Quotes

“We are not just building a device, we are building the evidence base to show that continuous hormone monitoring is possible, clinically meaningful, and ready for the real world. With an exceptional consortium behind us, we now have the funding, the expertise, and the clinical pathway to do that properly. The NIHR i4i award is a pivotal moment for Impli and for continuous hormone monitoring as a field."

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Anna Luisa Schaffgotsch, Founder and CEO, Impli

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"Continuous hormone monitoring has the potential to change the landscape of fertility treatment, both in terms of clinical care and patient experience. Rather than snapshots taken at fixed points in time, with Impli we will have access to a live feed of each patient's hormonal response, allowing us to personalise care in a way that has not been possible before. Furthermore, reducing the burden of the multiple hospital appointments for venipuncture, will be invaluable for our patients, who are in the majority, young, active and busy professionals. I am genuinely excited to be part of this programme and to help bring this technology into the hands of patients and clinicians at the Wolfson Fertility Centre. "

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Mr Sotirios Saravelos, Consultant Gynaecologist and Reproductive Medicine Subspecialist, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust / Wolfson Fertility Centre

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"The London Institute for Healthcare Engineering was built to turn transformative medical technology into real clinical tools. BEAM is exactly the kind of innovation we exist to support, scientifically rigorous, patient-centered, and with a clear pathway to adoption. We are delighted to be part of this consortium and look forward to helping bring continuous hormone monitoring to patients who need it most."

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Dr. Valentina Vitiello, the Head of Clinical Translation and Governance, London Institute for Healthcare Engineering, King's College London

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What the grant funds

The NIHR i4i award will fund a structured 30-month programme designed to take BEAM from prototype to first-in-human clinical validation. The programme encompasses final device design and manufacturing to ISO 13485 standards (in partnership with specialist manufacturer TTP), a 25-participant pilot study conducted through Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust's Clinical Research Facility, AI model development, patient and public involvement led by King's College London, and regulatory and health economic groundwork for NHS adoption.

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BEAM's development builds on over 15 years of foundational biosensor research at Imperial College London. The company holds multiple patents filed across 14+ countries, including an exclusive worldwide licence from Imperial College London, covering its aptamer-based sensing approach, device architecture, and novel data interfaces.

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Strategic partnerships and traction

Impli has an established strategic partnership with Bayer on real-time hormone biosensing, and strong relationships with a variety of IVF clinics.To date, Impli has delivered three functional prototypes, completed in vitro pre-clinical trials, and commenced animal trials with positive results.

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Looking ahead

IVF is Impli's deliberate entry point: it is a private-pay, precision-driven market with a clear regulatory pathway and immediate clinical need. But BEAM is designed as a platform. The same core technology has clear expansion potential across hormonally driven cancers, PCOS, endometriosis, menopause, and endocrinology, conditions collectively affecting hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Each dollar of evidence generated in IVF accelerates the case for every indication that follows.

 

About the consortium

About Impli — Impli is a deep-tech company building the world's first continuous molecular monitoring platform for hormonal health. Its proprietary aptamer-based biosensing technology continuously tracks molecular signals inside the body and streams real-time data to a smartphone for patients and clinicians to act on. Starting with IVF and reproductive medicine, the platform is designed to expand across multiple therapeutic areas where continuous hormone data can transform diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes. Impli is an Imperial College London Startup. More at impli.co

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About the NIHR i4i programme — The NIHR Invention for Innovation (i4i) programme funds the development and early clinical evaluation of innovative medical devices and diagnostics with clear potential for NHS adoption and patient benefit. More information here.

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About Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust — Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust is one of the largest NHS trusts in England, delivering care to more than 1.5 million patients each year across five hospitals in north-west London, including St Mary's, Hammersmith, and Queen Charlotte's & Chelsea. Home to the Wolfson Fertility Centre, one of the UK's leading IVF units, and an NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, the Trust combines outstanding clinical care with a long-standing commitment to research and innovation. Its Clinical Research Facility provides the infrastructure and expertise to take early-stage medical technologies through to first-in-human evaluation, bridging the gap between laboratory discovery and patient benefit. More information here.
 

About Imperial College London — Imperial College London is a global university focused on science, engineering, medicine and business. Ranked consistently among the world's top universities, Imperial is home to world-leading research across medicine, engineering and the life sciences, and has a long track record of translating scientific discovery into real-world impact through spinouts, clinical partnerships, and industry collaboration. Impli's Chief Scientific Officer, Dr Salzitsa Anastasova, holds a dual appointment at Impli and Imperial, where she leads research in electrochemistry and smart wearable biosensing. More information here.
 

About King's College London / LIHE — King's College London is one of the world's leading research universities, ranked among the top 40 globally, with a strong tradition of translating scientific discovery into healthcare solutions. The London Institute for Healthcare Engineering (LIHE) brings together engineers, clinicians, and patient advocates to develop and evaluate medical technologies that are safe, effective, and ready for adoption by health systems. LIHE's expertise spans regulatory science, health economics, and patient and public involvement, capabilities that are central to the BEAM consortium's mission of taking continuous hormone monitoring from prototype to clinical practice. More information here. 
 

About Fertility Europe — Fertility Europe is a pan-European patient advocacy network representing people affected by infertility and those undergoing fertility treatment. Bringing together national patient organisations from across Europe, Fertility Europe works to improve access to fertility care, promote evidence-based treatment, and ensure that the patient perspective is embedded in the development of clinical guidelines and new technologies. As a consortium partner in the BEAM project, Fertility Europe leads patient and public involvement activities, ensuring that the voices of fertility patients, their priorities, concerns, and lived experience, shape the design, communication, and future deployment of continuous hormone monitoring in IVF. More information here.

 

Contacts

Impli

Anna Luisa Schaffgotsch, CEO

annaluisa@impli.co