Michael Basler holds a PhD in physics and conducts research on microfluidics, particularly at the Palo Alto Research Center (California, USA). In 2009, he joined the Mainz Institute of Microtechnology in Germany as a scientist and project manager. In 2012, he joined Fraunhofer ICT-IMM in Mainz, where he has headed the Diagnostics department since 2016.

Why did you choose to work with Gilles Schutz and Michel Fallah, the founders of Ki’tech?

On the one hand, in Palo Alto, I worked on microfluidics, a core subject of Ki’tech’s activity. On the other hand, during the Covid crisis, when Michel Fallah and Gilles Schutz, the founders of Ki’tech, contacted Fraunhofer to discuss the project. They were convincing and presented the benefits of such a device for all people receiving dialysis or suffering from diabetes. I have the feeling that our work will be useful to many people, that it will offer a solution that will contribute to their well-being. It is for all these reasons that Fraunhofer decided to support Ki’tech. We have the skills and resources necessary for the success of this project. In addition, Michel Fallah and Gilles Schutz have the technical, operational, and medical capabilities necessary to ensure the development of Ki’tech.

How do you collaborate with Ki’tech?

Initially, we conducted a feasibility study and international literature review on the subject. We are now focusing on research, namely the extraction and analysis of information provided by interstitial fluid. Our expertise in microfluidics is essential for the study of interstitial fluid and its behavior. The project is very advanced, and clinical trials should begin soon. We hope to be able to file a patent quickly on behalf of Ki’tech to guarantee the project’s intellectual property. More than ten people from different fields of expertise are working on this project, which includes prototyping. The problem is certainly complex, and the solution will require high technology and a great deal of expertise, while remaining operational in its application.

What would you say to investors?

Patients are the main beneficiaries of the Ki’tech project, and there are many of them. We are on the verge of finding a seemingly simple, reproducible, and manufacturable solution that will help improve everyone’s health. Gilles Schutz and Michel Fallah are the right people to lead this project. They are experts.