AUT professor takes out innovation award

A professor from the Auckland University of Technology has been named Supreme Innovator at the New Zealand Innovators Awards.

Professor of Biotech Innovation at AUT Steve Henry, who is also the CEO of KODE Biotech took out the award. Henry's most high profile work has been developing a coating for a UK company that has developed a novel cancer therapy.

The coating changes the appearance of cancer cells, making them take on the appearance of an animal cell, which the immune system already knows how to reject.

Henry signed a deal with the UK-based Agalimmune in March, which will see KODE Technology injected into cancer tumours. It begins working immediately after injection into a single tumour and within a few weeks will have taught the immune system how to identify and attack cancer elsewhere in the body. The treatment is expected to have such low toxicity that the side effects would be no worse than the flu jab. Human clinical trials are expected to begin in Europe next year.

KODE Biotech won Best Innovation in Health and Science at the Innovators Awards.

"Winning these awards means a lot to me, particularly as it is a recognition of the hard work done over many years by my team, and of the support Kode Biotech has received from AUT and our investors," says Henry.

The head of AUT's School of Engineering, Professor Enrico Haemmerle, says it was great to see Henry praised in this way.

"Steve Henry is an inventor, but more importantly, an innovator who has the ability to convert ideas into commercial value," says Haennerie. "He is an ongoing inspiration to AUT students and staff, and it is great to see his important work getting the recognition it deserves. "