resulting in complications due to nerve damage.

Since graduating, Dr. Barth has continued to work in Dr. Gibb’s lab, where he is currently a research associate. However, Dr. Barth also serves as the CEO and co-founder (with Dr. Gibbs) of a new company called Inherent Targeting. The company, which was founded in the Spring of 2019, aims to translate their nerve-specific dyes to clinical use. Inherent Targeting is still in its infancy, but Dr. Barth and Dr. Gibbs have been busy applying for SBIR grants to get the company up and running.

The company hopes to make nerve specific dyes common in surgeries where nerve sparing and nerve damage are important clinical issues that can impact patient’s quality of life, such as in prostatectomies for prostate cancer. “Our fluorescent contrast agents will help guide surgeons to avoid nerve damage during surgery. Fluorescent imaging capabilities, either through surgical robots or the use of special goggles, are already in place, so no new imaging technologies will be needed. What we bring is a unique set of nerve-specific dyes, which are some of the only ones currently in development for clinical use,” Barth said.

“The initial phase for Inherent Targeting will be to obtain funding for a lot of the pre-clinical trials that will be necessary prior to testing in humans,” Barth said. “We estimate that the pre-clinical testing will cost around $2.5 million, and we felt that going after non-dilutive, federal funding through the SBIR mechanism was the best way to go initially.”

When asked about how his time in BME prepared him to start a company, Barth had this to say: “My graduate work in BME really prepared me to think independently and gave me a lot of confidence in my ability to solve problems. Even though I didn’t have any experience in starting a company, the skills I developed during my doctoral work will allow me to be successful.” When asked about if there was something else that BME could have done to prepare him for his current role, Barth said, “My only wish is there would have been more opportunities in BME to learn about the business and entrepreneurial side of starting a biotech company.”

Barth is optimistic about the chances that their SBIR application will be funded. “We hope to hear soon about the status of our funding,” he said, adding “Once we get funding, things will start to move forward quickly, and we’ll begin some of the pre-clinical toxicity testing that will be necessary prior to starting human trials.” The work that he and Dr. Gibbs are doing holds great promise to change surgical practices. “We’re excited about the prospects for Inherent Targeting and the promise that our technology holds to improve the quality of life for patients,” said Barth. If successful, Inherent Targeting may revolutionize surgery and make intraoperative nerve damage a thing of the past.