DROPLITE becomes ICFO’s 7th Spin-off

On December 20^th, DROPLITE officially became ICFO’s 7^th spin-off company to take flight. The official signature took place in Barcelona and gathered both members of the spin-off company, DROPLITE CEO André Guedes and CTO Rafael Porcar, as well as the members of the Knowledge and Technology Transfer unit from ICFO led by Dr. Silvia Carrasco.

DROPLITE is developing a lab-on-a-chip biosensing device, fully developed by ICFO and the tech. SME COSINGO, which combines advanced microfluidics, customized chemistry, a proprietary optical detection system, electronics and signal processing to test and monitor health conditions in humans as well as animals in a very rapid and accurate way.

The company’s main goal is to bring a low-cost, accurate and rapid solution to current laboratory tests, such as the ELISA kits used in hospitals and clinics. These current tests are very reliable although rather expensive and need considerable volumes of blood to obtain accurate results. DROPLITE’s technology offers an advantage by providing an on-site quantitative automated test solution based on immunoassay techniques that can run in less than 10 minutes while using one single drop of blood, saliva or urine to test and monitor health conditions of human beings.

DROPLITE has been in development for more than 4 years. It emerged from an idea and collaboration between the Plasmon Nano-optics research group led by ICREA Prof. at ICFO Romain Quidant and SME COSINGO. Initial stages of technology development received funding from the European Union. Upon entry in ICFO’s Launch Pad, it received support and guidance from the KTT team leading up to the official launch, as well as additional financing from the CELLEX Foundation, the Barcelona City Council, and the Castelldefels City Council.

DROPLITE is currently exploring different applications and markets such veterinary medicine, allergies, food safety and infectious diseases to seek opportunities to exploit the maximum potential of the technology in these sectors.

André Guedes, DROPLITE CEO, comments “We are thrilled to take DROPLITE’s technology out to the world, after years of novel and demanding research and business development at ICFO (KTT) and COSINGO. As a biotech company with its technology core in photonics, DROPLITE enters the challenging world of lab-on-a-chip devices and medical rapid diagnostics, with the goal to bring key health benefits and innovation to society.”

DROPLITE becomes ICFO’s seventh spin-off. Thanks to ICFO’s Launchpad, which gives innovative ideas a space to develop into new technology spin-offs, DROPLITE together with the previous six companies are already bringing the value of research “made at ICFO” directly to society in the fields of quantum technologies, light and laser safety solutions, photonics technologies, astronomy, bio-imaging, visual sciences applications, among others. As Director of KTT Silvia Carrasco comments “We are tremendously happy to see DROPLITE entering the club of ICFO spin-offs. The KTT team works very creatively and intensively to bring ICFO technology to society. Hand in hand with the KTT team members Dr. Sergi Ferrando and Dr. Sol Royo, all the DROPLITE team has managed to make ICFO’s point of care ambitious vision a reality”