Hermes Super Resolution microscopy system

Project Information

Hermes SR

Grant agreement ID: 801436

DOI

10.3030/801436

Project closed

EC signature date 16 May 2018

Start date 1 September 2018

End date 31 August 2019

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Future and Emerging Technologies (FET)

Total cost

€ 100 000,00

EU contribution

€ 100 000,00

Coordinated by

FUNDACIO CENTRE DE REGULACIO GENOMICA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Hermes SR (Hermes Super Resolution microscopy system)

Reporting period: 2018-09-01 to 2019-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

"Super-resolution microscopy allows us to ""see"" beyond the diffraction limit of the light. This means that very tiny molecular structures like DNA, RNA, and proteins can be visualized in one single cell. Despite being such a powerful technology, it has not yet been used for systems level analysis due to its low-throughput. One of the outcomes of the research and engineering efforts of the FET open project, Cellviewer, is the building of a robotic super-resolution microscope prototype that is fully automated and high-throughput achieving technology readiness level of 7, the Hermes SR microscope. This prototype has automated workflow and data acquisition enabling collecting large datasets of consistent high quality with unprecedented spatial resolution. Importantly, its full automation requires very little training, which makes it advantageous with respect to other SR microscopes.
This success prompted us to apply for the to FET Launchpad project to boost the commercialisation of Hermes SR. Hence, the name of this FET Launchpad proposal is Hermes SR."

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

With the Hermes SR project we have been able to: i) Define new technological features and applications of the Hermes SR enabling advantages over competitor microscopes, ii) develop the work and budget plans for building and selling the Hermes SR, iii) Establish the freedom to operate to build the intellectual property rights, iv) Develop a comprehensive business and financial plan for the successful commercialisation of the Hermes SR, v) Participate in the FET2RIN investors pitch event for FET Projects which took place in Brussels and vi) Establish the first Beta site of the product at a leading university in the UK, which are existing satisfied customers of the Hermes WiScan® high content imaging system of IDEA Bio-Medical. This installation is estimated to take place during Q1 2020.
We have identified the research community as the first Hermes SR customers. We recognise the need in the market for a dual-purpose automated microscope, capable of breaking the diffraction barrier to image at the nanoscale, while also having capabilities to image whole organisms. In this fashion, the new HermesSR will enable imaging biology at all scales on one single platform. This microscope will allow scientists for the first time to image multi well plates in nanometer resolution, uniting high content screening capabilities with the highest possible image resolution.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Overall, thanks to the Hermes SR project we have been able to arrive at the last stages of the commercialisation process and thus, we foresee to bring the Hermes SR to the market by the end of 2020.
This revolutionary platform will have a meaningful and sustainable impact on researchers and their scientific accomplishments by establishing it as a ground-breaker in the realm of biological screening utilizing Super-Resolution techniques.
Our previous research data obtained from super-resolution imaging showed that cells that are fully differentiated into a specific cell type such as skin cells show a specific compacted conformation of the DNA and histones forming the chromatin fibers which is different in less differentiated like stem cells that show a decondensed chromatin structure. Using Hermes SR cutting edge capabilities we will be able to collect a number of chromatin and cytoplastic features associated to somatic and stem cells with nanoscale resolution in multiple cells at the same time. This will be of invaluable importance to fully characterize the phenotype of any cell types. For example, we will use the Hermes SR as a novel imaging diagnostic tool to study and characterize cancer cells from human samples

Illustration of the Hermes SR