During the early summer, medical technology company PHI embarked on a global tour to showcase their latest HoloMonitor products, lab instruments designed for non-invasive cell culture analysis and future applications in cell quality control in regenerative medicine. BioStock contacted CEO Patrik Eschricht to learn about the team’s achievements.

Phase Holographic Imaging (PHI), based in Lund, Sweden and Boston, Massachusetts, is in the commercialization phase of its products for non-invasive time-lapse imaging. The company’s main product, HoloMonitor M4, is used for long-term quantitative analysis of living cell cultures. Last year, the company started focusing on regenerative medicine, an emerging field that enables repairing or replacing dysfunctional cells, tissues, and organs.

Also watch: We are Phase Holographic Imaging (March 15, 2023)

This new focus soon started to gain attention. In March 2023, the private Swiss Distributor and Investment Company Altium made a major investment in the company, making them its largest owner. Read an interview with Altium´s CEO Goran Dubravčić here.

Comments from the CEO

During the last month, PHI has been touring the globe, visiting numerous conferences to showcase HoloMonitor to new audiences and world premiere their latest product portfolio addition. To learn more about the tour’s aim, BioStock contacted CEO Patrik Eschricht for a comment.

Patrik, to start with, which conferences have you participated in so far this year?

– This has been a packed schedule for our team. Two major events for us were the 2023 Annual Congress of the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR 2023) in Torino, Italy. And at the same time, we showcased at the International Society for Stem Cell Research 2023 Annual Meeting (ISSCR 2023) in Boston, Massachusetts. The week before, we also exhibited at the World Stem Cell Summit and spoke at the Annual Regenerative Medicine Essentials Course (WSCS/RME 2023) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

What are the main reasons for you and your team to showcase HoloMonitor abroad?

–  Global promotion is very important if you aim for the global market. Thus, we actively promote HoloMonitor worldwide, introducing this advanced instrument to professionals and researchers in various countries. The international roadshow signifies our commitment to expanding our market reach and raising awareness about the potential of non-invasive cell culture analysis.

Can you discuss the new product you rolled out at those major scientific conferences?

– We world premiered our new holography and fluorescence live cell imaging system HoloMonitor M4FL. With the technology combination in one instrument, customers can retrieve even more quantitative data on their cells while reducing unwanted phototoxicity. Influencing or harming living cells in the imaging process is a common drawback of current protocols. Speaking to the attending conference researchers confirmed that HoloMonitor can be used in even more applications and research areas with the fluorescence add-on. And I am happy that our products piqued many conference attendees’ interest.

How would you describe PHI’s highlights from the ISSCR conference and the cooperation with your US partner Nexus?

– More than 4,000 scientists from around the globe joined ISSCR 2023 to participate in a full four-day program about significant new advances in stem cell research and regenerative medicine.

– The full Nexus team supported PHI Inc. President Håkan Rosvall to showcase our product at this event. Joining events like this strengthen our relationship and makes us more eager to further distribute the HoloMonitor system from coast to coast in the US and Canada.

– A highlight was speaking to the research community and hearing in one-on-one conversations how our HoloMonitor product perfectly suits their needs for studying delicate cells – such as stem cells – undisturbed inside their cell culture incubator.

What were your team’s highlights from EACR in Turin?

– This four-day congress brought the cancer research community together and covered many basic, preclinical, and translational cancer research topics. PHI’s Product Manager, Lisa Lindström, told me afterwards that it was valuable to hear about the current challenges of researchers and discuss how HoloMonitor can help overcome them.

– For example, cell migration studies are typical for cancer research. With HoloMonitor, we provide an automated and easy-to-use tool for directly following and analyzing cells and their behaviour over time. Conference attendees got excited about how this reduces days of manual lab work and the need for tracking single cells by hand.

PHI´s Chief Scientific Officer Kersti Alm was invited to speak at the Annual Regenerative Medicine Essentials Course in North Carolina. What topics did she cover in her presentation?

– Kersti Alm presented how our cell imaging and analysis technology fits the demands for cell quality control necessary in regenerative medicine. Not only does our quantitative phase imaging (QPI) technology have unique non-invasive properties, but it also provides both quantitative and qualitative data in a cell-friendly way. She also described our ongoing activities within the smart manufacturing project with our partners BioSpherix, QIAGEN, the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and global analytics company SAS.

Also watch: PHI on the alliance for cell-based biomanufacturing (November 23, 2022)

If we sum it up together, what has PHI achieved? And do you continue the global tour?

– We have met numerous researchers, key stakeholders, and professionals in the life science industry to explain HoloMonitor’s versatility in various research areas. Of course, we do not stop here. We are already preparing different activities and further HoloMonitor M4FL promotion, especially for the autumn when our customers return to the lab after their summer break.

– Besides continuing our marketing momentum of HoloMonitor M4FL, we will intensely promote our core HoloMonitor QPI technology to governing bodies as a non-invasive quality control tool in regulated environments such as hospitals, clinics, and therapy manufacturing facilities.

– I invite you to look out for our PHI blog in the upcoming days for more impressions of ISSCR and EACR and highlights from WSCS/RME and PHI’s Winston-Salem visit.

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