PHTA – the University of Birmingham’s flagship facility dedicated to translational health research – has reached a major milestone by signing its first agreement with a future resident.
Kiffik Biomedical, Inc. is a biotechnology company which has developed a world-first wearable, non-invasive method of extracting interstitial fluid (ISF) for biomarkers in humans and animals. Using a patented technique called electroporation, Kiffik’s device opens epidermal pores to allow ISF extraction via negative pressure – negating the need for needles.
As a PHTA resident, Kiffik will have access to state-of-the-art office and laboratory facilities, prototyping space and commercialisation support – but more importantly, they will have direct access to collaborations with researchers and clinicians from the Birmingham Health Partners ecosystem. By catalysing multi-disciplinary collaborations for Kiffik, PHTA will help to facilitate faster therapeutic and pharmaceutical developments for an array of conditions.
Les Lindsay, President EMEA – Kiffik Biomedical Europe Limited explained: “ISF has over 3,000 biomarkers available for assay, and it is likely that the only reason they haven’t supplanted blood-borne biomarkers is the perceived difficult of obtaining ISF samples.
“Kiffik’s wearable, non-invasive technology provides discrete or continuous access to native ISF, with the potential to massively reduce the need for blood samples over the next five years – dramatically saving many journeys undertaken just for phlebotomy sampling. As well as contributing to the NHS Zero Emissions goal, our technology frees up clinic and clinician time – and could revolutionise care for the 25% of the population who suffer a needle phobia.”
Professor Gino Martini, CEO of PHTA, commented: “Kiffik’s technology has wide-ranging applications in diagnostics, predictive interventions and novel therapeutics, and its full potential is as yet not fully known. By basing their UK operations at PHTA, Kiffik will be co-located with expert clinical-academics in key areas such as clinical trials, health data, multi-omics analysis and diagnostic device evaluation and testing – enabling them to explore more of the 3,000 suitable biomarkers for direct patient benefit.”
Les Lindsay added: “I am really keen and enthusiastic to explore the possibility of Birmingham becoming a global centre of excellence for diagnostic sciences, facilitated by PHTA and the Birmingham Health Innovation Campus.”
Case study
In certain solid tumour therapies, there are many weeks between commencement of chemotherapy and a reduction in size of the tumour demonstrable on a scan. ISF biomarker panels offer the potential to check if the therapy is working after a few days, because the ISF is picking up tumour biomarkers in the fluid bathing the tumour itself. Pure or native ISF will also offer less signal to noise interference when looking for minute amounts of individual biomarkers, because many of the “confounding factors” in blood are no longer present in the assay sample.
Learn more about Kiffik by downloading its white paper.
Ends
The Precision Health Technologies Accelerator (PHTA) is the University of Birmingham’s signature health and life sciences research facility, providing approximately 70,000 sq ft of state-of-the-art laboratory, incubation and collaboration space and was supported with funding from GBSLEP.
PHTA will soon occupy the top three floors of No.1 BHIC – the flagship building of the ambitious Birmingham Health Innovation Campus which is being delivered in partnership with experienced investor-developers Bruntwood SciTech.
Working closely alongside Birmingham Health Partners, PHTA offers access to a wide range of expertise in clinical research, trials and health data, as well as opportunities to work with key opinion leaders across the academic and clinical spectrum. Its physical facilities will include wet and dry lab space; prototype development and small-batch manufacturing; business incubation space and flexible hot-desking.
