Presenting Kuopio Health members: Afekta Technologies provides metabolic profiling
“Our goal is to be one of the world’s leading producers of the analysis services using this technology, especially in research on food, nutrition and intestinal flora”
Afekta Technologies provides metabolic profiling
Afekta Technologies is a company from Kuopio, Finland, producing analysis services, namely metabolomic services. This is a field of analytics widely used in the research in natural sciences and medicine. The analysis involves determining a wide group of different metabolites in any biological material.
Afekta Technologies is specialised in samples from food products and the nutritional effects of foods in the organ system.
“We are particularly interested in intestinal flora. Gut microbiota secrete different metabolic products, i.e. metabolites, into the organ system. We can analyse a blood sample and determine which compounds produced by the gut microbiota it contains”, explains Kati Hanhineva, the founder of the company and the chair of the company’s Board.
Currently, the company founded in 2017 employs seven people. The company’s customers come from Finland and abroad.
“Our goal is to be one of the world’s leading producers of the analysis services using this technology, especially in research on food, nutrition and intestinal flora. While other analytic service providers exist, we are the only company in metabolomics specialised in food and nutrition.
Interest in health promotion
Afekta Technologies has been a member of the Kuopio Health innovation ecosystem right from the start. The small start-up wanted to get immediately involved in the health tech community. The aim was to get to know companies in the field and to keep updated on what is going on in the local region.
Kati Hanhineva explains that Afekta wishes to emphasise health promotion and nutrition in the Kuopio Health activities.
“After all, nutrition is one of the biggest individual health-related factors that people can influence with their own choices,” she points out.
The company aims to get involved in joint research projects in science and medicine where there is need for metabolomics analysis. The company has already gathered a lot of experience of such projects.
Hanhineva also wishes that Kuopio Health would provide some sort of an expert pool in the area. Recruitment is a challenging process for a small company, and recruiting a completely unknown professional has its risks. Networks make recruitment seem safer and enable companies to get to know local professionals.
Hanhineva also finds that it is useful to have knowledge of the services needed by small companies. Could the cooperative negotiate great deals for its members or provide information about good service providers?
Increasing awareness
Kati Hanhineva is glad that awareness of Kuopio Health has grown: there are more discussions and highlights related to the cooperative on social media, for instance.
“It is important to increase the visibility of the cooperative. That is how you catch people’s attention these days”, she notes.
In the best-case scenario, Kuopio Health’s visibility will not be limited to the regional level, but the cooperative will be known as a significant player both nationally and internationally. This will also provide the members with an opportunity for building and raising their profile.