Vysens is based at The Gallery: as close as possible to the University of Twente

Richard Schasfoort is the founder of Vysens and is one of the world’s leading experts in the field of Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) and related microfluidic techniques. Richard has been conducting research at the University of Twente for fifteen years into the combination of cellular interactions and surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi). During the coronavirus pandemic, Richard founded Vysens to develop CellVysion, a new SPR imager that quantifies the binding strength of interactions between cells and antibodies.

Alfons Wegdam, CEO of Vysens: “Every body has aberrant cells. These are normally cleared away by the body itself. If that is not the case, cancer can develop. With the CellVysion, it is possible to measure the interaction and binding strength between the cells and thus identify the cancer cells. Developing CellVysion took four years longer than we initially anticipated. The subsidy from the Overijssel Start-up Fund (FSO) that we received at the end of last year has enabled a significant step forward in further development. We are now able to develop the platform from a working system into a robust solution that can be validated and applied in realistic research environments. Furthermore, it represents a logical step towards follow-up funding for further upscaling and market launch. We expect to be able to launch five pilot projects this year. Initially, these will focus on development and research within the pharmaceutical market. This is a slightly more accessible market than, for example, hospitals, where you have to comply with much stricter regulations, and we are not quite there yet.”

P3Dx Innovation Award

“By winning the P3Dx Innovation Award, we can deploy and further develop the SPRi platform to detect both pathogens and antibodies with a view to future pandemic situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The prize was awarded by TNO’s Dutch Pandemic Preparedness by Pathogen Detection (P3Dx) innovation programme, which focuses on the development of effective testing innovations.”

Redundancy round at the University of Twente

Alfons: “We currently have a team of five here. The Startupfonds Overijssel grant helped us to take on more staff, and the redundancy round at the University of Twente also came at just the right time for us, enabling us to hire Anouk and Christian as application and development specialists. Anouk has a background in medical biology and brings with her more than twenty years’ experience in cell culture, flow cytometry, fluorescence microscopy and related technologies, gained during her work at the University of Twente. Christian has a background in applied physics and also more than twenty years’ experience as a research technician at the University of Twente, where he worked on flow cytometry, fluorescence microscopy, Raman microscopy, cell culture and electrophysiology. “With Anouk and Christian, we have been able to make real progress in a short space of time in developing the idea into the actual product, the CellVysion.”

Finding investors is a challenge

Alfons: “We print most of the CellVysion ourselves using our 3D printer, and we have the outer casing printed locally. The next step will be to outsource that, but that takes time and money. Finding investors is difficult, especially in medical technology, but fortunately Oost NL, among others, is helping us to raise private investment and find suitable and interested market parties.”

Near the UT

Christian Breukers, Application and Development Specialist: “For us, it was essential to stay as close to the UT as possible. That’s why we chose The Gallery, so that we could actually stay on this side of Hengelostraat and quickly consult with professors or carry out a test in one of the UT’s labs.

Future plans

Alfons: “With this type of company, if you want to be successful and grow, you have to operate globally. The question then is, are you going to do it yourself, or is a larger international player interested in you? Richard and I hope we can stay here, but that’s not in our hands. How long we want to and can continue to grow within it ourselves, we can’t predict that yet. The best-case scenario would be if it went so smoothly that we could serve that global market ourselves.”