Summary
- Closed for EoI
- Profile Type
- Research & Development Request
- POD Reference
- RDRES20250206004
- Term of Validity
- 6 February 2025 - 6 February 2026
- Company's Country
- Spain
- Type of partnership
- Research and development cooperation agreement
- Targeted Countries
- Luxembourg
- Croatia
- Norway
- Canada
- Hungary
- South Africa
- Finland
- Czechia
- Malta
- Latvia
- Denmark
- Belgium
- Netherlands
- Romania
- Italy
- Singapore
- Portugal
- France
- Iceland
- Austria
- Sweden
- Poland
- Estonia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Germany
- Cyprus
- Lithuania
- Bulgaria
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General information
- Short Summary
- Barcelona-based startup that has developed a urine-based breast cancer test with a sensitivity of 88.42% is looking for partners for the next Eurostars call. The proposal in preparation is aimed at re-designing and optimizing chemical gas sensors to detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as biomarkers for breast cancer in urine.
- Full Description
- Breast cancer is the most treatable cancer, yet it remains the #1 cancer killer for women, as 50% are detected too late. The company has built a urine-based breast cancer test with a sensitivity of 88.42%, outperforming mammography by 15%-30%. They will run clinical trials in 2025 and launch in gynecology clinics by 2026. While they do this, they want to develop new chemical gas sensors on their current in-vitro diagnostics device to improve the performance, and to reduce manufacturing costs.
- Advantages and Innovations
-
The device is a point-of-care in-vitro diagnostic medical device for breast cancer testing. Its technology is more sensitive (88.42% vs 57.50%) and accurate (83.32% vs 67.80%) than mammography. Namely, 30% fewer breast cancers would be left undiagnosed with this device.
It contains 9 chemical sensors that are sensitive to a set of BC biomarkers, some of which are small enough to evaporate when urine is heated. When this happens, they fill the device's inner headspace (the confined air volume between the sample and the sensors) and continuously activate the sensors as their headspace concentrations increase. This activation is referred to as “urine’s fingerprint” and characterizes the composition of urine in two dimensions: (i) each biomarker activates the sensors differently and (ii) each biomarker volatilization occurs within a specific temperature range.
Finally, the AI-based algorithm, trained with a proprietary database of 500+ urine samples, recognizes certain patterns within the urine’s VOC fingerprint that are correlated with breast cancer. Thanks to AI, a complex and expensive lab-based procedure (typically done with GC-MS) has been transformed into a point-of-care approach.
This is how the device provides women with a reliable, accessible, radiation-free, pain-free, low-cost, and easy-to-operate solution to detect breast cancer in urine, enabling timely diagnosis. - Stage of Development
- Available for demonstration
- Sustainable Development Goals
- Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being
- IPR description
- SME / spin-off / academic partner who can design new chemical gas sensors to detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as biomarkers for breast cancer in urine. The company will provide the list of targeted VOC biomarkers contained in the gas headspace.
Partner Sought
- Expected Role of a Partner
- The company is looking for an SME / spin-off / academic partner who can design new chemical gas sensors to detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as biomarkers for breast cancer in urine. We will provide the list of targeted VOC biomarkers contained in the gas headspace
- Type and Size of Partner
- SME <=10
- R&D Institution
- University
- SME 11-49
- SME 50 - 249
- Type of partnership
- Research and development cooperation agreement
Call details
- Framework program
- Eureka
- Call title and identifier
- EUROSTARS 2025
- Coordinator required
- No
- Deadline for EoI
- Deadline of the call
Dissemination
- Technology keywords
- 09001009 - Sensor Technology related to measurements
- Market keywords
- 05001002 - In-vitro diagnostics
- 05005014 - Oncology
- Sector Groups Involved
- Electronics
- Health
- Targeted countries
- Luxembourg
- Croatia
- Norway
- Canada
- Hungary
- South Africa
- Finland
- Czechia
- Malta
- Latvia
- Denmark
- Belgium
- Netherlands
- Romania
- Italy
- Singapore
- Portugal
- France
- Iceland
- Austria
- Sweden
- Poland
- Estonia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Germany
- Cyprus
- Lithuania
- Bulgaria