They capture cells’ signals on film
The time and cost to develop new pharmaceuticals are on the increase. It is a challenge that the entire pharmaceutical industry is facing. However for the newly started Uppsala company Gradientech it is a business opportunity. They have developed a product that can improve the quality and shorten the time for elements of the development.
Gradientech is the result of a meeting between Sara Thorslund and Johan Kreuger. Sara is a PhD biotechnology engineer with a background at Ångström laboratory and an expert on how to check microscopic volumes of fluids. Johan is a senior lecturer in molecular biology at Uppsala University, and saw in his research a need to be able to make more efficient experiments on how cells respond to different substances.
“At a rough estimate there are one hundred thousand billion cells in the body,” says Johan Kreuger. All signal by sending out different substances. These substances are therefore in the whole body, but in varying concentrations. As a researcher, I want to know how the cells react to the varying concentrations of different substances.
Up to now, researchers have had to be content with trying to answer one question at a time. Nor has it been possible to measure how cells behave during the experiment. It has only been possible to measure the end result.
Now you can. Gradientech’s CellDirector gives researchers the opportunity to see the entire process. Instead of many parallel experiments, where each one gives a measurement point, they can now film the entire event.
“This wins you a large body of information. You can observe how the cells appear, how they move, in which direction they move, how many cells move. They usually say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Here you might say that a film is worth a thousand pictures,” says Johan Kreuger, laughing.
Sara Thorslund and Johan Kreuger have received a great deal of help from Uppsala Innovation Center, UIC, a business incubator run by the universities, STUNS and the municipality. Gradientech is situated in the Uppsala Science Park, and both agree it's a very fitting environment to be in.
“Uppsala is a Mecca of expertise in microfluidics. Here you’ll find a cluster of small companies currently on or who have already made the same journey, as we are experiencing. Advice is widely available and easy to find,” says Sara Thorslund.
It is also a great advantage for Gradientech to be so close to the university.
“It means we get access to the resources on hand here, both in terms of cleanrooms and other technologies, and through personal contact with researchers.
They have also received a lot of help from UU Innovation, the University's unit for interaction with industry. Among other things, they have used the free service “Researcher Patent” which provides assistance to examine new ideas for new patent applications.
“Many researchers are not aware of this service. But if all researchers were aware of them and what they can offer, we would get many more new and exciting companies in Uppsala. Through UIC and UU Innovation, we have also met many others who are in the same situation as us, who are passionate about their entrepreneurial dream. It has been very valuable.”
Some events along the road have been extra special – something Sara Thorslund and Johan Kreuger both agree on. One of course was to start the company. This was followed by the product launch in the summer of 2012.
“It was a fantastic step to start selling our first product,” says Sara Thorslund.
“In the spring, we opened for the first true external private investors and it has been great,” she says.
“We have oversubscribed our issue. It's a nice feeling to get confirmation that the business concept is attractive to investors.”
The most recent milestone was when they were able to take on additional staff.
“We have now taken on our first salesperson. It’s a great feeling to be able to employ someone to take care of this type of task. We are now four, and I hope in a year we have nearly doubled this figure.”
However, it has been a massive challenge to find capital in the form of sustained support during the initial phase.
“To get more seeds to grow further requires more public funding. At present, foreign players acquire many promising ideas. If Sweden wants to be a leading research nation, we should focus even more on supporting innovative companies in the start-up phase,” says Sara Thorslund.
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FACTS/Microfluidics
Within microfluidics one seeks to control and manipulate small volumes of liquids present in hair-thin channels. Fluids behave differently on a micro scale than they normally do, as the spaces between the liquid and the channels play a much greater role. A fruitful future is predicted for methods based on microfluidics for the study of cells.
More information from each experiment
The microfluidic “microlaboratories” make it possible to generate the same information from one experiment that would otherwise require a large number of experiments. The technology can also reduce the differences between doing experiments on the lab bench - in vitro, and on living organisms - in vivo. A microfluidic laboratory can make the gap much smaller, as the environments that can be created in these systems more closely resemble those in the body.
Kim Bergström