SampleLynk B.V. was founded mid-2011 by Dr. Frans Houwen, for the purpose of converting an invention into a product and bringing it to the market.

SampleLynk refers to sample preparation. The analysis of samples is often hindered by the presence of interfering compounds or by a (to) low concentration.
The concept concerns a new generically applicable method to treat samples from various sources, in order to make them eligible for the isolation of (pathogenic) microorganisms and chemical compounds (biomarkers, remnants of medicine, uremic toxins, etc.). The method of sample preparation is applicable to very difficult to handle matrices that may originate from clinical sources (blood, sputum, urine), from nutrition (meat, bread, infant food products (powder), from drinking water, etc.

SampleLynk cooperates very closely with, among others, the companies AptaRes in Berlin (Germany) and PathoFinder in Maastricht (The Netherlands) in this development and production process. The heart of the new concept is the application of “aptamers”. These DNA or RNA molecules are sometimes called the “chemical antibodies”.
Frans Houwen from SampleLynk and Andreas Kage from AptaRes have published basic information on aptamers in a chapter in the E-book “Antibodies: Applications and new developments” (2011) (PDF,323Kb), published by Bentham Science Publisher.

At present aptamers with high affinity are used on a large scale for recognition and detection of different targets, among which metal ions, organic dyes, medicine, cofactors, metabolites, aminoglycosides, antibiotics, nucleotides, nucleotide base analogues, amino acids, peptides (on cell surfaces), proteins and even whole cells. This illustrates the enormous potential of aptamers. To date, there is one medicine on the market based on an aptamer, for the treatment of wet macula degeneration. Several aptamers are currently tested in clinical trials.

The acquisition of aptamers occurs in an entirely in vitro selection system in which oligonucleotides with a high affinity for a target molecule (aptatope) are selected. For this purpose, the company AptaRes in Berlin applies her patented superior aptamer selection method, the MonoLex method.

By choosing the right environmental circumstances during the selection, among which temperature, pH, amount of kations, it is possible to select those aptamers with the desired properties, and to synthesize them subsequently with a constant quality on a large scale with full automatic machines.
Because of their non-protein nature, aptamers behave like robust chemical compounds instead of biological molecules. Their chemical synthesis enables site-directed modifications for e.g. diagnostic purposes.

The new concept of sample preparation is based on the addition of aptamers specific for a chosen target or targets to a liquid sample. The formation of the complex between the aptamer and its target, is followed by an ingenious step, the invention, resulting in a selective concentration of the target. Also, interfering compounds are removed.
We managed to obtain seed capital. At this moment, experiments are carried out to show Proof of Principle.

SampleLynk B.V. is a sister company of ScienceLynk B.V.