In cooperation with life sciences news platform BioVox, Project Spotlight highlights collaborative projects that have been funded by MEDVIA.

Biodevice-CRO is a MEDVIA project uniting three very different, but complementary, Flemish companies: ICsense, Comate, and Antleron. This unique partnership aims to provide life science actors with customizable, modular bioprocess solutions through a collaborative Contract Research Organization (CRO) model. These smart solutions – the biodevice based on an integrated chip, biofluidic cartridge, and functional device – will enable fast-track development of personalized medicines and improved diagnostics.

Recent healthcare advances are trending towards more personalized medicines and automated diagnostic approaches. In particular, advanced therapy medicinal product (ATMP) manufacturing needs highly monitored, single-use systems, and diagnostic tools require custom cartridges to facilitate the measurement and control of biofluidic processes.

“Companies are increasingly looking for proprietary solutions to fit the specific operations carried out in their bioprocessing facilities, whether it’s diagnostics, cell processing, or advanced therapy production,” says Filip Donvil, Co-Development Architect at Antleron. “By pooling the expertise we have here in Flanders, and building on our combined knowhow and creativity, together we can create this kind of customized approach.”

The three Biodevice-CRO partners are all based in Leuven, Belgium: Antleron is a biotech company developing custom, scalable bioprocesses based on innovative technologies like digital twins and 3D printing; ICsense is staffed by ICT experts with experience in tailoring integrated electronics and data processing for specific applications; and Comate is an engineering and design company focusing on high-tech medical devices integrating novel technologies.

“There’s a fast-growing increase in the number of cell and gene therapy modalities being used,” Donvil explains. “But each cell source has different characteristics and responds in different ways to various signals and environments. Given this biological variability, bioprocesses increasingly need to be custom developed per application for the best chance of success.”

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