Company Overview

Hooke Bio is a microfluidics company operating in the fields of preclinical drug discovery and personalised medicine. It draws its strength from the close co-operation it has between its biologists and engineers. Hooke Bio has patented microfluidics technologies that allow their screening platform to work with volumes of liquid 10 to 100 times less than current liquid handling systems. This approach requires very high throughput automated testing at small volumes with relevant, translatable disease models. The primary focus of Hooke Bio is on drug combinations; however the technology is highly adaptable and can be easily used in a variety of additional applications.

Engagement with CAPPA

There is an important unmet need for new medicines that can be mediated by the use of high-throughput microfluidic screening in 3D cell culture. High-throughput screening is required to screen vast numbers of drugs and drug combinations, as their effects on cells are difficult to predict. Hooke Bio developed the Enigma platform to tackle this problem. The Hooke Bio platform was restricted by narrow field of view of ca. 1×1.5mm, which limited the testing to one fluidics channel only.

How CAPPA Delivered Solution for Industry

CAPPA has designed and prototyped a bespoke imaging system with a larger field of view that allows investigation on multiplexed channels. Moreover, the expensive and potentially eye-hazardous 488nm laser was replaced with an LED based illumination solution. The system was also integrated with a tailor made software solution. Hooke Bio envisages expanding its range of tests to other cell lines and disease models and is also interested in personalised medicine. Taking samples of cells from patients and screening and image analysis is a process that is going to grow in sophistication. The optics and software development will form part of an on-going collaboration between Hooke Bio and CAPPA in the future.