Buoyant Microbubbles Rise Above the Limitations of Other Isolation Technologies

BY MICHAEL MALONEY DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, AKADEUM LIFE SCIENCES

In the isolation technology market, slow and bulky reigns supreme. With status-quo processes that have not progressed in the past 40 years, the market has been yearning for faster, leaner, more agile products—but nobody could seem to improve upon well-known methods like magneticsbased separation. Nobody, that is, until now.

THESE LITTLE BUBBLES ARE MAKING BIG WAVES

The greatest innovations are often those that transform an entire industry, and Ann Arbor-based biotechnology company Akadeum Life Sciences has done just that. The team refused to accept the long-standing problems in sample preparation as a necessary evil, so they set out to find a better way. Meeting the needs of evolving industries such as cell therapy and diagnostics, their elegantly simple solution uses buoyant microbubbles to capture and isolate virtually any target from a biological or chemical sample.

The shortcomings of current methods—including volume limitations, low throughput, cumbersome workflows, and costly processes—are all solved by microbubbles. Akadeum’s flotation-based separation technology is faster, cheaper, and much simpler than status-quo methods. Moreover, microbubbles can be used with samples of any size—a feat that its predecessors can’t even come close to tackling.

THE BEAUTY OF SIMPLICITY

Akadeum’s goal of being able to process any sample, at any volume, anywhere is certainly within grasp. The company’s current products can be used to capture various types of cells, microbes, nucleic acids, proteins, and more. And—due to the fact that this self-separation is achieved by buoyancy—the technology does not require any specialized equipment and may be carried out in any size of container.

By coating Akadeum’s microbubbles with molecules, they are able to seek out and attach to their desired targets. For example, antibody-coated microbubbles may be added to a blood sample to target specific cells, such as T-cells. The microbubbles then gently float the desired targets to the top of the sample, where they can easily be skimmed off.

AKADEUM’S FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19

Amidst the ongoing pandemic, the speed and agility that Akadeum’s technology enables has become even more crucial. As such, the company is focusing its efforts to fight against COVID-19 on both the viral diagnostics and antibody detection fronts.

Currently, Akadeum is developing a novel nucleic acid-engaging microbubble that may be used to quickly test for viral infections across large groups of people.

A quick way to test the contagion of large populations will be critical as our communities aim to ease social distancing requirements and return to public gatherings such as work and school.

PAVING A PATH FOR FUTURE ADVANCES

To commercialize and support further advancements of Akadeum’s microbubble technology, the company recently completed its Series A financing with support from local and coastal investors, including Michigan Angel Fund, Grand Angels, University of Michigan MINTS, Berkeley Catalyst Fund, Mass Medical Angels, and Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A).

Akadeum is actively developing its product portfolio, which includes several research-use-only (RUO) kits for cell isolation applications. In parallel, the company is also pursuing business-to-business partnerships for applications in diagnostics, cell therapy, and bioprocessing. One such partnership with Agilent Technologies, Inc. uses the technology to explore a new testing paradigm that could reduce cost and complexity of analytical workflows. the addressable market is substantial. And, since microbubbles do not have the same limitations as other methods, the technology is also expected to enable the development of new markets.

With shattered limitations, improved processes, and emerging markets on the horizon, Akadeum’s microbubbles have ensured that—in an industry where status quo felt like rock bottom—the only way to go is up.

After demonstrating its capabilities in the research and academic markets, Advaita is now prepared to deploy their software and technology to shorten the drug discovery pipeline by eliminating candidates that are destined to fail and identifying drugs suitable for repurposing, shorten the duration of clinical trials by identifying patients who are more likely to respond, and enable a true personalized medicine approach by identifying the best drug for a given patient.

With advancements like these that merge the expertise of scientists with the power of computerized data management, the biosciences industry is in the midst of a big revolution to understand even the smallest of measurements.

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