CRIL wins EUR140,000 EU Graphene Flagship funding

RNS REACH 

AIM: FIPP

17 February 2020

Frontier IP Group Plc

("Frontier IP" or the "Group")

Portfolio news - Cambridge Raman Imaging wins €140,000 EU Graphene Flagship funding

Frontier IP, a specialist in commercialising university intellectual property, today announces that portfolio company Cambridge Raman Imaging Limited (the "Company") has been awarded €140,000 by the European Union's Graphene Flagship to accelerate development of its innovative graphene-enabled scanning Raman microscope.

The Company, a spin out from the University of Cambridge and the Politecnico di Milano in Italy, was incorporated in March 2018 to develop and commercialise the joint work of both universities to create graphene-based ultra-fast lasers. Frontier IP owns 33.3 per cent of the Company.

Cambridge Raman Imaging is initially developing a Raman-imaging scanning microscope to diagnose and track tumors, and for other detection applications.

The technology uses graphene to modulate ultra-short pulses of light that can be synchronised in time and are much lower cost than conventional systems.

The Company's scanning microscope will target real-time digital images of fresh tissue samples to detect and show the extent of tumours, their response to drug treatments and to allow surgeons to see if a cancer has been completely removed.

Existing histopathology technologies mean samples taken from a patient must be stained and sent to a laboratory for analysis, including during operations. Cambridge Raman Imaging's lasers will be compact enough to use in an operating theatre, speeding up progress. The global market size for tumour analysis and tracking has been estimated to be £9 billion a year, according to Grandview Research.

Potential future applications include endoscopic examination, scanning body fluids for pathogens or tumour cells, and imaging semiconductors or proteins.

The Graphene Flagship is one of the largest research initiatives ever funded by the EU, tasked with bringing together academic and industrial researchers to take graphene from academia and into society.

Paul Mantle, Cambridge Raman Imaging director, said: "This technology has the potential to revolutionise patient care by giving the clinician accurate information on tumour type and response to treatment."

Neil Crabb, chief executive officer of Frontier IP Group, said: "Cambridge Raman Imaging is our first spin out to develop a graphene-based technology. Although the first applications are in healthcare, we believe there could be broader applications in other industries. We're delighted the EU Graphene Flagship recognises the potential of the technology with the grant award to accelerate its development "

ENQUIRIES

ABout frontier IP

Frontier IP unites science, finance and industry by identifying strong intellectual property and accelerating its development through a range of commercialisation services. A critical part of the Group's work is involving relevant industry partners at an early stage of development to ensure technology meets real world demands and needs.

The Group looks to build and grow a portfolio of equity stakes and licence income by taking an active involvement in spin-out companies, including support for fund raising and collaboration with relevant industry partners at an early stage of development.

ABOUT THE GRAPHENE FLAGSHIP

The Graphene Flagship is research, innovation and collaboration.

Funded by the European Commission, the Graphene Flagship aims to secure a major role for Europe in the ongoing technological revolution, helping to bring graphene innovations out of the lab and into commercial applications. The Graphene Flagship gathers nearly 150 academic and industrial partners from 23 countries, all exploring different aspects of graphene and related materials. Bringing diverse competencies together, the Graphene Flagship facilitates cooperation between its partners, accelerating the timeline for industry acceptance of graphene technologies. The European Commission's FET Flagships enable research projects on an unprecedented scale. With €1 billion budgets, the Graphene Flagship, Human Brain Project and Quantum Flagship serve as technology accelerators, helping Europe to compete with other global markets in research and innovation.

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