EPFL spin-off Oryl Photonics joins a EUR 2.5 million European project

Oryl Photonics has joined the Fast and Accurate Solubility for Sustainability (FASS) project, receiving a EUR 2.5 million EIC Transition grant to develop a novel laboratory instrument for drug solubility measurement.

Oryl Photonics, a start-up company founded by Orly Tarun and Nathan Dupertuis, is part of a European consortium working on the Fast and Accurate Solubility for Sustainability (FASS) project. The consortium has been awarded a EUR 2.5 million EIC Transition grant for a 30-month initiative to bring a breakthrough laboratory instrument to market. The instrument, developed by Oryl Photonics, will use advanced nonlinear light scattering to measure how drugs dissolve in liquids, providing essential data for pharmaceutical and biotechnology research and development.

The FASS project is led by EU-OPENSCREEN ERIC, a European research infrastructure for early drug discovery and chemical biology based in Germany. Other key partners include the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (FHNW) in Switzerland and ALPhANOV, a research and technology organization based in France. The consortium combines expertise in photonics and laser technologies, drug screening and discovery, and pharmaceutical formulation.

The 30-month project aims to revolutionize solubility measurements with a laser-based light scattering method called “Solvent Redistribution”. This approach promises fast, sensitive and accurate measurements using minimal amounts of compounds. Oryl Photonics’ instrument simplifies the analysis and automates the solubility testing process, saving valuable compounds and significantly reducing the environmental impact through reduced consumption of chemicals, electricity and consumables.

The EIC Transition grant will support the technological maturation and market introduction of this groundbreaking tool. It will also support customer development, explore value-added applications in drug discovery and development, and enhance the market competitiveness and credibility of the technology.

“This grant will accelerate the development and market entry of our laboratory instrument. Oryl Photonics is excited to make a world impact through its light-scattering-based technology that fills a gap in the market offering of solubility measurement. The output of the grant will empower researchers in the pharmaceutical, chemical and life sciences industries to achieve more in their work, with sustainability and performance in mind,” shared Orly Tarun, CEO and Co-Founder of Oryl Photonics.