Ceidos cell analysis solution gets closer to industrialisation

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02.03.2022
Ceidos founders
Founded in 2019, Valais based Ceidos has developed an automated system for continuously monitoring cell density and viability in a non-destructive way. Thanks to the Tech Seed loan of CHF 100k from the Foundation for Technological Innovation (FIT), the start-up aims to start a first industrialisation phase.

Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products are revolutionary medicines entering the market at a fast-growing rate and providing new treatments against cancers, degenerative diseases and genetic disorders. These products rely on an active therapeutic substance, such as cell therapy, gene therapy and cell engineered products. However, the production of such advanced medical treatments implies complex production steps, requiring cell culture in bioreactors to grow the cells. Nowadays, cell culture analysis is subject to a substantial risk of contamination due to the manual process and the daily opening of the bioreactor for sampling. Such contamination can take up to 24 hours before being detected and hence cause severe damage to the cell culture. In addition, sampling in small volume cultures is sometimes impossible without losing precious products.

Patient safety became increasingly important, and to ensure better outcomes at a lower price for the patients in need, Ceidos aims to optimise the manufacturing processes of these treatments. To overcome the significant challenges of cell culture analysis, Ceidos developed the C-Netics, a fully automated laboratory device to enable cell monitoring in a closed-loop system and drastically reduce the risk of contamination. The C-Netics can easily be connected to bioreactors or any cell containers. The patented technology is based on an embedded digital microscope coupled to dielectrophoresis and a powerful machine-learning algorithm to observe a cell cultures sample directly in a closed-loop system, thus preventing contamination from opening the bioreactor. During the process, data are acquired and analysed to determine cell density and viability. As a result, Ceidos prevents contamination risks and manual handling throughout the process.

Ceidos was founded by Sébastien Walpen and Léonard Barras. Both of them have a solid engineering background in microtechnology and biomedicine. Ceidos and its team of 5 people obtained the support of Venture Kick and the Ark Foundation, and various convertible loans for a total amount of 600’000 Swiss Francs. Based in Sion, Ceidos closely collaborates with the laboratory of Prof. Gerrit Hagens (HES_SO).

Looking ahead, Ceidos aims to finalise the development of the C-Netics by ensuring its compatibility with all bioreactors on the market, assuring cell viability measurements, and making it a reference application for cell-based therapies. In addition, Ceidos is in the process of raising funds, and the FIT Tech Seed loan will be added to the internal funds.

(Press release)

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