Revolutionary Acoustic Technology Can Move Cells

Cell Culture Automation Revolutionary Acoustic Technology Can Move Cells

2024-05-03 Source: Press release University of Bristol 2 min Reading Time

Related Vendor

A spinout company from the University of Bristol, Impulsonics is developing a unique biotech platform for cell culture automation by making use of acoustic manipulation to help automate a number of the processes for scientists which are currently time-consuming and expensive.

Impulsonics team members Amanda Franklin, Luke Cox, and Ximena Vasto.(Source: Impulsonics) — Impulsonics team members Amanda Franklin, Luke Cox, and Ximena Vasto.
(Source: Impulsonics)

Bristol/UK – Set up by Dr Luke Cox, Dr Amanda Franklin, Dr James Armstrong and Professors Bruce Drinkwater and Anthony Croxford, Impulsonics is a spinout company which developed out of the Ultrasonics & NDT Group at the University of Bristol.

Despite advances in biotechnology, cell culture automation remains a highly manual field. By utilizing acoustic manipulation, the Impulsonics team are developing a unique biotech platform which will help automate a number of the processes for scientists which are currently time-consuming and expensive.

Impulsonics’ technology will enable a massive reduction in complexity of key processes for researchers studying cells, and in turn will enable low cost, highly efficient systems for critical pain points such as cell passaging (the highly repetitive process where cells which have filled their current container must be moved to a new one).

This will enable a transformation of lab-scale cell culture techniques into a reliable industrial process suitable for 21st century healthcare and drug discovery applications.

This will be especially critical given the rise of AI in drug discovery which demands large volumes of high quality data, far beyond what current processes can yield.

“This is a really exciting time for us,” said Dr Luke Cox, CEO and Co-Founder of Impulsonics. "We're already seeing a demand for more reliable, scalable processes across the sector and that is exactly what our technology promises to deliver. Our unique approach builds on well-established industrial technologies from the aerospace and infrastructure sectors and will help to re-imagine workflows in biotechnology.”

Impulsonics has received investment from SFC Capital, British Business Investments, the University of Bristol and private angels. The funding will enable Impulsonics to accelerate development and testing, boosting the company’s mission to turn pioneering scientific innovations into scalable approaches for research and healthcare.

“There’s never been a more exciting time in biotechnology,” said SFC Investment Executive Ed Stevenson, “and Impulsonics fills a critical gap of scalability in a way that nobody else is tackling it. We were impressed by their innovative approach and are excited to be backing Luke and the team on their journey.”

(ID:50022685)

Subscribe to the newsletter now

Don't Miss out on Our Best Content

Business E-mail

Please enter a valid mailadress.

By clicking on „Subscribe to Newsletter“ I agree to the processing and use of my data according to the consent form (please expand for details) and accept the Terms of Use. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy. The consent declaration relates, among other things, to the sending of editorial newsletters by email and to data matching for marketing purposes with selected advertising partners (e.g., LinkedIn, Google, Meta)

Date: 08.12.2025

Naturally, we always handle your personal data responsibly. Any personal data we receive from you is processed in accordance with applicable data protection legislation. For detailed information please see our privacy policy.

Consent to the use of data for promotional purposes

I hereby consent to Vogel Communications Group GmbH & Co. KG, Max-Planck-Str. 7-9, 97082 Würzburg including any affiliated companies according to §§ 15 et seq. AktG (hereafter: Vogel Communications Group) using my e-mail address to send editorial newsletters. A list of all affiliated companies can be found here

Newsletter content may include all products and services of any companies mentioned above, including for example specialist journals and books, events and fairs as well as event-related products and services, print and digital media offers and services such as additional (editorial) newsletters, raffles, lead campaigns, market research both online and offline, specialist webportals and e-learning offers. In case my personal telephone number has also been collected, it may be used for offers of aforementioned products, for services of the companies mentioned above, and market research purposes.

Additionally, my consent also includes the processing of my email address and telephone number for data matching for marketing purposes with select advertising partners such as LinkedIn, Google, and Meta. For this, Vogel Communications Group may transmit said data in hashed form to the advertising partners who then use said data to determine whether I am also a member of the mentioned advertising partner portals. Vogel Communications Group uses this feature for the purposes of re-targeting (up-selling, cross-selling, and customer loyalty), generating so-called look-alike audiences for acquisition of new customers, and as basis for exclusion for on-going advertising campaigns. Further information can be found in section “data matching for marketing purposes”.

In case I access protected data on Internet portals of Vogel Communications Group including any affiliated companies according to §§ 15 et seq. AktG, I need to provide further data in order to register for the access to such content. In return for this free access to editorial content, my data may be used in accordance with this consent for the purposes stated here. This does not apply to data matching for marketing purposes.

Right of revocation

I understand that I can revoke my consent at will. My revocation does not change the lawfulness of data processing that was conducted based on my consent leading up to my revocation. One option to declare my revocation is to use the contact form found at https://contact.vogel.de. In case I no longer wish to receive certain newsletters, I have subscribed to, I can also click on the unsubscribe link included at the end of a newsletter. Further information regarding my right of revocation and the implementation of it as well as the consequences of my revocation can be found in the data protection declaration, section editorial newsletter.