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Vivid Dx: an Oxford spinout racing the clock on sepsis

20 April 2026

In the fight against sepsis, speed is everything. Every hour without the right diagnosis increases the risk of death, yet in hospitals around the world, clinicians are still forced to wait days for answers.

That stark reality is what drives Vivid Dx, a diagnostics company based at The Oxford Science Park that is transforming how bloodstream infections are detected and treated. The company is built on world-class University of Oxford research, shaped by the vision of co-founder Jeff Liu, and now propelled forward by a world-class team of scientists and engineers.

Science born in Oxford

The roots of Vivid Dx lie in Oxford laboratories, where researchers were exploring the medical potential of Raman spectroscopy, a technique that uses light to read the molecular fingerprints of cells. While long recognised in physics and chemistry, its application to clinical microbiology remained largely academic due to inherent variability in the technique.

Through his work at the University of Oxford, Jeff Liu saw a transformative opportunity. He recognised that Raman spectroscopy, already a powerful and well-established analytical technique, could have significant clinical impact combined with advanced machine learning.

By developing software capable of extracting subtle signatures from noisy biological data, Liu harnessed the research of the academic founders (Professors Cui and Huang) to answer one of medicine’s most urgent clinical questions: what infection does this patient have, and which antibiotic will work?

Jeff Liu, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer

Jeff Liu, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Vivid Dx, explains: “The challenge was that bacterial species look remarkably similar through Raman spectroscopy due to the high overlapping chemical makeup of different species. Deep learning gave us the precision to detect those subtle differences reliably and that's what made clinical application possible.”

In 2022, that insight became a company. Founded as Ramanomics, it spun out from the University to translate years of Oxford research into a practical diagnostic platform. As the technology matured and its clinical scope widened, the company rebranded as Vivid Dx, signalling its ambition to become a frontline player in infectious disease diagnostics.

Rewriting the diagnostic timeline

Today, diagnosing bloodstream infections typically relies on blood cultures, a process that can take two to three days before results reach clinicians. For patients with sepsis, those delays can be catastrophic.

Vivid Dx is working to compress that timeline dramatically:

• Pathogen identification directly from blood in around 30 minutes
• Antimicrobial susceptibility testing within a matter of hours

Their platform combines Raman spectroscopy with machine learning trained on extensive spectral datasets, enabling rapid, single-cell analysis without the need for culture.

“We're not bolting together two different technologies like PCR plus phenotypic testing. The ML models that learned to identify pathogens from Raman spectra naturally extend to detecting antibiotic resistance - same data, same platform,” explains Liu, “That shared learning architecture means every improvement accelerates both capabilities, which is why we're progressing toward real clinical samples at the pace we are.”

From founder vision to scaled leadership

As the science progressed, the company began to scale around it building a multidisciplinary team of scientists, engineers and clinical specialists capable of turning research into a regulated medical product.

That transition marked the arrival of Dr Michael Risley as COO/CPO: a seasoned diagnostics executive with decades of experience taking products from concept to market.

Under his and Liu’s leadership, the company has sharpened its focus on product development, clinical validation, regulatory strategy and commercial readiness, while staying true to the scientific foundations.

Mike Risley, Chief Operating Officer /Chief Product Officer

Risley says, “Getting from ‘suspected sepsis’ to a confirmed pathogen and actionable susceptibility results in hours, instead of the days, will transform sepsis diagnostics and deliver better outcomes for patients. Vivid Dx will deliver this transformational change.”

Fuelled by Oxford’s innovation ecosystem

Vivid Dx’s growth has been supported by Oxford’s broader innovation infrastructure, including investment from Oxford Science Enterprises and public funding aimed at tackling antimicrobial resistance.

Equally important has been the company’s physical home at The Oxford Science Park. As Vivid Dx has grown, its space requirements have grown with it. The Park has played a responsive role, providing flexible, purpose-built facilities that allow the company to scale without losing momentum.

“As a growing diagnostics company, flexibility and patience is critical, and TOSP has demonstrated this throughout our discussions,” says Risley. “As our requirements evolved, they have worked closely with us to explore a range of options in order to identify the best solution for our business, showing a clear understanding of the operational realities and challenges faced by an early-stage company.”

More than just bricks and mortar, The Oxford Science Park offers proximity to the University of Oxford, major research institutions, investors, collaborators and a dense cluster of life-science companies. For a business bridging academic research and commercial diagnostics, that environment has been critical.

“The Oxford ecosystem enables companies to be set up rapidly and efficiently, removing many barriers to scaling,” says Risley. “The availability of exceptional facilities, genuine room for growth, strong investor support, and access to outstanding talent allows startups to build, operate and expand with confidence.”

An Oxford story with global stakes

From Liu’s early insight into untapped Oxford research, to Risley’s leadership shaped by decades of product development expertise, Vivid Dx is a company defined by both scientific depth and the ability to deliver innovate products to market.

It is also a reflection of Oxford’s ability to turn fundamental research into real-world impact, supported by an ecosystem that provides capital, expertise and the space to grow.

As Vivid Dx moves toward clinical deployment, its ambition is global. But its story remains unmistakably Oxford: a spinout born in the lab, shaped by experience, and scaled in an environment designed to help science change lives  - fast.

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