A photonic sensor platform that resolves glycan isomers
in minutes, not days, for a fraction of the cost of mass
spectrometry.
LuxGrid is building the sensing layer biopharmaceutical
quality control has been missing. Our first product
pairs molecularly imprinted polymers with laser
spectroscopy to tell apart glycan structures today's
instruments struggle with, on a benchtop footprint, in a
single shift, at a price manufacturers can run on every
batch.
Per test, vs. a full working day for current
glycan QC
$ 10.5B
Glycomics market projected by 2035 (Grand View
Research)
The story
Every batch of a modern biologic drug is coated in
glycans, complex sugar chains that decide whether the
therapy works, lasts, or harms. The pharmaceutical
industry can manufacture these drugs at scale. It cannot
measure the glycans on them fast enough or cheaply
enough to keep up with its own production.
At CAPPA in Cork, Dr. Finbarr Buckley spent six years
building a sensing platform that could finally solve a
related class of hard problem: capturing and identifying
notoriously difficult targets, first PFAS forever
chemicals in water, then a broader class of analytes
that mass spectrometry could not resolve cleanly. The
platform worked. Working with Active Site Partners in
Boston, the same constraint kept surfacing from the
biopharma side: molecular recognition at isomeric
resolution in minutes, not days, was the hard limit on
every manufacturer they spoke to.
“We built the sensor for one hard problem. The
market handed us a bigger one.”
Finbarr Buckley, Co-Founder
LuxGrid is the company built to take that platform into
biopharma quality control, and over time into every
other sensing market where the same constraint is
blocking progress.
The problem
Biologic drugs are now the largest and fastest-growing
segment of the pharmaceutical industry. Every one of
them requires glycan characterisation on every batch
before it ships. The FDA approved 13 new monoclonal
antibodies in 2024 alone. Each one added to a recurring,
growing, regulatorily-mandated measurement burden.
The tools that handle this measurement are 20-year-old
platforms: chromatography paired with mass spectrometry
or fluorescence. They are accurate. They are also slow
(often a full working day per sample once queue time is
included), expensive (capital instrumentation at
€400,000 to €800,000 per system, plus specialist labour
and consumables), and stuck in central labs.
Manufacturers cannot afford to test every batch in real
time. So they batch, queue, and ship samples out. By
the time the lab sends a result back, the lot is often
already gone, and the delay this creates is the single
largest source of rejected batches in biologics
production.
The hardest part of the problem is the part current
workflows still cannot reach. In a typical therapeutic
antibody, most of the N-glycan pool is isobaric:
different linkages, branch positions, and sialic-acid
orientations that share the same molecular mass and
cannot be told apart by mass spectrometry alone.
Resolving them requires chromatographic or ion-mobility
separation, derivatization, or enzymatic digests, each
of which adds cost, time, and specialist expertise.
Regulators require the distinction. The current workflow
does not deliver it cleanly.
A new sensing mechanism is the only way to make this
faster and cheaper without losing the resolution
regulators demand.
The solution
LuxGrid combines two established technologies in a new
configuration. A molecularly imprinted polymer (a
synthetic "plastic antibody" engineered with a cavity
shaped to capture a specific target) selectively binds
the analyte of interest. A laser-based optical readout,
surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy or SERS, then reads
the molecular fingerprint of the captured molecule,
label-free and in real time. The cavity is designed
computationally before it is synthesised, so the
receptor's selectivity is predicted in advance rather
than discovered by trial and error.
What sets it apart
I
Physics
Optical fingerprinting, not mass-based
detection. We read the molecule's vibrational
signature, which carries structural information
that mass alone cannot.
II
Chemistry
Synthetic polymer receptors, not biological
antibodies. Shelf-stable, manufacturable at
scale, and free of the fragility and cost of
biologics.
III
Architecture
Solid-state capture, not chromatography
workflows. A disposable cartridge and a benchtop
laser replace a multi-day, multi-instrument
pipeline.
The result is a sensor mechanism that bypasses the
legacy workflow entirely. Not a faster version of mass
spectrometry, but a different answer to the same
problem.
The platform
Glycan quality control is the first commercial problem
LuxGrid is solving. It will not be the last. The
platform is structured so that each new target compounds
the value of every previous one, and the recognition
layer is the only part that has to change.
How it compounds
1
Compute
A molecular model predicts which cavity
will recognise the target, and which
will discriminate it from close
neighbours.
2
Synthesise
We build the cavity as a MIP, then
validate it against the model's
predictions.
3
Read
The captured analyte is fingerprinted
optically, and the spectrum is added to
a growing library.
4
Accumulate
The model, the formulation, and the
spectrum stay in house. The next target
starts further up the curve.
