Sphere Fluidics and Heriot-Watt University Partner To Develop Next Generation Droplet Generator Instrumentation

Sphere Fluidics, a company developing single cell analysis systems underpinned by its patented picodroplet technology, and Heriot-Watt University, a specialist, pioneering Scottish University, have announced they have been awarded a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) grant from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency. The grant will facilitate the development of novel droplet generator instrumentation, which will be used to expand Sphere Fluidics’ portfolio of microfluidic instruments for advanced biologics discovery and therapeutic cell line development.

Awarded to promote the collaboration of knowledge, technology and skills within the UK Knowledge Base, the KTP has been granted to Sphere Fluidics, in partnership with Dr. Graeme Whyte, Associate Professor at Heriot-Watt University. The two-year project will develop next-generation intelligent instrumentation and advance research across a range of picodroplet techniques, allowing scientists to discover rare cell phenotypes and to help to solve a range of biological questions ranging from antibody discovery to antimicrobial resistance, enzyme evolution and synthetic biology. The novel platform for semi-automated picodroplet production will be employed by the Company to improve control of droplet production, using advanced imaging technology.

As part of the project, Dr. John McGrath has been appointed to Sphere Fluidics’ team as a Research Scientist in physics and engineering, to support the transfer of cutting-edge research into the Company’s portfolio of single cell analysis instruments, including for several new commercial products. Used by researchers in a number of application areas, Sphere Fluidics’ picodroplet-based technologies provide improved throughput, accuracy, and sensitivity to enable leading-edge research and accelerate biopharmaceutical discovery and development.