Kāhu SiliconBio, a University of Edinburgh spinout, is developing a novel bioelectronic sensor platform that couples bioengineered microorganisms with custom integrated circuits to detect trace chemicals in liquids in real time. The company has been profiled by the University’s Bayes Centre as part of Cohort 5 of its Venture Builder Incubator programme.
The Bayes Centre profile describes the platform as follows: “Kāhu Bio develops sensing solutions to detect trace chemicals in liquids. We leverage the extraordinary sensing capabilities of microorganisms, hone these to precision through bioengineering techniques and then couple the organisms to novel integrated circuit devices for an electronic readout. This creates a unique bioelectronic sensor platform for real-time monitoring and detection of critical analytes in water and other liquid media.”
The value proposition, in the company’s own words, is speed and integration: “We provide real-time sensing of trace chemicals in liquids, replacing the need for slow laboratory analysis of grab samples.” The device is described as “small, low-power” — a water sample is placed or pumped into it, bioengineered microorganisms respond to the chemical of interest, and their response is transduced through the company’s bioelectronic interface circuitry to give “a fast, electronic output signal that gives you a real-time reading of chemical concentration and which can be integrated to other sensors and circuitry.”
Target markets set out on the Bayes Centre page span aquaculture (fresh and seawater), drinking water, industrial water applications, the construction and mining industry, ports and harbour authorities, and environmental monitoring, with downstream applications including chemical detection in liquid biopsies in humans and livestock.
The company’s founder, James Flewellen, is described on the same page as “a biophysicist based at the Centre for Engineering Biology” at the University of Edinburgh.
For Scotland, Kāhu SiliconBio is a good example of the intersection of semiconductor engineering and engineering biology that has become a distinctive Edinburgh strength — a small integrated-circuit device with living, bioengineered sensing at its heart, aimed at replacing slow laboratory workflows with real-time chemical readouts.
About the Bayes Centre
The Bayes Centre is the University of Edinburgh’s innovation hub for data science and artificial intelligence, based at 47 Potterrow in the city’s Central Area campus. It is one of five University of Edinburgh Data-Driven Innovation (DDI) hubs delivered under the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal, bringing together researchers, students, startups and industry partners to translate data-driven research into commercial and societal impact. Kāhu SiliconBio was one of the companies profiled in Cohort 5 of the Bayes Centre’s Venture Builder Incubator.
