SPARK-TECH is an innovation company dedicated to delivering cost-effective solutions and setting new standards in the research fields of medicine and biology based on its own inventions. The company’s mission is to deliver autonomous, user-friendly, secure, and affordable laboratory equipment employing artificial intelligence, robotics, and information engineering. The company was founded in 2015 to address critical technological limitations in clinical diagnostics caused by a lack of automation in cell isolation and cryopreservation. Since its founding, based on grants worth over €2,300 000 acquired from the European Union and from National funding, the company has built a prototype Spark-Tech Isolation and Biobanking System (STIBS) for autonomous blood isolation, cell cryopreservation, and biobanking. The company already has a portfolio of granted patents and submitted patent applications, securing intellectual property for key developments concerning STIBS. STIBS comprise two types of autonomous robot devices: for separation (R1) and biobanking (R2). There are two types of (R2) robot: (R2-1) for cryopreservation and biobanking in-80OC and (R2-2) for biobanking in liquid nitrogen compatible with various types of cells. It is dedicated to performing all necessary protocols without expert supervision and direct contact with a biological sample. Breakthrough advantages of STIBS include: firstly, implementation of AI-based detection algorithms to automate critical manual steps (i.e., liquid layering and sample recovery); secondly, fitting in hermitised area customized robotic modules performing all process steps (i.e., opening/closing samples, liquid layering, centrifugation, postcentrifugation sample recovery, cell washing, and cell control freezing/biobanking); finally - employing supervision algorithms to control separation and cryopreservation with end-to-end sample tracking (2D and RFID labels), experiment design and bio-archiving of frozen samples.
