In May 2019, SPARK-TECH signed grant agreament with The National Centre for Research and Development to develop Spark-Tech Biobanking System (STBS). Value of this project is 11 300 248,31 PLN (2,6 mln EURO) with EU contribution of 8 836 058,10 PLN (2,2 mln EURO). Project will be conducted from June 2019 to May 2021.
Spark-Tube Biobanking System (STBS) was invented to make current complex methods of blood preservation and biobanking more efficient, robust and simplified. The need for such system unfolded when conducting research projects aimed at identification and validation of disease biomarkers in blood. There were two major limitations in the state-of-the-art blood-based biomarker diagnostics, lack of technical solution allowing fully automated, high-throughput blood preservation combined with laborious and very expensive manual procedures. Given the limitations in currently available methods, STBS thanks to its novel technology (separation of blood-fractions, long-term preservation, and banking) is expected to overcome the roadblocks in accessing blood preservation solutions and become universal biobanking platform. System will find wide application in medical diagnostics (including genetic biobanks), clinical drug trials, and clinical research. STBS is not only a high impact medical ‘tool’ but also a great business opportunity as it can be utilized in many different economical environments where cost effective solutions are necessary to change the social limitations of clinical blood processing.