Glycan QC is the wedge. The same loop applies to other
biopharmaceutical analytes, to clinical diagnostics, to
food safety, and to environmental monitoring. The
platform that produces and validates each new
recognition layer stays the same.
The opportunity
$10.5B
Glycomics market by 2035
15.2%
Annual market growth (CAGR)
3
Staged investment gates
LuxGrid enters the glycomics and glycan analytics
market, currently ~US$2.5B in 2025 and projected to
reach ~US$10.5B by 2035 (Grand View Research, 15.2%
CAGR). The same platform scales into the broader
biosensors market, ~US$32B today and projected to exceed
US$64B by 2033. Both segments are served by the same
strategic acquirers: Thermo Fisher, Merck KGaA,
Sartorius, Danaher, and Roche, each with substantial
glycan QC and bioprocess analytics businesses of their
own.1
Contract manufacturers are the first stop
The prime early customer is the contract development and
manufacturing organisation (CDMO) sector, a $22-25B
market in 2024 and growing. A CDMO that can run glycan
QC on every client batch, in house, in a single shift,
has a structural cost and turnaround advantage that
compounds across every contract it signs.
The staged investment pathway
Gate 1 · Months 0–6
Prove
Proof-of-concept data package complete; CAPPA
relationship formalised.
Gate 2 · Months 6–18
Validate
Co-development agreement with at least one
industrial or clinical partner; second sensing
application underway; seed round of €1.5-2M
closed.
Gate 3 · Months 18–36
Pilot
Pilot commercial deployment running with a
partner; patent portfolio built out beyond the
provisional; Series A positioned.
Each gate prices risk down. Each gate raises the floor
on the next round.
1. Grand View Research, Glycomics/Glycan Analytics
Market Report; biosensors figures per the same
publisher, 2024.
Validation
Proven
Six years of foundational R&D at CAPPA, MTU
Cork, on the underlying MIP-SERS sensing
platform, including successful validation on
a hard small-molecule class (PFAS).
A US provisional patent application filed in
April 2026, covering the core receptor
design and sensing method.
Active Site Partners (Boston) has confirmed
in writing a post-proof-of-concept pathway
to their US life-sciences investor and
partner network.
Institutional backing from CAPPA, the Centre
for Advanced Photonics and Process Analysis
at MTU.
In progress
A six-month, three-phase proof-of-concept
programme is preparing to validate the
platform's extension from PFAS-class targets to
glycan isomer discrimination. The programme is
staged: each phase must clear a defined,
measurable acceptance criterion before the next
begins, and the final phase benchmarks results
against an independent reference laboratory. No
data from the programme is public; everything is
pre-validation, pre-publication.
Under NDA
Detailed experimental results, computational
models, formulation recipes, and the full data
package are shared with qualified investors
under NDA in the data room. The site is
intentionally a public overview; the
conviction-building evidence is one click
deeper.
Postdoctoral researcher at CAPPA, Munster
Technological University, where he develops
photonic solutions for biomedical, chemical, and
environmental applications. PhD in Physics
focused on molecularly imprinted polymers.
Combines organic chemistry, spectroscopy, and
machine learning to build low-cost diagnostic
tools. Industry experience with Pfizer Ireland
Pharmaceuticals; publications spanning polymer
composite sensing and optical detection in
complex matrices. The platform's underlying
science is his: six years of method development,
validated on PFAS, now extending to glycans.
Tony Buckley
Co-Founder, Commercial Lead
30+ years leading large-scale transformation and
applied innovation programmes across
manufacturing, financial services, pharma, and
IT. Started in Ford of Europe's Advanced
Manufacturing and Robotics Division; ran
strategic development at Hibernian Group (now
AVIVA Ireland), reporting to the Group CEO and
Board. Chartered Engineer (BEng, London), Fellow
of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and
Chartered Member of the Institute of Marketing,
with an MBA from Cardiff Business School. Runs
commercial, partnership, and capital strategy
for LuxGrid.
Fergus Spain
Chairman
Senior technology executive with 25+ years
scaling enterprise software organisations
globally, including senior leadership at SAP and
OpenText where he led professional services
organisations of 1,800+ consultants. Recognised
among the Top 100 Irish American Business
Leaders. Advises on investor readiness,
commercial strategy, and platform positioning.
Chairs the board.
Advisory, scientific, and institutional relationships
are in place and will be formalised on proof-of-concept
completion.
Start the conversation
Two ways in. We respond within two working days.
For investors
Request the data roomReceive the full technical data package, the
staged investment pathway, and the IP and
trade-secret overview under NDA.tonybuckleymba@gmail.com →
Book a 30-min briefingA direct call with the founders covering the
platform, the PoC milestones, and the commercial
pathway.Arrange a call →
For partners
Partnership conversations (CDMOs, instrumentation
manufacturers, diagnostics) are welcomed. Reach out
directly and we will respond within two working
days.
