The prototype was presented by project head Mario Cindric, who heads the IRB Laboratory for System Biomedicine, and Antonio Starcevic, director of the SemGen d.o.o. company.
Cindric said the RapidCell method combined biochemistry, genetics, proteomics and computing on the one hand and clinical methods for the identification of tumors and pathogen microorganisms on the other, enabling better medical diagnostics. It has to do with biotypisation, a correct and fast identification of the type and strain of pathogen microorganisms causing a disease, Cindric said.
The IRB worked on the project together with the Zagreb Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Technology.
Cindric said the research work was based on a new, patented reagent and a computing method that was a result of long-lasting cooperation of a number of domestic and foreign researchers, noting that thanks to the new method it would be possible to establish a reliable diagnosis in only three hours.
This, he said, would help clinicians determine a target therapy for a patient in a timely fashion.
Cindric said the same method could be applied to the typisation of tumor tissues.
That eventually facilitates decisions on the course of treatment and application of combined therapies, he said.
Aside from its use in medical diagnostics, the new method will also be possible to apply in the food and pharmaceutical industries, namely in processes of quality control and design of new production procedures, Starcevic said, adding that the project had very great commercial potential.
"Our prototype is functional, ready for the market and for demonstration to potential clients," said Starcevic, whose company SemGen d.o.o. is a partner in the project, in charge of marketing services.
The RapidCell project, launched in March 2013, is worth 5 million kuna. The European Union co-financed it with HRK 4 million.
The RapidCell method has not been applied anywhere in the world so far.
The presentation of the method prototype was attended by representatives of the relevant ministries, the City of Zagreb, government agencies, pharmaceutical and medical professionals, and potential partners from the industrial sector.