In general, the project has achieved most of its objectives and milestones for the period, with relatively minor deviations.
(1) Scientific objectives:
• We designed and synthetised several bio-compatible polymer compositions which display a low viscosity at room temperature (r.t.) allowing mixing target molecules/cells and amplification reagents at that temperature and subsequent user manipulations required for production, but rapidly form a homogeneous hydrogel network during PCR.
• The gel components and the gelation procedure are not damaging to PCR reagents, target and amplification process.
• The design of gel matrices was done in a way that they will be able to withstand the rapid changes of temperature and retain structural integrity under stress during the nucleic acid amplification in a wide range of temperatures. The gels designed are characterized by homogeneous structure and mechanical stability. We showed their usability in different kinds of PCR tests on different PCR thermal cyclers including ultra-fast PCR thermocycler Chronos, that is designed and produced by BforCure.
• The obtained gels possess homogeneous structure, the formed molecular colonies are uniform and their quantity reflects the actual quantity of the target. The gels' percentage and composition, and, consequently, the mesh size can be modified depending on the target and PCR reagents used.
(2) Training objectives:
• Marketing and communication strategy. The ER participated in the International conference Analytica 2020 (19-22 October 2020, online) where she communicated to a lot of researchers, representatives of laboratories, private companies, industry in order to establish partnership, advertise the technology and attract the future clients.
• Product- and market-oriented R&D work, entrepreneurship evolution. In the course of the project the ER communicated to all of the BforCure team: with the CEO who helped in identification of her career plans and goals, in studying entrepreneurship; with the marketing team that taught her the basics of communication and advertising. The ER participated in CE Marking Training session (04/2020) hold by the leading specialist in the field, Dr Gruszka (linkedin.com/in/fatima-gruszka-4621b41).
• IP. In the beginning of the project, the ER was trained to do a Freedom-To-Operate (FTO) analysis (by participating in the workshop on intellectual property (01/2020) hold by the leading specialist in the field, Mr. Jacques Vesin (linkedin.com/in/jacques-vesin-4785b417)). ER studied >100 patents and summarized which technology will be an obstacle to develop the product and how to cross over the protected property right to continue conducting the R&D. As a result 2 patent drafts were sent to the patent office.
• Training in the complementary to ER expertise areas. The ER got a full training in PCR techniques and equipment, training in the basics of routine R&D work in the field of molecular and microbiology (design of PCR kits and performing a variety types of PCR – qPCR, reverse transcription PCR, dPCR; sample preparation techniques; growing and analysis of different bacterial cultures, DNA and RNA extraction techniques etc.) ER attended several webinars, e.g. “Lyophilization-Changing the Game for Molecular Diagnostics” (27/10/2020). Based on received training ER performed a big panel of abovementioned experiments on a high scientific level and mastered the technique.
