Approach major diseases requires better microscopy

Proteins, among other things, play a role in disease processes. Scientists are still investigating how this works exactly. For example, proteins are being studied with electron microscopy (EM). This happens at very low (cryogenic) temperatures (cryo-EM) because the proteins need to be frozen for a sharp image. The freezing of the proteins must be done at lightning speed, which is called vitrification, to maximise the quality of the sample/preparation. In recent years, researchers at the University of Maastricht have successfully managed to automate the vitrification process. The result is a new device, the VitroJet, which delivers a better quality of preparations with a 90% yield. The CryoSol spin-off focuses on the development of the new technology and marketing of the VitroJet, which will initially be done at academic hospitals and research institutions. CryoSol will deliver the first devices in April 2020. In the long term, it is expected to be around fifty devices per year.

Demcon is one of the investors and shareholders in CryoSol. Jemy Pauwels, investment director at Demcon: “The collaboration with CryoSol fits in with Demcon’s philosophy. We invest with capital, but also with people, production capacity, and if necessary, facilities such as housing. In general, we are concerned with startups for which Demcon can serve as an engineering and manufacturing partner. The technology must fit in with Demcon and be associated with finding solutions for society’s issues.” Demcon invests in companies that are of strategic importance because they fit in with the spearheads of the company, Pauwels continues. CryoSol is active in both the medical and the high-tech world, and fit with our profile because of this. “We want to co-invest in a breakthrough that hundreds of research groups in the academic world are waiting for, according to the University of Maastricht”, Dennis Schipper, CEO of the Demcon group explains.