Drop in the ocean
Galway-based microfluid dispensing technology company PolyPico sees significant developments on the horizon for both its system and distribution network
PolyPico’s technology uses acoustic energy to generate and dispense ultra tiny droplets – as small as one billionth of a litre
– of biomaterials and other liquids for a range of applications. These include drug discovery, cell dispensing, tissue engineering, clinical diagnostics and micro-array production.
Substances that can be dispensed through the company’s systems include proteins, antibodies, nano-materials, crystals, living cells, bacteria and DNA, as well as organic and inorganic reagents.
While other microfluid dispensers are available, the company’s director Alan Crean says the use of inexpensive, disposable polymer cartridges makes PolyPico’s technology unique in the market. Competitor technologies use glass tubes, which have to be cleaned after each use. As well as taking longer to set up and being costly to replace, there is a risk of cross-contamination with these tubes, according to Crean.
The company, which employs five full-time and four part-time staff, began life as a campus start-up at the University of Limerick in 2012 before relocating to Ballybrit Business Park in Galway the following year. It has customers in 10 countries, including the UK, Germany, Spain, Russia, China, Japan and the US.
Peer recognition from the industry has been a useful marketing tool to date, says Crean. “For example, we were selected by the American Society of Laboratory Automation as a showcase technology. That put us on the map.”
To expand its customer base going forward, the company is now talking to potential distributors. “We really need the firepower of distributors with market presence and knowledge,” notes Crean.
The technology is also being further developed to improve functionality and appeal to a wider customer base. “We went to market with an entry-level system,” Crean explains. “We took a lot of customer feedback from that and followed up with a second generation system, which we launched in Washington last year.”
Now, a more sophisticated, multichannel version is being developed. “A lot of the big pharmaceutical companies are waiting for multi-channel versions of our system so they can really scale up their processes,” Crean says. “We have a working prototype so we are now doing the design work to develop that into a commercial instrument. That might happen in Q4 in 2018.
“As we scale up the technology and build up the distributor network, it will open up a lot of new markets and applications.”
“As we scale up the technology and build up the distributor network, it will open up a lot of new markets and applications.”