Spin-offs

MaxWell Biosystems has been founded on September 1^st, 2016 in Basel by four BEL collaborators, Dr. Michele Fiscella, Dr. Urs Frey, Dr. Jan Müller and Dr. Marie E. Obien. 

MaxWell Biosystems develops and markets advanced electrophysiology platforms for cell assays in preclinical drug discovery, safety pharmacology and basic neuroscience research.

• Cell types: Neurons, cardiomyocytes, induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC), others
• Preparations: acute brain slice and retina, dissociated cell culture, organotypic slice culture, embryoid body
• Applications: phenotype screening, detailed single cell analysis, multi-parametric network analysis, drug efficacy testing, toxicity testing
  

Shift Cryptosecurity is a spin-off company of BEL and was founded October 30th, 2015 in Basel by BEL collaborator Dr. Douglas J. Bakkum and the entrepreneur Jonas Schnelli.

The company produces hardware devices to secure digital assets, or, in other words, physical keys for our digital lives. Applications include: 

• Cryptocurrencies and blockchains
• Authentication and passwords
• Personal identity
• Document signing

InSphero, another spin-off company of BEL, has been founded on March 26^th, 2009 in Zurich by the BEL collaborator Dr. Jan Lichtenberg, as well as Dr. Jens Kelm (ETH and University of Zurich) and Dr. Wolfgang Moritz (University of Zurich).

The company produces biomimetic three-dimensional microtissues, which constitute a significant advance over conventional two-dimensional cell cultures, e.g., in drug screening experiments. The applications include:

• Pharmascreening
• Diagnostics and medical therapy