University of Bristol Enterprise Fund II has backed antibiotic diagnostics developer Vitamica, which spun out of the university’s school of physics in January 2018.
Vitamica, a UK-based antibiotic diagnostics developer spun out of University of Bristol, has obtained an undisclosed sum from the University of Bristol Enterprise Fund II, which is managed by Parkwalk Advisors.
Parkwalk Advisors is a fund management division of commercialisation firm IP Group.
Founded in January 2018, Vitamica is working on a bacterial fluctuation detector that will help gauge levels of antibiotic resistance by evaluating minute changes within individual disease-carrying bacteria to ascertain their susceptibility to specific drugs.
The approach is slated to provide results within one hour, as opposed to 36 to 48 hours for conventional alternatives.
Growing antibiotic resistance is likely to cause deteriorating healthcare outcomes as the number of effective drugs diminishes. However, Vitamica hopes its technology will help prevent this by supporting better targeting of drugs in both human and veterinary healthcare settings.
The bacterial fluctuation detector is based on research led by Massimo Antognozzi, a senior lecturer at University of Bristol’s school of physics who is now chief scientific officer of Vitamica. Antognozzi has been joined by one of his former postdoctoral researchers, Charlotte Bermingham, who acts as Vitamica’s chief technical officer.
