Scaling Precision Diagnostics Through Platform Diversification

These workflows are resource-intensive, time-consuming, and costly, limiting access for patients and placing pressure on healthcare systems.

Signatur Biosciences’ proprietary platform, PCRchitectur, addresses this challenge by transforming standard qPCR instruments into advanced precision diagnostic tools. By condensing complex RNA expression signatures into a single assay, the platform enables decentralised testing while maintaining the performance of reference-laboratory genomic tests.

Through participation in the DeepTech Catalyst Bio (DTC Bio) incubation programme, a collaboration between BBSRC and STFC, Signatur Biosciences was able to broaden its vision from its single diagnostic product, OncoSignatur Breast, a breast cancer prognostic test, to a scalable precision diagnostics platform (PCRchitectur), unlocking new opportunities for clinical application and commercial growth.

Challenge

As an early-stage company, Signatur Biosciences has been focused on advancing its lead product, OncoSignatur Breast, towards commercialisation as a prognostic test to support breast cancer treatment decisions.

However, demonstrating the full value of PCRchitectur requires showing that it can be applied across multiple disease areas. While diversification is critical for long-term growth and resilience, it can be difficult to prioritise alongside core product development, particularly when resources and investor attention are concentrated on a single pipeline asset.

Without additional support, expanding into new use cases risked being delayed, limiting the ability to generate evidence that the technology is not just a single-product innovation, but a scalable platform.

Solution

Through DTC Bio, Signatur Biosciences accessed targeted funding alongside strategic and technical support from STFC and BBSRC, as well as the wider UK Research and Innovation ecosystem, including Sci-Tech Daresbury.

Crucially, the programme provided more than financial support. It created the strategic momentum, external validation, and collaborative environment needed to explore new directions with confidence. This enabled the company to pursue diversification at a critical stage in its growth, without diverting focus from its lead product.

With this support, Signatur Biosciences was able to investigate new clinical applications of PCRchitectur, develop early-stage concepts, and build evidence for broader platform potential, laying the groundwork for a more diversified pipeline.

Benefits

Through the incubation programme, Signatur Biosciences was able to identify and validate a new clinical use case, develop the technical foundations for a new assay, and prepare initial commercial and regulatory strategies to support future development.

Importantly, diversification moved from a longer-term ambition to a structured, supported, and evidence-backed activity, strengthening both the technical roadmap and the commercial proposition.

“STFC and BBSRC, through DTC Bio, have played an important role in helping Signatur Biosciences broaden its vision from a lead diagnostic product to a scalable precision diagnostics platform. The programme provided not only funding but also the strategic momentum, credibility, and ecosystem support needed to pursue diversification at a critical stage in the company’s growth.” – Nahimi Amare Bekele, Head of RA/QA, Signatur Biosciences