A London-based biotech spin-out has secured over £1.2 million in an oversubscribed funding round to advance its blood-test technology for diagnosing complex conditions like Parkinson’s disease.
Guilford Street Laboratories (GSL), which was founded in October 2023 as a University College London (UCL) spin-out, will use the investment to push through critical clinical validation studies. The company’s third funding round, which brought total funds raised to more than £1.22 million, saw participation from both new and existing investors.
The transaction was advised by the corporate advisory firm GS Verde, an AAB Group company, with Angel Invest noted as a key seed-stage partner that has supported GSL throughout its journey.
How the diagnostics platform works
At the core of GSL’s ambition is a precision diagnostics platform that combines artificial intelligence with a laboratory technique known as mass spectrometry. The system is designed to hunt for minute biological signals, or biomarkers, in a patient’s blood.
It uses machine learning to analyse a broad spectrum of molecules—proteins, lipids, and metabolites—simultaneously, an approach known as multi-omics. By doing so, it aims to identify precise panels of biomarkers that can indicate the presence of a disease long before overt clinical symptoms appear. The company focuses on applying this technology to rare, cardiac, and neurodegenerative diseases, with the goal of aiding not only early diagnosis but also drug discovery and personalised medicine.
Targeting Parkinson’s and a heart condition
The immediate clinical focus for the new funding is on validating tests for Parkinson’s disease and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).
For Parkinson’s, the need for a reliable, early diagnostic tool is acute. Current diagnosis relies heavily on observing motor symptoms, which emerge only after substantial and irreversible neurological damage has occurred. Research into blood-based biomarkers, such as alpha-synuclein or markers of inflammation, suggests tests could potentially identify the disease decades before symptoms arise, a frontier GSL’s technology is built to explore.
Meanwhile, HCM is a genetic heart muscle condition that can lead to sudden cardiac death, making its early and accurate detection vital for effective patient management and risk stratification.
Tomas Baldwin, CEO of GSL and a UCL research fellow, stated that the investment reflects growing confidence in the company’s platform and vision to transform how complex diseases are detected.
Expansion in London’s knowledge quarter
Alongside its clinical work, the investment will fuel a physical and team expansion. The company, which is headquartered in Liverpool and lists 19 employees on LinkedIn, plans to establish new laboratory space at the Kadans Science Partner hub in King’s Cross, London.
This move is intended to enhance its CoreLab capabilities and support the scaling of its operations. Further hires are planned to strengthen its research, development, and operational capacity. The company’s scientific leadership includes Professor Kevin Mills as Chief Scientific Officer, who brings over a decade of collaboration with UCL and NHS clinicians, and Executive Director Dr Wendy Heywood, who has extensive experience in translating fluid-based biomarker tests.
The push comes within a growing UK clinical diagnostics market, projected to be worth over $8.3 billion by 2030, and a supportive but evolving regulatory landscape. As an in vitro diagnostics (IVD) developer, GSL’s path to market will involve navigating the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) regulations and securing UKCA marking for its devices.
