The ‘EggSorter’ is a device designed to automatically screen, sort and dispense small biological entities, such as the eggs of zebrafish, killifish, medaka and other aquatic animal models. The certified device is now market ready. Pre-orders and first sales have already been confirmed.
Aquatic animal models have been increasingly used in research laboratories and in the industry to find new treatments, perform toxicology tests or understand better the biology and genetics of living beings. Bionomous’ EggSorter, designed to handle zebrafish eggs and any small entity, makes experiments much more efficient. Based on microfluidics and AI, it allows the individual screening of each sample in an automatic fashion to increase the throughput and standardize all the processes.
The core of the EggSorter is a rotary wheel that grabs the entities one by one and places them in front of a camera – either bright field imaging or fluorescence. The picture of each entity is then retrieved on an embedded computer and processed using various algorithms based on Machine Learning. According to the classification, and based on the needs of each project, the entities are dispensed into different output containers. The EggSorter processes each entity in 2 seconds. With an accuracy of 95%, the EggSorter increases the efficiency of experiments by more than 35%.
The EPFL spin-off incorporated in 2019, after the demonstration of the proof-of-concept and the development of the first prototype. After having closed a Seed Round last year of CHF 1.3M, the company moved to Le Vivier in Villaz-St-Pierre, to be closer to the Nivalis Group, its lead investor. After three years of intensive development, they have a certified device that has been developed with input from some of the most prestigious labs in the world, with confirmed multiple pre-orders and sales.
“The launch of the first certified Bionomous product marks the beginning of a new phase for Bionomous: This was an important milestone to reach for our company. The whole team is very proud of this achievement, and we can now focus on the sales aspects of our products and put in place an in-house production of our devices”, writes the team in a press release.
The team is also exploring the possibilities to apply this technology to other segments in the industry, such as diagnostics and aquaculture. Ana Hernando, Bionomous COO & co-founder, adds: “Having the certified version of the EggSorter on the market is a major milestone that sets the grounds for our new product lines. It demonstrates the power and reliability of our team and technology, and inspires the development of the LarvaeSorter, first prototype ready for next year, and a sorter for the aquaculture industry, in need of changing its processes towards sustainability.”
(Press release / SK)
Photo: Binomous EggSorter
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