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Lighting up microbiology: a real-time AI and biophotonics platform for rapid microbial testing

Objective

Microbiological quality control is critical across pharmaceuticals, food, beverages, and cosmetics, ensuring both patient safety and compliance with stringent regulatory standards.
Traditional culture-based methods, essential for bioburden testing, are reliable and regulatory-accepted, but they are slow, manual, and resource-intensive. With results taking up to several days, these methods delay product release, increase manufacturing costs, and limit the agility required in modern supply chains. Alternative Rapid Microbial Methods promise shorter timelines but are impeded by limited sensitivity, high operational costs, and incomplete regulatory acceptance, preventing widespread adoption. Recalls linked to contamination are rising worldwide, costing companies billions, while breaking consumer trust.
Spore.Bio addresses these challenges with an innovative real-time microbial detection platform that brings microbiology into the 21st century. By combining multimodal spectral imaging with machine learning, our technology delivers rapid and accurate detection of microbial contamination, directly on the factory floor. It reduces time-to-result from days to minutes, allowing manufacturers to detect contamination earlier, release products faster, and dramatically reduce the risks of recalls or production downtime.
Through the EICA project, Spore.Bio will advance its system from validated pilots into large-scale industrial deployment, with a primary focus on pharmaceutical bioburden and sterility testing. The project will industrialise consumable production, complete Good Manufacturing Practice adaptation, and conduct regulatory validation under real operational conditions.
By delivering a transformative alternative to traditional microbiological quality control, Spore.Bio aims to establish a new industry standard: accelerating product release, ensuring compliance, and strengthening global supply chains - across industries where safety, speed, and trust cannot be compromised.

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Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-EIC-ACC - HORIZON EIC Accelerator

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Call for proposal

(opens in new window) HORIZON-EIC-2026-ACCELERATOR-02

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Coordinator

SPORE BIOTECHNOLOGIES
Net EU contribution
€ 2 498 527,50
Address
121 RUE D AGUESSEAU
92100 Boulogne-Billancourt
France
SME
Yes
Region
Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Hauts-de-Seine
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost
No data