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The i&i Biotech investment fund invested $1.5 million in the Czech-American technological start-up Sampling Human, whose co-founder and CEO is Daniel Georgiev from the Faculty of Applied Sciences at UWB. Using synthetic biology, the company genetically transforms microorganisms (e.g., yeast cells) into what is called "living information technology".

Modified yeast cells are able to detect and subsequently analyze rare cells, e.g., cancerous cells, which are present in small amounts in blood samples. Thanks to this "living diagnostics", the entire diagnostic process is faster, cheaper and more accurate. The investment by the i&i Biotech fund will support research activities, the company's growth and preparations for the next investment round.

The platform technology developed by the Sampling Human company enables one to detect and at the same time classify the occurrence of just single digit units of, for example, cancerous cells in an environment of millions of others. This highly effective detection is achieved thanks to genetically modified yeast, which actively searches for specific complex structures on the surface of rare cells. Unlike costly diagnostic methods, such as flow cytometry, Sampling Human's technology makes it possible to analyze millions of human cells (e.g., human blood samples) at once, which means many times faster.

"We founded Sampling Human in order to improve health diagnostics. We know that individual cells possess incredibly varied properties that can predict a patient's health condition, but the problem is that these are difficult to find and decipher. Our technological platform can do just that, which makes cellular analysis more accessible and available for use by health care professionals and researchers," says Daniel Georgiev. "Utilizing modified yeast cells, we can detect non-physiological cellular changes, which can alert us to the onset of a severe disease, e.g., cancer or an autoimmune disease."