After a stellar career running health care-related businesses all over the world, Mike Asher has become the new chief executive of the North-East life science sector. Health Editor Barry Nelson meets him.

A HAND-HELD sensor which can tell a doctor or nurse within seconds whether a patient is seriously ill sounds like science fiction.

But the technology which should soon make such sensors possible is being developed here in the North-East.

Scientists at Electrochemical Sensor Technology Limited based at Castle Eden, County Durham, have spent years working on the principles behind the device.

In the past, promising scientific ideas developed in the North-East have sometimes fallen on stony ground due to lack of investment. But now - thanks to a massive state investment in life science in the North-East - projects which appear to have a good chance of taking off can benefit from the Centre of Excellence for Life Sciences, or CELS.

This state-funded agency, set up three years ago to encourage fledgling life science businesses in the region, has just invested £220,000 in EST.

It is just the latest in a series of interventions designed to help transform the North-East into one of the UK's leading regions in the rapidly expanding healthcare economy and there are more to come in the future.

This vital injection of capital by CELS will allow the small company, set up 11 years ago by scientists Dr Neil Marshall and Dr John Dobson to market their sensor technology.

Initially, the Durham firm will focus on selling its technology to water treatment companies, where it is likely to be taken up as a way of monitoring the presence of ammonia in water. But in the view of Mike Asher, the newly appointed chief executive of CELS, the technology appears to have a much wider healthcare application.

"EST is a good illustration of what CELS can do, " says Mr Asher, who has over 20 years of experience in international healthcare and sciencerelated businesses all over the world.

"We worked closely with them to develop the venture and it is approaching commercial exploitation.

The technology behind the sensors developed by EST has a very large development potential."

The CELS boss is particularly interested in healthcare applications of the technology.

EST scientists believe they can develop a hand-held gadget which will allow doctors or nurses to rapidly diagnose liver and kidney disease.

But Mr Asher believes there is good evidence to suggest that the electrochemical sensor system developed by the Durham scientists could be adapted to detect other chemicals in the body, which could have widespread applications in the diagnostic field.

EST have estimated that their technology could bring in up to £6m pounds within five years, which is music to the ears of the CELS chief executive whose task is to provide the spark which could turn great ideas into great products or services.

"Right now is an excellent time for the life science sector. The rate at which the technology is developing means there are many new opportunities for successful commercial ventures within this sector of the economy, " says Mr Asher, who was born in Canada but spent some of his childhood in Newcastle before embarking on a varied career which has taken him to America, China, Japan, Thailand, the Middle East, Europe and Australia.

"Our mission is to expand the life sciences economy in the North-East by in excess of one billion pounds over the next ten years, " says Mr Walsh, who speaks fluent Spanish, French and Italian.

Anyone who arrives by train at Newcastle Central Station can hardly fail to be impressed by the looming bulk of the neighbouring Centre for Life, where CELS has an office.

To Mike Asher, the Centre for Life complex is clear evidence of the determination to make the North-East a leader in the life science and healthcare field.

"Behind what you see at the Centre for Life lies a vast network of skills and resources in areas such as stem cell research, ageing and regenerative medicine, medical devices and pharmaceuticals. All of these are key areas of expertise which CELS is looking to work with and develop."

Mr Asher says CELS' strategy is to create clusters of skills and technologies across the region, built around the universities, the NHS trusts and other technology centres.

Creating new businesses, including so-called 'spin-out' companies which have their roots in local universities, will be a key tool.

Apart from hard cash - from public or private sector sources - CELS aims to provide fledging companies with business advice, specialist support and even premises to get them started. Known as 'incubator space' in business jargon, CELS currently has a range of premises available for life science pioneers. "We have space available right now and are planning additional space, " says Mr Asher.

CELS is also setting up a separate trading subsidiary that will undertake commercial activities to generate income.

Mr Asher is certainly confident about the future. "The North-East has very real competitive advantages, married with technological innovation, which is why we think we will make the region one of the leading life science centres in the country."