Vitrail is building the specimen infrastructure to unlock continuous, population-scale epidemiological data from sanitary and incontinence waste streams — a biological resource that is currently collected, transported, and incinerated without ever being analysed.
Sanitary products and incontinence pads contain clinically informative biological material: nucleic acids, pathogen signatures, pharmacogenomic markers. These specimens are already collected at population scale through established waste management infrastructure — serviced by contractors operating regular collection routes across workplaces, care homes, hospitals, and public facilities.
No new specimen collection behaviour is required. No individual diagnostic action is demanded. The logistics already exist. What is missing is the analytical layer.
Vitrail intercepts discrete solid waste at the point of collection — before incineration — and transforms it into a structured, anonymised biological data resource. We are building the equivalent of a UK Biobank for population-level pathogen and pharmacogenomic intelligence, layered onto waste logistics that already run daily.
Partnering with waste management contractors who already service tens of thousands of sanitary waste bins on fixed collection schedules. No new touchpoints. No behaviour change.
Multiplexed nucleic acid detection for high-value targets: sexually transmitted infections, antimicrobial resistance genes, and pharmacogenomic variants — extracted from dried biological material on discarded products.
Anonymised, site-level epidemiological intelligence delivered to public health bodies, NHS screening programmes, and pharmaceutical real-world evidence teams. Longitudinal. Continuous. Scalable.
The COVID-19 pandemic validated population-level biological surveillance through wastewater. Multiplexed molecular assay costs have deflated by orders of magnitude. Waste management consolidation has created national-scale logistics partners. Real-world evidence demand from pharma is at an all-time high. Vitrail sits at the intersection of all four.
Translational scientist with a decade of experience spanning genomics, stem cell biology, and assay development. Previously Senior Scientist at CN-Bio Innovations, where he led organ-on-chip assay development programmes. At bit.bio, he established the Translational Medicine laboratory and contributed to MHRA regulatory submissions.
His research career includes a Wellcome Trust-funded PhD from UCL conducted at the Francis Crick Institute and postdoctoral work at the Crick. He holds a BSc in Genomic Sciences from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and undertook early research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, contributing to a highly cited publication in the field.
If you work in public health, waste management, pharmaceutical real-world evidence, or early-stage investment, we would welcome a conversation.
hello@vitrail.health