Descripción del proyecto
There is a critical need to improve the diagnosis, drug discovery and development pipeline to increase the success rate of new therapeutics (as low as 3.4% for cancer drugs) and provide earlier detection and treatment. Microfluidic cell-based assays and analyses are one of the most promising strategies, supported by direct feedback from industry and regulatory agencies. Integrated microscale fluidics adds an extra dimension to in vitro cell cultures and is an enabling technology of single cell analyses and nanotherapies. However, the main limitations with these platforms expressed by our clients from academia and industry are their inability to measure and control flow rate over a wide enough range (100-times too narrow), imprecision and failure to detect sensor drift that leads to experimental error. Our GALILEO flow sensor innovation demonstrates the technical ability to address these pressing requirements for microfluidic cell assays and analyses. This proposal will advance the proof of concept to a viable demonstrator of the technology for beta testing.
The timing is ideal for our solution: expressed end user demand is high and legislative bodies have voted to reduce animal testing by 2035. GALILEO has strong competitive advantage in the microfluidic flow sensor market with a SAM of 535 mil EUR/year, increasing with the growth of next-generation sequencing and genomic medicine. Elvesys is an entrepreneur-led microfluidics instrument company with demonstrated success in the development and commercialisation of 15 instruments for microfluidic flow control, and the generation of 10 growing spin-offs in the last 11 years. Our end user feedback and iterative testing approach to innovation puts us in a position of strength to execute an optimal product-market fit, targeting market creation. We have the proven technical expertise to deliver on GALILEO performance, and the market contact breadth to disseminate, exploit and communicate the technology to all stakeholders.