Frontier IP Group PLC (LON:FIPP) said its portfolio company, Cambridge Raman Imaging Limited, has become part of CRIMSON, a €5mln pan-European project to develop bio-photonic cell and tissue imaging technology to understand the cellular origins of diseases in greater depth.
The AIM-listed investment firm said Cambridge Raman, in which it owns a 25.8% stake, is part of a consortium of 10 organisations involved in the project, which is led by the Polytechnical University of Milan. Cambridge Raman will have a project budget of €468,312 and its role will be to commercialise the technology for use in a microscope.
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Frontier IP said that over the next three and a half years, CRIMSON will aim to develop devices that are “faster and more accurate than existing technologies to provide highly-detailed digital images of cells and tissue”. The company added that the speed of the technology will allow researchers to use time-lapse imaging to observe how cells change when affected by disease without the presence of a dye or other chemicals.
The technology combines advanced laser techniques and artificial intelligence (AI) to show how diseases unfold in cells and tissue at a molecular level in near real-time, Frontier said, adding that initial applications include a microscope aimed at biomedical researchers, with initial validation work focused on cancer.
"CRIMSON is looking to develop technology that could transform how biomedical researchers investigate the cellular origins of diseases, including cancer. Cambridge Raman Imaging's involvement in this prestigious project is strong validation of its expertise", Frontier IP chief executive Neil Crabb said in a statement.