prescribing and connecting patients to coordi- nated care in the coming years. Other companies to watch in this area include RxRevu™ (Denver, Colorado), which provides prescription deci- sion support to prescribers at the point of care, and Julota® (Colorado Springs, Colorado), which enables secure sharing of health and personal information with a broad array of community-based services. Another approach to providing alternatives to opioids for pain management is being explored by Sana Health, Inc. (Lafayette, Colorado). The company was named after the capital city of Yemen, where in 1992, founder and CEO Richard Hanbury suffered a crippling spinal injury with such severe nerve damage that he was not expected to live more than 5 years—a slow death from neuropathic pain so overwhelming and intractable that he would eventually die from the inability to experience restorative sleep. Opioids were the first line of treatment, but because of the natural build-up of physiological drug tolerance they quickly lost effect. Grasping for anything to help, Hanbury happened to notice that certain audiovisual stimulation could dis- tract him from his pain, and based on his back- ground and an interest in neurobiology was able to invent a new form of audio-visual brainwave entrainment to cure his neuropathic pain quickly. Now, after 27 years and a number of technical and financial hurdles, Sana Health’s noninva- sive, biotherapeutic mask is in early trials. The first completed study in opioid use disorder showed the Sana device halved subjective opi- oid-withdrawal symptoms compared to sham, and reduced every other symptom measured. Planned future studies include neuropathic pain, fibromyalgia, and oncology pain, and the company is actively seeking collaborations for signal studies in other clinical areas. “Themostsignificantfeedbackfrompeoplewho’ve usedourdeviceisnotnecessarily,ʻyou’vereduced my pain.’ Instead it’s ʻI feel freedom of choice and control,’” says Hanbury. “In the moment of a pain spike,patientscanchoosetouseadeviceinstead of popping a pill that may help but interfere with other activities or put them at risk. We view the mask as a tool in the toolbox to give people more control and freedom over how they want to manage their pain in the moment.” The opioid epidemic is complex and the chal- lenges many. These efforts are in relative infancy and require refinement and extension. What all of the participants seem to agree on is that Colorado’s cultural focus on collaboration and innovation is already positioning the state as a national model for addressing an over- whelming puzzle. Valuck says, “Colorado is demonstrating to the nation that we’re not waiting until the problem worsenstodosomething.We’reworkingtogether and taking charge now.” Your spaces shape your ideas. MOA ARCHITECTURE can help you design a flexible, efficient, and productive home for your big ideas to grow. Architecture | Interiors For more information, reach out to our Science + Technology Director Brian Konczak at bkonczak@moaarch.com. Shi-Long Lu adapts a sound approachtononinvasivetesting for head and neck cancer When Shi-Long Lu, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Otolaryngology at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, encountered a good solu- tion to a major clinical chal- lenge, it stuck with him. “As a postdoc, I contributed to research that led to an FDA-approved, noninvasive test for col- orectal cancer, Cologuard®,” he says. “After I switched my research focus to head and neck cancers, I realized I could use a similar approach there.” That idea led to a saliva-based test called HNKlear. The test, which detects specific modifications to tumor DNA, is now in clin- ical trials in collaboration with John Song, MD, at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. So far, the data is prom- ising, and Lu is hopeful that one day the test could be used for routine screening. “It’s my dream to see something I came up with used in the clinic,” Lu says. “That’s a true sign that your work is valuable.” If HNKlear proves capable of early detection, it stands to drastically improve outcomes for head and neck cancers. Only 40 to 50 percent of patients survive 5 years. Lu’s determination to do novel, important work is what made him a cancer researcher. “I started out as just a clinician, but I quit to start a research lab because I wanted to figure out things that no one yet understood.” Lu established a company, SummitDX, to refine and advance HNKlear. The company is supported by CU Innovations’ SPARK program, which focuses on technologies addressing unmet clinical needs to bridge the “translational gap” between the lab bench and the patient. As a SPARK pro- gram fellow, Lu was paired with world-class industry counsel, and Lu’s advisor has an especially relevant background. “SPARK connected me with Stan Lapidus, who developedCologuard®asthefounderandCEO ofExactSciences,”Luremarks.“Withhisadvice, I know we’re headed in the right direction.” 25 2019-2020 / / BIOSCIENCECOLORADO