The EPFL startup, Bionomous is developing a technology that allows for automatically sorting Zebrafish eggs, a process that is currently done manually for studies in genetics, development and behavioural biology, and toxicology. The company has now obtained a Tech Seed loan of CHF 100’000 to reach the next steps towards market entry.
Both academic and industrial research groups frequently use small biological organisms such as zebrafish 'Danio rerio' eggs for their studies. Zebrafish eggs are collected, screened, sorted and dispensed manually by highly qualified staff in laboratories, which is resource-intensive and time-consuming.
To ease the process and to facilitate and accelerate research, Bionomous is developing a robotic device that automatically sorts zebrafish eggs or other miniature biological entities. The robot improves efficiency with a fast, accurate and standardised process that saves human resources.
The company was founded in 2019 by Frank Bonnet and Ana Hernando Ariza who combine their experience in micro-engineering, robotics, molecular and cellular biology and marketing. Thanks to their technology, the company has received support from various players in the startup ecosystem, including EPFL Enable, EU Horizon 2020 and VentureKick.
The Foundation for Technological Innovation (FIT) has also provided Bionomous with a Tech seed loan of with CFF 100’000. As stated by Frank Bonnet, CEO and co-founder of Bionomous, the company will use the funds to complete the pre-industrialised version of its device, test it with early adopters and conceive an industrialised version integrating all improvements. The company anticipates recording the first sales by the end of 2020 and reaching additional markets by 2022.
Bionomous is now raising a seed round to further develop and test a pre-industrialised version of its product.
(Press release/ran)
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