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Bringing Neurophotonics to Laser World

Bringing Neurophotonics to Laser World

First time as a Strat-up at Europe’s biggest Photonics Trade Show

From June 27th to June 30th, 2023, our DeepEn colleagues Sergey (CEO) and Jiri (CTO) embarked on a significant journey to attend the Laser World of Photonics conference in Munich, one of Europe’s largest and most important photonics events. Their primary objective was to showcase the innovative potential of microendoscopy in the field of neurophotonics.

For Sergey, this marked his inaugural visit to a photonics convention not as a scientist but as a business leader. The two co-founders were on a mission to present DeepEn’s vision of introducing the first commercially available microendoscope for neuroscience applications. NeuroDeep® 1.0 represents an advanced laboratory setup that utilizes state-of-the-art holographic principles to facilitate microscopic imaging through an incredibly thin fiber. This technology is designed to serve as an endoscopic probe for minimally invasive imaging of living brain tissue.

Depending on the circumstances, NeuroDeep has the capacity to enable neuroscientists to achieve high-resolution or high-speed imaging of deep brain regions. This opens up possibilities for structural and functional imaging in critical areas such as the hippocampus, amygdala, or brain stem, all without the need to extract the overlying tissue.

NeuroDeep can already reliably resolve submicrometric features, such as dendritic spines, which can be imaged using commonly used fluorescence-labelling techniques. This capability can allow researchers to better observe changes caused by neurodegenerative diseases over time. To make deep brain neuron activity visible NeuroDeep can also be used for calcium imaging techniques. In the near future, DeepEn aims to tackle what is widely considered the holy grail of neuroimaging: voltage imaging, which would enable the visualization of neuron action potentials at significantly higher frequencies.

At the Laser World of Photonics in Munich, our project received substantial interest and attention. We shared a booth with colleagues from the research association Leibniz Health Technologies, and we are immensely grateful to them for providing us with this opportunity.

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Creating Powerful Nodes – Setting the Basis for Collaboration in Neurophotonics

Creating Powerful Nodes – Setting the Basis for Collaboration in Neurophotonics

The Leibniz Institute of Neurobiology (LIN) in Magdeburg is a leading research organization in the field of neuroscience, with expertise in the areas of learning and memory research. The institute has recently established an innovative new core facility for combinational neuroimaging. In Summer 2022, the holographic endoscopy group from Leibniz-IPHT (including the entire DeepEn start-up team) visited scientists in their laboratories at LIN for the first time to explore potential collaboration opportunities in the field of neurophotonics.

The goal of the collaboration is simple: neuroscientists can use the hair-thin holographic endoscope technology provided by neurophotonics experts from IPHT, ISI-CAS in Brno and DeepEn, to image deep brain regions with high resolution, thereby advancing our understanding of neural biology. In turn, the DeepEn, IPHT, and ISI-CAS colleagues can learn about the requirements and interests of the neuroscientist users, allowing them to enhance the endoscope technology into more valuable imaging tools that are reliable and easy to use. The interdisciplinary input will also guide future research and development efforts of the holographic endoscopy groups, enabling novel imaging techniques through one single multimode fibre probe.

The collaboration between LIN, IPHT, ISI-CAS and DeepEn has the potential to be highly productive. The institute in Magdeburg has a culture of innovation and a curiosity to try novel approaches, as demonstrated by the advanced combinational in-vivo imaging techniques utilized in its labs. These neurophotonics techniques allow researchers for example to explore learning and disease-related changes in cellular and synaptic signalling in neural networks. Interestingly, LIN has in recent years produced its own photonics spin-off start-up, Photonscore, which has successfully translated high-performing single photon counting cameras for Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM).

The compact hair-thin endoscopic imaging system developed by DeepEn neurophotonics experts has the potential to be a valuable tool for neuroscience researchers, as it enables imaging of subcortical structures while preserving the brain’s natural functions, addressing a limitation of other in-vivo microscopy methods. The collaboration, therefore, offers great potential for all participants. It presents a unique opportunity to test the compact endoscope of DeepEn under real conditions and with real users, allowing for the evaluation of the system’s performance and potential applications in various research contexts.

We, the DeepEn team, are excited to see this collaboration of strong partners intensify in the future, and we are sure that the results will be fantastic!

