Professor of Organic Chemistry Han Zuilhof and his PhD student Luc Scheres were involved in the tech company Surfix right from the start in 2011. Scheres still has a management role in Surfix but WUR is no longer a shareholder. The company was taken over by two other tech companies last year. Surfix, which is housed in Plus Ultra I, makes nanocoatings for use in point-of-care diagnosis, and employs a staff of 15.
The nanocoatings help in pinpointing the presence of pathogens
Chief Commercial Officer Hans Dijk explains Surfix’s sphere of activity. ‘We have been taken over by LioniX International from Enschede, a company that makes photonic chips for biosensors. The chip uses light patterns to detect proteins and DNA.’ The Amsterdam startup Qurin Diagnostics, Surfix’s other owner, is developing a method for early detection of cancer in urine using these biochips. The test needs to be extremely sensitive because of the low concentration of cancer cells in urine.
Surfix’s selective nanocoatings make it possible for specific biomolecules to bind to the chip at the right place. This enables Surfix to pinpoint the presence of antibodies and pathogens. A fourth party came on board this year: Photon Delta from Eindhoven, which is investing heavily in the company to develop a fast test for Covid-19. Surfix is working on this together with Food and Biobased Research at WUR.
