Student Profile: Robert Qiu, Tufts ‘09

During high school, Tufts senior Robert Qiu had the opportunity to have an internship with Tufts Medical School's Dr. Andrew Plaut. During this experience, Qiu helped Dr. Plaut conduct research on therapeutics for IgA nephropathy (an autoimmune disease that affects the kidneys). At the time, Qiu learned that one of the primary methods of diagnosis for this disease was through a kidney biopsy, a process that put 1 in 1,000 patients at risk of death. It was through his summers working alongside Dr. Plaut that Qiu realized there was a need for a better and safer diagnosis for this type of disease.

Robert Qiu is one of many here at Tufts who have exemplified the drive for using his education and entrepreneurial spirit to positively contribute to society. After identifying that the traditional methods of diagnosis for IgA nephropathy was a risky process, Qiu wanted to try a technology that utilizes radioactive light to illuminate the IgA antibodies in the kidney which indicates whether a patient has IgA nephropathy. "It was such a simple and elegant solution to this problem", says Qiu. "There was nothing like this for kidney disease at the time".

Qiu incorporated what was a scientific discovery into a business concept, in an attempt to help patients at risk of IgA nephropathy. Using loans and capital, primarily from friends and family, Qiu and Plaut filed a patent for this diagnostic process. After graduation, Qiu plans to take a couple of years to pursue the development of this diagnostic product. He is currently talking to potential investors in China to pursue this project as well as other medical research applications such as therapeutic for cystic fibrosis and diagnostics for heart disease. By outsourcing research and development in China, the costs of development can be significantly less.

Qui expressed the most important concept behind his work:

"I envision a future where drugs are cheaper to develop. Cheaper development costs could mean one of two things. It could bring about cheaper drugs. It could also bring about new drugs, since drug companies plow a significant portion of their profits right back into research in developing more drugs."

Qiu envisions building a company that takes inventions from academic research and puts them into a streamlined drug development process. He describes that by putting into place a management framework and a framework for funding, he can provide an advantage for passionate academic researchers by decreasing costs associated with some of the bureaucratic efficiencies of a large drug company. This framework could help academic researchers work more efficiently in their projects rather than having them spend a great amount of their time raising capital. Combined with lower research costs by outsourcing some of the work to companies like Charles River Laboratories, drugs can be developed for much less. This, Qiu says, "can benefit consumers with lower drug costs and new drugs coming to the market more quickly".

In pursuing the ELS minor at Tufts University, Qiu undeniably gained substantial skills in entrepreneurship, primarily understanding the process of raising capital. "I started working with teams of scientists, not people with business backgrounds". By integrating his scientific knowledge with his passion for entrepreneurship, Qiu is able to pursue his dreams and goals.