NEWS AND MILESTONES

2025

May, 2025. XEMPERIA featured in the Tages Anzeiger for developing a promising  blood test for breast cancer early detection

May, 2025. Empowering Female Founders at the 141st SICTIC Investor Day at Google!

This event is designed to bring together investors and innovators committed to supporting the next generation of women-led companies. XEMPERIA is among the 9 Startups selected to present on stage.

May, 2025. XEMPERIA was selected to pitch as the Swiss Start Up Day, Bern, May 14

Startup days (SUD) are the nationwide business and networking platform for startups, investors, enablers, SMEs and corporates in Switzerland. XEMPERIA was among the 16 winners of among the 150+ newcomer start ups and was selected to pitch.

May, 2025. Bilan publishes an article on XEMPERIA and its blood test for breast cancer screening.​

The business magazine Bilan that targets managers of small or large enterprises and decision makers in Switzerland published an interview with Dr. Sarah Cattin and Prof. Curzio Rüegg. The article retraces the story of the project developed at the University of Fribourg that led to the text and the challenges ahead of XEMPERIA. Bilan 

May, 2025. XEMPERIA was selected in theTech4Eva accelerator program at EPFL, Lausanne​

Tech4Eva is a global Femtech community and a 6-month equity free Femtech start-up acceleration program for companies developing innovative women’s health solutions that create impact and change to improve women’s health – managed by non-profit Foundation EPFL Innovation Park. The program create impact in women’s health & accelerate global innovations 

May, 2025. XEMPERIA was selected to pitch as the Swiss Biotech Day, Basel, May 5-6

The Swiss Biotech Day premier global biotechnology conference for life sciences professionals, fostering international collaboration and impactful partnerships. XEMPERIA was awarded the 3rd prize of the session Transformative Startups in Next-Gen Diagnostics 

January, 2025. XEMPERIA AG wins the second prize of the 2025 Ypsomed innovation award.

XEMPERIA is a spin-off project of the University of Fribourg and is setting new standards in the early detection and monitoring of cancer, with a focus on breast cancer. The company is developing technologies that combine state-of-the-art molecular diagnostics with powerful data analysis and AI-based pattern recognition.

2024

November 2024. XEMPERIA was awarded Best Innovation Project Award at Innovation Fribourg-Freiburg (IFF) for the prize 2024-2025.

Xemperia was the winner of the IFF prize 2024 from the Promotion Economique du Canton de Fribourg, in the Start-Up category!

A wonderful event and amazing success for Xemperia, moved by the trust and support.

Mars 2024. XEMPERIA was awarded a loan of 100’000 CHF by the Foundation for Technological Innovation (FIT), Innovaud, Lausanne

Xemperia was selected among many concurrent Start-Ups to get a Tech-Seed loan to start the preparation of a large scale validation study.

January 2024. Beautiful press article in the journal “La Liberté” from West Switzerland

Xemperia is grateful for the light that this article is doing on it’s activities.

2023

September 2023. Dr. Ivana Domljanovic was selected as one of the Lab Fribourg winners in the “Falling Wall” pitch competion

Dr. Ivana Domljanovic was one of the Lab Fribourg winners in the prestigious “Falling Wall” pitch competition, where she presented her “DNA origami diagnostic” project. She will now compete with other international winners for the title of “Breakthrough Winner” at the upcoming international global finale pitch competition that will take place on the 7th of November in Berlin. In this competition, participants can pitch their innovative ideas showcasing a breakthrough that positively impacts science and society in just three minutes. This remarkable achievement highlights that DNA origami technology used for breast cancer detection has the potential to make a significant impact on a global scale!

June, 2023. Detecting breast cancer using a simple blood test

On June 29th Prof. Curzio Rüegg together with Yann Steulet, director of FriUp, had the chance to discuss on the radio during the program Le MAG about this new innovative project. While traditional mammography identifies tissues that are already affected, this new and less invasive method will make possible to detect the body’s immune response to this disease, which affects nearly 6,000 patients in Switzerland each year.

June, 2023. Dr. Ivana Domljanovic was awarded the prestigious Swiss Nanotechnology PhD Award 2023

Dr. Ivana Domljanovic was recognized for her publication in the journal Nanoscale “DNA Origami Book Biosensor for Multiplex Detection of Cancer-Associated Nucleic Acids.” She developed a DNA origami nanosensor for specific, sensitive, rapid detection of nucleic acids for breast cancer diagnostics. The project was developed in the lab of Prof. Curzio Rüegg at the University of Fribourg in close collaboration with Prof. Guillermo Acuna and his team at the Physics Department. She will now pursue the development of a nanosensor for use as a breast cancer detection blood test in a Innosuissse-sponsored project. The final goal is to develop a commercial product by a soon-to-be-funded spin off company of the University of Fribourg.

May, 2023. Best Innovation Project Award at the 2023 Bioinnovation Day

Prof. Curzio Rüegg from University of Fribourg (UNIFR) received the Award for the Best Innovation Project at the Agora of the CHUV in Lausanne during the Bioinnovation Day. He and his team are developing a blood test for the early detection of breast cancer which could revolutionize the patients’ management and the disease treatment.

> read more about the award on https://bioalps.org/bind-bioinnovation-day-awards/

March, 2023. The University of Fribourg joins the Swiss Biobanking Platform

The team of Prof. Curzio Rüegg is coordinating the GENOA study. It aims to develop a new generation of blood screening tests for breast cancer in collaboration with the hôpital fribourgeois (HFR), the réseau hospitalier neuchâtelois (NHe), the centre de chimiothérapie anti-cancéreuse (CACC), the centre d’imagerie du Flon (CiF) and the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV). This is a significant recognition for the University of Fribourg, which is now officially part of this important national research network.

June, 2021. Breast cancer: detecting the invisible

Mammography is the method of choice for breast cancer screening. Although effective, this method has its limitations and, above all, it depends on the «visibility» of the cancer in the imaging process. Researchers at the University of Fribourg have shown that, even at an early stage, breast cancer causes an immune system reaction which can be detected by a blood test. This is an important result that opens up new prospects for diagnosis.

August, 2020. Venture Kick’s financial and entrepreneurial support

To date, there is no specific monitoring test to assess whether breast cancer is cured, dormant, or progressing after the initial treatment. A soon to-be-founded company will bring an innovative blood-based test for breast cancer monitoring and early detection of relapses to the market. Prof. Curzio Rüegg, Marie Bertrand and Frederic Fer received a Venture Kick’s prize to support the development of the spin-off company.

> read more about the award on https://www.venturekick.ch/Xemperia

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