The firms will combine Sherlock’s synthetic biology platform with Mologic’s lateral flow expertise to develop advanced molecular diagnostics for use at the point of need
Image: Sherlock Biosciences and Mologic have collaborated to develop instrument-free molecular diagnostic tests. Photo: courtesy of Belova59 from Pixabay.
Sherlock Biosciences has collaborated with Mologic for the development of instrument-free molecular diagnostic tests that can work in low-resource settings and within the home.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has expanded an existing grant to Mologic to support the development of the new tests.
Sherlock co-founder, president and CEO Rahul Dhanda said: “Our INSPECTR platform was designed to be the very first low-cost, rapid, instrument-free molecular diagnostic system to truly address diagnostic needs where solutions do not exist today, especially in low-resource and home settings.”
The partnership will allow Mologic to expand its presence in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Through the partnership, Mologic intends to expand its presence in Cambridge as part of a joint development centre, which will be constructed within Sherlock’s lab space.
The partnership will combine Sherlock’s synthetic biology platform with Mologic’s advanced lateral flow expertise for the development of simple and advanced molecular diagnostic tests for use at the point of need.
Gates Foundation’s funding will help leverage Sherlock’s synthetic biology-based INSPECTR platform and Mologic’s immunoassay platforms such as ELTABA for enzyme activity detection and CARD high sensitivity lateral flow technology.
The universal detection platforms will be advanced to help detect DNA or RNA targets in virtually any decentralised site, including low-resource settings and home-based testing.
INSPECTR (internal splint-pairing expression cassette translation reaction) platform will help create instrument-free, simple-to-operate diagnostic tests that can be applied across multiple diseases and used in a variety of settings.
ELTABA (enzymatic ligand transformation affinity binding assay) is a patented enzymatic activity platform that facilitates specific and sensitive measurement of enzymes outside of the laboratory and in the hands of untrained user.
Founded in 2016, Mologic’s Centre for Advanced Rapid Diagnostics (CARD) succeeded with the target of developing a rapid, ultra-sensitive, visually read and electricity-free detection platform.
Mologic CEO and co-founder Mark Davis said: “We believe there is a unique and powerful synergy between Mologic and Sherlock, and we are delighted to have the Gates Foundation support our efforts to combine our first- and best-in-class technology platforms for nucleic acid sensing, super-antibody engineering, ultra-sensitive lateral flow assays, and enzyme activity detection.”
In 2016, Mologic collaborated with Avacta Group to develop diagnostic tests against several targets of clinical interest for point of care (POC) testing.