Amferia was born in Gothenburg, Sweden, when three PhD researchers who had been collaborating for five years had the idea to combine their findings. In 2016, after several conversations among themselves, Amferia founders Saba Atefyekta, Anand Kumar Rajasehkaran and Martin Andersson conceived a new class of antimicrobial material while working at Chalmers University of Technology .
The approach was to utilise antimicrobial peptides—a potent antimicrobial molecule that Saba Atefyekta was investigating for biomaterial applications — in combination with a new amphiphilic hydrogel developed by Anand Rajasekharan for his PhD research on synthetic bone.

Within the first two weeks, we noted that the idea was sound and worked perfectly, which is a rarity in science”
During a conference visit to Montreal in May 2016, Saba, Anand and Martin dove deeper into discussions and realized their combined research had uncovered potential for real-world biomedical applications. ”After all these years of research we suddenly realised how to combine our findings. It was a eureka moment,” said Saba.
Excited by their discoveries, Saba and Anand returned to the lab and initiated the first trial runs, synthesizing the material and testing it on bacteria. “Within the first two weeks, we noted that the idea was sound and worked perfectly, which is a rarity in science,” said Anand.