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Science4Life Start-up competition winner

Science4Life Start-up competition winner

DeepEn won in the second stage of the Science4Life Startup Competition!

Science4Life events have been catering to deep tech startups with a strong research and development background for over 25 years. These events are known for their high level of quality and professionalism.

The Academy Days, organized as part of the Science4Life Start-up Competition, have provided us with an excellent platform to showcase our vision and receive valuable support to develop our start-up further. The program was designed to equip participants with the necessary knowledge and skills to develop and grow their companies successfully. During the 2-day event, our colleagues, Sergey and Patrick, received personal coaching and attended hands-on seminars on essential topics such as patents, taxes/legal, and financing.

DeepEn’s technology, is a hair-thin endoscope based on a single optical fibre that can be applied in neuroscience and medical research. The technological approach has been developed and refined at Leibniz-IPHT in Jena (Germany) and ISI-CAS in Brno (Czechia) in recent years. We strongly believe that by making this technology available to a wider range of users, DeepEn can help combat neurodegenerative diseases by allowing researchers to study the living brain at a cellular and sub-cellular level.

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are becoming increasingly common as the population ages. We believe that the hair thin imaging tools have the potential to make a significant contribution to the fight against these diseases, allowing researchers to image the deepest brain regions with high resolution and minimally invasively.

Looking ahead, we are excited about the third and final phase of the Science4Life competition, the business plan phase, scheduled for late April 2023. We believe that the skills and knowledge that we have gained from participating in the previous stages of the competition will help us to develop a strong business plan that can take our startup to the next level and perhaps lead us to the Science4Life Start-up competition winner.

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The thinnest endoscopes in the world – article in magazine chemiepharma-innovation.ch

The thinnest endoscopes in the world – article in magazine chemiepharma-innovation.ch

The DeepEn team is working at full speed and with motivation to make hair-thin endoscopes developed at the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology usable for broad applications in neuroscience and medicine.

You want to learn more about DeepEn, our technology and the spin-off? Then read the article „The thinnest endoscopes in the world“ by B2B Swiss Medien AG from the magazine Innovation Chemie Pharma.

Link to the article

Start-ups in Thuringia – ThExAward 2022

Start-ups in Thuringia – ThExAward 2022

Yesterday, DeepEn was awarded 2nd place in the Startup/Foundation category of the #ThExAward2022 competition in Erfurt. The ThEx Award – the Thuringian Startup Award – is the most prestigious award for successful founders and startups in Thuringia. In addition to the award and prize money, the Founder’s Award is particularly distinguished by its support for startups and companies in the Free State of Thuringia. The competition recognizes and honors outstanding ideas and achievements as well as special commitment of Thuringian founders.

The award and the prize money of 4000 € were presented to our teammates Patrick Westermann and Jirka Hofbrucker by the Thuringian Minister for Economy and Science, Wolfgang Tiefensee. We would like to thank the jury and ThEx Enterprise for organizing a great event!

Our spin-off startup from the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technologies is on its way to provide users in neuroscience and medicine with ultra-thin imaging tools.

#GRÜNDEN #technology #startup #jena #forschung #optik #photonics #neuroimaging #endoscopy #neuroscience #medicine

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Visiting life science clusters in Japan

Visiting life science clusters in Japan

Last week, DeepEn Business Specialist Patrick Westermann spent a full week in Japan, visiting the life science clusters around Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe. Though DeepEn is still in the pre-seed phase, housed in the facilities of Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology, we are already thinking globally. The leading position of Japan in the fields of Neuroscience, Photonics, and Medical Innovation makes it one of our first focus markets outside of Europe. In international comparison, Japan stands out due to its distinctive research culture and innovation-friendly environment. The Japanese life science industry offers foreign entrepreneurs and researchers numerous opportunities and represents a very attractive growth market.

During his week in Japan, Patrick visited neuroscientists at Kyoto University, discussed internationalization at an event of DJW – Japanese-German Business Association and exchanged ideas with life-science founders at Innovation Dojo Japan. We want to thank International Startup Campus for making this extremely insightful and valuable business trip possible. A big “Thank You” goes to Valerie Daldrup for great coordination and organization of the trip!

#photonics #business #technology #startup

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