SophoMer a.s.

The startup's founding fathers and directors are Jan Plicka (Elisa Development), a specialist in the development of IVD devices, and Jiří Moos (i&i Prague); the startup is headed by Martin Burkhard. The research team at the collaborating laboratory of the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry consists of Tomáš Etrych, Vladimír Šubr, Libor Kostka and Tereza Vodičková.

The first material, SophoMer F10, binds to the polystyrene surfaces of diagnostic kits — microtitre plates or paramagnetic particles, for instance — where it fully replaces the bovine serum albumin used until now. It thus improves their analytical sensitivity and with it the quality of the diagnostic kits. By its very nature the new material contains no pathogens, so it needs no testing for their presence.