Prometheus Life Technologies

Prometheus Life Technologies, founded in 2022 and based at Switzerland Innovation Park in Dübendorf, grows human tissue organoids in microgravity aboard the International Space Station. The company licenses technology originating from the 3D Organoids in Space (3DOiS) project at the University of Zurich, where chief scientist Cora Thiel led parabolic flight, suborbital, and ISS missions over nearly two decades. The organoids are three-dimensional culture systems derived from mesenchymal stem cell donors and are intended for pharmaceutical testing as a complement or alternative to animal models in preclinical trials, as well as for precision medicine and transplantation therapies. Co-founder and CEO Raphael Roettgen also runs space-focused venture firm E2MC Ventures. The company won the Orbital Reef Reef Starter Innovation Challenge and the third Humans In Space Challenge, and was accepted into ESA-BIC Switzerland in 2023. A first European office was subsequently established at the International Space University incubator in Strasbourg.