WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Judges' questions at Purdue University's second annual Life Sciences Business Plan Competition on Wednesday weren't quite as probing as those typically cast by venture capitalists, according to vice presidents of Indianapolis-based Tienta Sciences.

Venture capitalists intensely scrutinize virtually every figure, said Dave Kolasinski, who heads Tienta business development. But the questions were tough and thoughtful.

"If you didn't know your material, you'd get grilled," added research and development leader Ray DeGrella.

Tienta and seven other finalists laid out business plans to a panel including a lawyer, an academic, venture capitalists and industry experts in a sparkling new multimedia classroom at Purdue.

The eight had been winnowed from a group of 30. The competition's life sciences focus is thought to be alone in the country and offers one of the largest purses, $147,000, said Don Blewett of Purdue's Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship.

Tienta came in third after first-place winner FFA Sciences of San Diego -- which developed a blood test that quickly diagnoses heart attacks -- and Prosolia, another Indiana team that focuses on protein discovery.

FFA won $50,000, Prosolia $20,000 and Tienta $15,000. Prosolia also will receive $20,000 as Indiana's top entry. Another $24,000 in in-kind services will be divvied among the top three finishers.

Roche Diagnostics founded the competition.

In addition to Roche and the Burton Center, lead sponsors include BioCrossroads and the Indiana Health Industry Forum.

Jorg Schreiber, a judge and Roche vice president of special projects, said this year's competition drew a stronger mix of business plans.

Tienta and Prosolia are spinoffs of the Inproteo partnership among Eli Lilly and Co. and Purdue and Indiana universities. Inproteo is geared to moving university technology into businesses.

Last year's winner, Iris AO, headquartered in Berkeley, Calif., used Hubble space telescope technology to detect eye diseases early. Iris AO since has won about $250,000 in government grants and hopes to sell its first product this year, said co-founder Nathan Doble.

Tienta's DeGrella and Kolasinski compared the potential of their patented microscope slide to the picks and shovels sold to gold prospectors: Tool sellers made lots of money while not every prospector struck it rich.

Tienta wants to sell the slides to researchers examining proteins in the hunt for better pharmaceuticals. Put a drop of liquid on the $70, specially coated stainless steel slide and it beads instead of spreading.

When the liquid dries, it leaves a concentrated ring of the protein that better reflects light that specialized microscopes can read to crack protein secrets.

Drug companies will want the slides because they speed the expensive drug discovery process, the Tienta representatives said.

Standing before a whiteboard and projector screens, they and the other presenters explained their technologies, market potential and how they planned to roll out the businesses.

Some companies were in their infancy, having barely invented a product, while others like Tienta already had raised money and were nearing the sales phase.

It wasn't even the prospect of the $50,000 first prize that persuaded Tienta to enter the competition, DeGrella and Kolasinski said. It was as much the exposure to industry minds and in-kind services such as legal, accounting and marketing.

The money would be nice, Kolasinski said before the judges made their decisions, but it would be little more than a drop in the bucket against the $2.4 million Tienta needs to buy instruments and other equipment for new facilities at Purdue Research Park and to hire additional employees.

Perched near the top of the semicircular classroom was Riting "Allan" Liu, a 41-year-old native of China who had earned a doctorate in biochemistry in Texas and is in the first year of a master's program in business at Purdue.

Liu -- his laptop plugged into the Internet -- was alternately scanning the Net and the presentations for ideas for his own plan, which he expects to enter in next year's competition.

Liu wants to build a business around biosensors and pitch the technology to drug companies or venture capitalists. If he were to start a business, he probably would stay near Purdue, he said. Having watched a couple of companies pitch their plans to the judges, Liu came away impressed.

"Some of the people present very well," Liu said. "It's very attractive."

Call Star reporter Norm Heikens at (317) 444-6532.