RUBYnanomed and the EIC Accelerator: A Chip That Finds Tumour Cells

Tumours shed cells into the bloodstream, and catching them in a blood sample could let doctors follow a cancer without repeated tissue biopsies. The difficulty is that circulating tumour cells are extremely rare among billions of blood cells. RUBYnanomed, a Portuguese company based in Braga, makes RUBYchip, a microfluidic chip that separates them from a standard blood tube without preparing the sample first.

The European Innovation Council granted €2,497,880.88 towards a €3.57 million project to turn the chip into a product for patient stratification, and the company is listed in the EIC Fund's portfolio. By the end of 2025 RUBYchip had a production-ready design, an automated prototype and a Class A CE-IVD self-declaration, the lowest regulatory tier. The clinical study that would show whether it helps patients was designed but, per the project report, not yet run.

Where RUBYnanomed Stands Today

The EIC Fund's portfolio page describes RUBYnanomed as making "lab tools and diagnostics technologies to monitor cancer progression or metastasis" by isolating circulating tumour cells. The company's website lists clinical partners in Portugal, Spain and Italy and recent recognition, including the Net Zero Health Systems acceleration programme in 2024. Its news page has no entries after 2022.

The Technology: Sorting Cells by Size

RUBYchip is a microfluidic device that separates tumour cells from blood cells as the sample flows through it; published work by the team describes a size-based approach. According to the CORDIS report, it "isolates 70% of the very scarce CTCs from a 7.5mL blood sample" in under three hours. During the project the chip was redesigned from a plastic to a PDMS-glass structure for stability, and an automated beta prototype was built that can process four chips at once, reaching technology readiness level 7.

What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows

BRIGHT ran from August 2022 to December 2025. CORDIS reports ISO 13485 certification in 2025, a "Class A self-declaration for RUBYchip as a CE-IVD medical device", and an FDA 510(k) route identified using Parsortix, an FDA-cleared tumour cell system from another company, as the predicate. A multicentre clinical study across European and US sites was "designed" to support clinical validation and commercial deployment.

1. Production-ready chipDeliveredRedesigned and industrialised, per CORDIS.
2. Automated systemBetaFour-chip prototype at TRL 7.
3. Regulatory basis for saleMinimalClass A self-declaration; no FDA submission reported.
4. Clinical validation for patient stratificationNot doneMulticentre study designed only.

What Has Happened Since the Award

The Money

Beyond the EIC grant and the EIC Fund listing, RUBYnanomed's disclosed funding includes La Caixa Foundation's Caixa Impulse programme in 2020. We found no announced private funding round with an amount, and Portuguese company accounts are not freely available online.

Why Europe Should Care

Liquid biopsy is an active field in cancer diagnostics, and RUBYnanomed's regulatory plan benchmarks against an FDA-cleared rival device. A Portuguese company with a working chip and hospital partners in three EU countries is the kind of early-stage medtech the EIC aims to carry through the expensive clinical phase.

The Verdict

RUBYnanomed has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records, company statements and EU project data, linked throughout.