SnapCyte Solutions believes it’s time to democratize life science research. Our mission is to provide intelligent and easy-to-access analytical tools to scientists around the world.
Tell us about yourself?
Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Copenhagen. Director of the Molecular Pathology and Cell Imaging Laboratory, Senior Research Scientist and Associate Professor at the Vancouver Prostate Centre (VPC), University of British Columbia (UBC). My team operates in the translational cancer research space, integrating discovery research with biotechnology development. I have co-founded four biotech companies based on my research discoveries (VAR2 Pharmaceuticals, 2012; VARCT Diagnostics, 2017; Rakovina Therapeutics, 2021; and SnapCyte Solutions Inc., 2022). I serve on four biotech company boards and two scientific advisory boards. I love science and biotechnology.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
The past couple of years has been on track for me, but some general advice I keep reminding myself of is ‘learn to say No more often and always add another month to your expected timeline’.
What problem does your business solve?
We help life science researchers with fast, accurate, and affordable tools for analytical cell biology.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
All life science researchers, including ourselves, have a day-to-day need for cell analytics tools, with current options being time-consuming and costly. From our decades of experience with biological and medical research, we have identified bottlenecks in the traditional laboratory workflows for cell analytics. There are more than 1 million research groups worldwide, all having the same problems and basic needs. Most of these research groups have limited resources available and cannot afford the currently available solutions offered on the market. We decided to democratize the cell analytics space by developing a new disruptive solution to this common problem in life science research.
What is your magic sauce?
Our solution is the SnapCyte™ App software that transforms a smartphone into a fast and accurate cell analytics platform that can be used with any type of standard microscope via the SnapCyte™ Adapter. The SnapCyte App uses AI algorithms to objectively analyze cells of any organism cultured in research laboratories, and it becomes smarter and smarter the more it is used. The SnapCyte App differs from other solutions on the market by being faster, cheaper, and much more accessible to researchers anywhere in the world.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
I would like to see a true democratization of research technology over the next years, led by SnapCyte Solutions Inc. We will provide easy-to-use, accurate AI-powered smartphone technology to life science researchers around the world. The use of our technology is only limited by imagination. SnapCyte Solutions Inc. will continue to develop new modules and capabilities for the SnapCyte™ App that will solve problems for scientists and researchers and provide opportunities for the investment community.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
We have faced very few challenges so far. There is a strong demand for our product, and we are fortunate to have a global network of researchers that constantly provides feedback and are helping us to shape the technology in the best possible way. Our biggest challenge is probably attracting qualified human resources to join our team at the right time.
How can people get involved?
If you share our vision and would like to help democratize research technology, we would like to meet you. For any inquiries, please contact SnapCyte Solutions Inc. at contact@snapcyte.com or visit our website at www.snapcyte.com.