Note: Switzerland has ranked first in the competitiveness of the Global Innovation Index for 12 consecutive years, is an important source of innovation in the world, and is also China's first innovation strategic partnership country, which has excellent complementarity with China in the fields of innovation development and technology finance.
Co-sponsored by Innosuisse and Swissnex in China, the "China Camp" program annually selects and supports the best "Swiss made" start-up and growth stage science and technology innovation enterprises interested in developing in China to carry out cooperation with China, covering life sciences, construction machinery, artificial intelligence, agricultural technology, food technology and other fields, and is the most mainstream and authoritative official innovation internationalization project in Switzerland.
Insight Tech is the Chinese partner of the Swiss Federal Government's Center for Science and Culture. In order to comprehensively display and introduce the most cutting-edge innovative technologies in Switzerland, in the "Swiss Innovation 100" feature jointly launched by TMT APP and Eming Technology, this article specifically introduces Bionomous, a company selected for the 2024 "China Camp" of the Swiss Innovation Agency, which is committed to developing fully automated equipment for screening, sorting and dispensing micro-biological entities.
Founded in 2019, Swiss biotechnology company Bionomous has developed EggSorter, the world's first AI-driven fully automated device for the screening, classification and dispensing of microbial entities, combining innovative micro-engineering and machine learning methods. The device can screen a wide range of round biological entities from 0.5 mm to 2 mm at a high throughput with a screening time of less than 2 seconds per entity and an accuracy of up to 95%, saving 80% of the time compared to manual screening.
Bionomous is a spin-off of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, co-founded by Dr. Frank Bonnet and Ana Hernando. The idea came from a European project in which Frank Bonnet was involved in studying the behavior of adult zebrafish, and in the course of the project, Frank Bonnet found that the manual process of selecting and sorting zebrafish eggs was too time-consuming and laborious for experimental research.
Source: Venturelab
Zebrafish is one of the most commonly used model organisms in genetic, developmental, and toxicological studies due to its embryo transparency, short growth cycle, and up to 87% similarity to the human genome, and is currently the only vertebrate animal suitable for high-throughput drug screening. Zebrafish-based research is widely used in various fields such as genetic diseases, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, drug discovery, and toxicology screening. However, relying on researchers to manually examine and sort zebrafish eggs under the microscope to identify healthy samples that can be used for research is painstaking, time-consuming and error-prone, and difficult to harmonize operating standards across laboratories.
Source: Bionomous official website
Bionomous has combined innovative micro-engineering with machine learning methods to develop EggSorter, the world's first AI-driven fully automated device for the screening, classification and dispensing of microbial entities. The equipment can screen all kinds of round biological entities from 0.5 mm to 2 mm in high throughput, with a screening time of less than 2 seconds for each entity, with an accuracy of up to 95%, which can save 80% of the time compared with manual screening, which can greatly improve experimental efficiency, promote the standardization of experimental procedures and save costs.
At the heart of the EggSorter is a runner with a microfluidic system that continuously picks up individual entities and places them in front of a camera for imaging. Subsequently, EggSorter's embedded computer performs AI analysis of each entity's image, filters and classifies the entities by research objectives, and ultimately dispenses the entities into falken tubes, petri dishes, multi-well plates, or any custom containers.
Source: Bionomous official website
In terms of imaging, in addition to brightfield imaging, EggSorter also supports fluorescence imaging of transgenic samples, which can observe features such as blood vessels and neurons in real time. The EggSorter's fluorescence assembly contains filters of up to 6 wavelengths, allowing researchers to observe and classify double-positive, single-positive, and non-fluorescent entities by selecting biomarker regions of a specific size and intensity. For opaque entities or entities that require dual images, EggSorter supports the addition of a camera that can capture the same sample from two angles, and supports the use of reflected light to image opaque entities to provide researchers with more visibility.
When it comes to AI analysis, EggSorter can tailor AI-based deep learning algorithms to researchers to classify entities based on fertilization status, developmental stage, morphological characteristics, or specific biomarkers. After AI analysis and classification, healthy samples are pipetted into screening plates or dishes, while non-conforming samples are shipped to separate containers.
Source: Bionomous official website
In terms of data processing, EggSorter counts, tags, and saves a picture of each entity that has been processed, and associates the image with the container location. EggSorter automatically collects useful data, supports statistical data retrieval, and gives ratios such as germination rate or fluorescence expression rate to aid research.
Based on the above features, EggSorter can process thousands of entities at a time with high throughput, and each entity can be screened in less than 2 seconds, with an accuracy of up to 95%, and its fully automated process can effectively increase the experimental efficiency by more than 35%.
Bionomous' EggSorter was originally developed to screen and classify zebrafish embryos, but has since proven to be widely used in the screening of a wide range of round entities from 0.5 mm to 2 mm, such as Xenopus eggs and embryos, killifish eggs and seeds. Bionomous' main target markets include research institutes, CROs, biotech and pharmaceutical companies, and it is also exploring the potential of its technology for applications in areas such as aquaculture and agriculture.
Bionomous' first device received CE certification in 2022 and has been successfully launched on the market, with customers currently in Europe, the United States, Australia and China. In 2023, Bionomous closed a $2.7 million Series A funding round, and the company plans to further expand production and accelerate global sales. Bionomous will continue to explore the possibility of applying its technology in more fields, and greatly improve the efficiency of high-throughput screening of various micro-biological entities.
Insight Tech is proud to support the 2024 "China Camp" project. As a Chinese partner of the Swiss Federal Government's Center for Science and Culture, we support and assist in the cooperation with China of the selected projects of the "China Camp". As a Sino-European (Swiss) technology innovation investment and industrialization operator, Emming Technology provides investment, financing and business development services for the two-way cooperation between Swiss innovation and Chinese industry, and carries out equity investment business.