Thanks to this new method, Celoxio says it can efficiently design material properties down to the micro-level, thereby opening new opportunities for the decentralisation of advanced analyses
Celoxio has developed a what it says is a revolutionising method for the manufacturing of plastic microfluidic analysis chips.
With the help of these new properties, the company is developing customised analysis chips for quick, safe and easy point-of-care diagnoses.
Celoxio was established in January 2007, and is a Swedish Royal Institute of Technology spin-off company.
The recently developed, patent-pending method that forms the foundation of the company is based on Tommy Haraldsson's many years of research in photopolymerisation and microfabrication at the Royal Institute of Technology.
"This manufacturing method has been developed exclusively for the industrial production of microfluidic analysis chips.
"As a result, the technology is highly scaleable, and fully adapted to the requirements of the diagnostics market," says Tommy Haraldsson, who is also the founder and CTO of Celoxio.
The technology allows for a seamless transition from prototype to series production, which means that the later mass-produced products are exact copies of the previously developed prototypes.
During 2007 the company developed the first manufacturing machine and is now producing chips with exact microstructures.
"The real advantage of our technology, however, is that it enables us to efficiently design the bulk and surface properties of the chips.
"This gives us control of the microflows within the chip, and ensures that the sought substances reach the detection position," Haraldsson explains.
As a first step, a series of soft to hard material with hydrophobic to hydrophilic surface properties is being developed.
In the near future, the company expects to be able to offer material with protein-repellant surface properties.
All materials can be combined in a single chip.
"With our new production method, we can efficiently offer the chip properties required for decentralisation of many advanced analyses.
"We are therefore concentrating our efforts on offering analysis chips for advanced point-of-care diagnosis, and are now presenting our offering on the demonstrator/prototype level.
"This gives us an opportunity to show the possibilities at an early stage, while additionally adapting our products to meet the needs of the customers," says Celoxio CEO, Fredrik Jansson.
