OLEKSII ILCHENKO EPIC CEO INTERVIEW
EPIC CEO INTERVIEW: OLEKSII ILCHENKO
In this interview, Antonio Castelo , PhD, EPIC’s Technology Manager for Bio- Medical and Lasers, talks to Oleksii Ilchenko , CEO of Lightnovo, a Danish producer of unique Raman systems for applications ranging from in vivo skin diagnostics to crystallographic orientation mapping of solar cells.
What’s the background to you co-founding Lightnovo as CEO?
What are your main application markets?
and microscopes for consumer, industrial and research applications. Over the last four years we’ve developed a range of products. Our MiniRaman spectrometer (pictured above) is an advanced miniaturised Raman spectrometer with an integrated, patented, reference channel. This device allows for a continuous calibration of the device which provides fast and reliable results and makes it ideal for materials identification and quantitative measurements. Related to the MiniRaman spectrometer is our MiniRaman microscope for 660 nm and 785 nm laser wavelengths - the world’s smallest confocal is Raman microscope - which performs Raman shift and Raman intensity calibration during every spectrum acquisition. We also provide a range of RG Raman spectrometers and RG Raman microscopes for any kind of demanding Raman spectroscopy applications that require high spectral resolution and RG, extremely stable laser power, high sensitivity and broad spectral range. We now have five full-time employees in Denmark, seven contractors in US and in Ukraine.
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In 2010, after an MSc in Nanophysics and nanoelectronics at Taras Shevchenko National
Our main customers are academic, medical, and industrial R & D research labs, where there
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University of Kyiv, I did a PhD Optics and Laser Physics that focused on Raman and Infrared spectroscopy on binary liquid solutions. I then worked for a couple of years as a Researcher at D.F. Chebotarev State Institute of Gerontology NAMS of Ukraine, working on optical layout designing and constructing of self-made spontaneous high-speed line focus Raman microscope for in-vivo biological measurements.
isn’t a requirement for industrial standards. But we’re now working on making our devices IP65 certifiable so we can expand into industrial, pharma, security and military applications. Current applications for the MiniRaman spectrometer include ex-vivo tissue and cell chemical imaging; imaging of pharmaceuticals and chemicals; and forensic analysis. Applications for the MiniRaman microscope include in-vivo chemical diagnostics of skin; drugs identification; and detection of hazardous materials and toxic liquids.
What’s the background to you co-founding Lightnovo as CEO?
AC
In 2016, I decided to search for a postdoc position in Europe and successfully applied for a postdoc
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What have been your main personal challenges?
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position at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), where I worked on Raman instrumentation development and chemo metrical data analysis. During this period, I focused on the development of Raman based low concentration analysis of chemicals in water based multicomponent media, and from 2017, I began to explore the possibility of commercialising the Raman technologies I’d been working on. These efforts led to the creation of Lightnovo, which I cofounded in 2019 with Anja Boisen, Head of the Nanoprobes research group, as a spin-out from the DTU.
When I first came to Denmark, I had to make a few adjustments. At the university in Ukraine, I was
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using 50-year-old equipment from USSR and my salary was $100 a month. In Denmark, salaries were obviously higher, but the other main difference was that I had the responsibility to find enough funding to pay my salary and buy the equipment I needed for the research. As regards starting Lightnovo as CEO, my main challenge was that I had no experience of running a company, so I had to rapidly learn from others about what mistakes to avoid, how to get funding, how to do proper budgeting and reporting, how to structure the supply chain and manufacturing process, and how to manage people.
What makes your products unique?
AC
OI Our spectrometers differ from those already on the market because they are small, compact devises offering high performance at very affordable prices for end users. This is possible thanks to the built in reference channel that doesn’t require temperature stabilised lasers or large battery units to power them. Other devices on the market take minutes to stabilise performance, but our devices work as soon as you turn them on, which is a great benefit for first responders like firefighters and the police as well as for military applications.
How has the company developed?
AC
Our aim was to develop and manufacture a range of unique mirrorless Raman spectrometers
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| ISSUE 34 | Q3 2023
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