Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Whispering Gallery Modes (WGM) for label free bioanalytics

Project description

Psst...use this combination if you want to make it through clinical trials to market

Effective action of drugs at their targets and reliably correct diagnoses of diseases and conditions have one very important thing in common, the correct selection of and interaction with the biomarkers used for targeting the drug or 'tagging' the disease from the start. Most failures of drugs in the clinical stage are related to the initial failure to correctly identify these interactions. To address this time-consuming and costly problem, the German SME Surflay Nanotec has developed WhisperSense, the first commercial label-free bioanalysis platform exploiting individual microparticles as label-free biosensors. The tiny spherical microparticles can be functionalised to recognise specific biological entities. The highly sensitive and specific platform also supports high-throughput screening. EU funding of the WhisperSense project helped the team improve technical performance, evaluate feasibility and develop a credible business plan.

Objective

The latest industry research shows that about 90 percent of drugs that reach clinical stage fail due to incorrect selection methods. The same applies to diagnostic markers. A crucial failure source is the imperfect identification and characterisation of biological interaction analytics in the early stages of drug discovery and biomarker identification. Surflay's innovation addresses this challenge. The company developed the unique WhisperSense technology based on the physical effect of whispering gallery modes (WGM). WhisperSense makes a full kinetic analysis of biological interations possible, uniquely applying a spatial resolution of up to 6 µm in complex biological matrixes (e.g. cell culture suspensions), also in a multiplex format. Furthermore and uniquely, it is possible to perform measurements in a wide variety of reaction vessels. For the first time, WhisperSense will allow full kinetic analyses within cell cultures and organoids. All these advances eliminate certain time consuming sample preparation steps at the customer's site and enable monitoring of running processes in real-time, leading to a more precise drug and biomarker selection.
The development is protected by 3 patents and many years of expert knowledge in the production of the special spherical microparticles. Initially, Surflay will address the public sector with its WhisperSense technology, followed by the diagnostic and pharmaceutical industry.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

Surflay Nanotec GmbH
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 50 000,00
Address
MAX PLANCK STRASSE 3
12489 Berlin
Germany

See on map

SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Sachsen-Anhalt Sachsen-Anhalt Dessau-Roßlau, Kreisfreie Stadt
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 71 429,00
My booklet 0 0