SiriusXT is a University College Dublin spin-out that has developed and patented a miniaturised soft x-ray source and Soft X-Ray Microscope (the SXT-100) based on a vacuum-based laser-produced plasma (LPP) light source. The microscope provides 3D imaging of the internal structure of whole, intact, fully hydrated cells — described in the article as essentially a CT scan of the cell. SiriusXT says the breakthrough opens access to soft x-ray microscopy for disease researchers worldwide and is positioning the SXT-100 as a core imaging tool for studies of pathogen infection pathways. Through the 4-year CoCID project the company aims to collaborate with European virology groups to advance understanding of diseases including hepatitis C, hepatitis E, herpesvirus and SARS-CoV-2 and to develop the SXT-100 further. SiriusXT was co-founded in 2015 and is working with UCD researchers and other European partners to deploy early access to its microscope at the UCD Conway Institute. Financially, the company has been awarded a €2.35M Horizon 2020 grant for the CoCID project and has raised over €12M in combined grant and equity funding to date. SiriusXT is a spin-out from the UCD School of Physics commercialising the first commercial soft x-ray tomography (SXT) microscope of its kind. The SXT system produces 3D images of whole single cells and tissue samples, revealing cellular-scale effects of drugs and disease that other techniques cannot produce. The company was co-founded in 2015 by Dr Kenneth Fahy, Dr Fergal O’Reilly and Dr Paul Sheridan following ten years of research. SiriusXT plans to use the €3m in Horizon 2020 SME funding to take its technology from prototype to first product, and a pilot system was being trialled by an early adopter in the UK in 2017. CEO Tony McEnroe said the main target market is the thousands of worldwide research laboratories focused on disease research and drug discovery, and the company aims to make SXT microscopes as ubiquitous as electron microscopes.

Total raised

$6M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Grant

Latest activity

Oct 2020