Scaling Precision
Services
- Design engineering
- Project management
- Custom solutions
- Performance testing
- Process design
- Rapid prototyping
- Software development
- Interface design
- 3D modelling
- Aesthetic models
- Embedded systems development
- Batch production and assembly
- Optical integration
- Functional prototyping
- Concept generation
Sector
- medical
Client
Website
https://pictura.bio/PicturaBio is a medical device spin-out from the University of Oxford, developing near-instantaneous virus identification for faster diagnostics through imaging technology and machine learning.
Having contributed to their pre-seed investment pitch, OPD was ideally positioned to help. The PicturaBio team was able to leverage our microfluidics experience and expertise, including the prototyping of fluidic chips driven by our proprietary microfluidics development platform.
OPD is independently ISO 13485 certified and experienced in designing and delivering medical devices to meet regulatory standards and guiding young companies to adopt and develop these practices for themselves. OPD also has onsite laboratories, including biological safety containment level 2 (CL2) registered space. This gives us the capability of working with live pathogens for testing of designs, alongside our in-house facilities for pilot-scale device manufacture.
PicturaBio sought OPD’s help in translating their benchtop sample preparation workflows onto a proof-of-principle automated consumable and instrument platform, whilst allowing flexibility to accommodate changes within the assay.
There were several practical challenges to overcome:
- A cartridge was needed to hold a reagent, mix it with the biological sample, and deliver it to a flow-cell, where the VISTA Reader would image it.
- The workflow for sample preparation is in evolution so the design needed to be future-proof and flexible.
- The cartridge required production at a prototype manufacturing scale (100s to 1000s units).
- A bespoke optical bench compatible with their system was needed to move away from research microscopy platforms.
The medical device market is incredibly competitive, and development is time-sensitive. We were drawn to use OPD’s established design team and expertise in both medical device development and microfluidics to accelerate development and demonstrate rapid progress to our investors.
OPD was able to quickly start work towards demonstrating the engineering proof-of-principle and forecast a practical route forward to development of the end product.
Starting with a top-level system concept, we identified which aspects of the system could be proven independently and leveraged our microfluidics platform to rapidly iterate the drive systems around them. This efficient process enabled the design of each fluidic module to be advanced quickly and in isolation from integration challenges.
From pre-spin-out, OPD has helped PicturaBio reach Alpha system development of their image-based infection disease diagnostics system, and with OPD’s expertise has been able to maintain a rapid pace of development.
OPD developed the prototype cartridge with microfluidics to contribute to one-minute processing for pathogen detection. 2,000+ cartridges have been produced as working prototypes. OPD has developed 3 microfluidic device platforms for automated sample preparation and designed a modular TIRF microscope specifically for imaging and identifying viruses as small as 50 nanometres.
OPD was available early and ensured they fully understood our project requirements and were ready to begin as soon as we’d secured our funding. Their pragmatic approach and breakdown of product development into discrete work packets made planning easier and costs transparent. Everything went smoothly and according to the planned timelines.