Marama Labs

Marama Labs is a life-sciences instrumentation company founded in 2019 by Professor Eric Le Ru, Dr Brendan Darby and Dr Matthias Meyer. It was spun out of research at the Raman Laboratory of Professor Le Ru at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. The founding team are experts in optical spectroscopy, nanoparticle characterisation and light scattering, with published work in plasmonics, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and single-molecule detection. The company maintains offices in Dublin, Ireland and Wellington, New Zealand. Marama Labs' core product is the CloudSpec instrument, a desktop UV/Vis spectrometer powered by the company's patented Scatter-Free Absorption (SFA) technology. Conventional UV/Vis spectroscopy struggles with nanoparticle-containing samples because light scattering introduces large measurement errors. CloudSpec's dual-pathway optical design eliminates scattered-light interference by design, enabling accurate UV-based quantification of nucleic acids and ligands in lipid nanoparticle (LNP) samples without lysing the LNPs or using fluorescent dyes. The instrument covers a spectral range of 240–850 nm, works with samples from fully transparent to as cloudy as milk, uses standard quartz cuvettes, and delivers measurements in roughly 10–15 seconds with stated precision of about ±2%. It connects to a Windows PC running Marama Labs' analysis software, which converts absorption data into analyte concentrations and supports advanced spectral deconvolution. The company positions CloudSpec as a faster, simpler alternative to traditional UV/Vis for cloudy biological samples, targeting applications such as RNA-LNP quantification in the life sciences and biopharmaceutical development. Its management team includes CEO and co-founder Dr Brendan Darby, Chief Product Officer Matthias Risse, and Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder Prof Eric Le Ru, with a board that includes venture-capital representatives from Quidnet Ventures and The Yield Lab Europe. Marama Labs is a private startup and is described in public data as a New Zealand startup company.

Marama Labs was founded in 2019 by Professor Eric Le Ru, Dr Brendan Darby and Dr Matthias Meyer. The company was spun out of research conducted at the Raman Laboratory of Professor Le Ru at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. The founding team brought deep expertise in optical spectroscopy, nanoparticle characterisation and light scattering, with a body of published work spanning plasmonics, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and single-molecule detection. The company's central innovation is Scatter-Free Absorption (SFA), a patented optical approach that removes the interference caused by light scattering in turbid samples. This addresses a long-standing limitation of UV/Vis spectroscopy: while UV/Vis is a workhorse for directly quantifying molecular concentrations, it fails when nanoparticles are present because scattering introduces large measurement errors. Marama Labs commercialised SFA in the CloudSpec instrument, a desktop dual-pathway spectrometer that measures absorption, extinction and scattering spectra and converts them into analyte concentrations via analysis software. Marama Labs has offices in Dublin, Ireland and Wellington, New Zealand, reflecting both its New Zealand research roots and an Irish commercial presence. The company is a private startup and is described in public data as a New Zealand startup company. Its leadership includes CEO and co-founder Dr Brendan Darby, Chief Product Officer Matthias Risse, and Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder Prof Eric Le Ru. Its board includes venture-capital representatives Mark Bregman of Quidnet Ventures and David Bowles of The Yield Lab Europe, alongside the founders. The company markets CloudSpec for applications such as RNA-LNP quantification, emphasising speed (measurements in seconds rather than hours), no requirement for dyes, no particle disruption, and precision of approximately ±2%.

• 2019

  Marama Labs founded by Professor Eric Le Ru, Dr Brendan Darby and Dr Matthias Meyer.

• Spun out of research at the Raman Laboratory of Professor Le Ru at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

• Commercialised CloudSpec, a desktop UV/Vis spectrometer powered by patented Scatter-Free Absorption (SFA) technology.

• Established offices in Dublin, Ireland and Wellington, New Zealand.

Life-sciences instrumentation for rapid, dye-free quantification of analytes in cloudy nanoparticle samples, positioned as a faster and simpler alternative to conventional UV/Vis spectroscopy.

• CloudSpec

  Desktop UV/Vis spectrometer using dual-pathway Scatter-Free Absorption technology; 240–850 nm spectral range; 10–15 second measurements; standard quartz cuvettes; connects to Windows PC.

• Scatter-Free Absorption (SFA)

  Patented optical technology that eliminates scattered-light interference, enabling accurate UV-based quantification in cloudy samples without prior knowledge of particle size or makeup.

• RNA-LNP Quant Application

  Application for quantifying nucleic acids and ligands in lipid nanoparticle samples without lysing LNPs or using fluorescent dyes.

1. 1Marama Labs - Super-fast drug load of nanoparticle formulationsmaramalabs.com
2. 2About Marama Labsmaramalabs.com
3. 3Marama Labs - Productsmaramalabs.com
4. 4MaramaLabs - Wikidatawikidata.org