Qubis has backed Causeway's bid to create a nanochip-powered sensor that would help prevent ineffective antibiotic prescriptions.
Causeway Sensors, a UK-based counter-antibiotic resistance technology spinout from Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), has secured £1.2m ($1.7m) from investors including Qubis, QUB’s commercialisation arm, the Irish Independent reported yesterday.
Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Growth Fund, a venture capital fund backed by financial services firm Bank of Ireland, led the round, which also featured unnamed private investors.
Founded in 2013, Causeway is creating a nanochip-powered sensor to classify infections as bacterial or viral in real time.
The technology is expected to help clinicians decide an appropriate course of action with clarity, potentially avoiding unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions that are ineffectual against viruses.
Causeway will put the capital towards research and development, having decided to prioritise the medical diagnostics segment. The spinout previously raised $64,000 from Kernel Capital Growth Fund in October 2016.
Robert Pollard and Robert Bowman, both from Queen’s Centre of Nanostructured Media and School of Mathematics and Physics, co-founded Causeway alongside John Nelson from the university’s School of Biological Sciences.
Pollard said: “This investment validates this new strategy and we look forward to growing our team, developing the technology and exploring new market opportunities.”
