ams & Precision Biomonitoring: global partnership – development of rapid saliva antigen testing device for Covid-19

• The easy-to-use, lab-free Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) antigen test solution aims to provide
  reliable results in around 15 minutes at the point-of-care
• The objective is affordable, rapid mass testing by analyzing saliva samples and allowing digital results to be uploaded to a medical cloud
• Innovative approach using ams spectral sensors to enable test results which are easy to read and conclusive
• Initial results, on inactivated virus particles, indicate a very good sensitivity in the order of cycle time (CT) 31, which could lead to the identification of asymptomatic persons

Premstaetten, Austria and Guelph, Canada (December 21, 2020) — Today, ams (SIX: AMS), a leading worldwide supplier of high performance sensor solutions, and Precision Biomonitoring, a Canadian-based leader in virus detection tools, announce a global partnership to share technologies to develop an innovative testing device for the Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) virus. The partnership will see ams’ innovative spectral sensor technology paired with Precision Biomonitoring’s lateral flow and digital capabilities. The combination is expected to re-imagine mass testing devices for Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2). Initial results, on inactivated virus particles, indicate a very good sensitivity in the order of cycle time (CT) 31, which could lead to the identification of asymptomatic persons.

“The pandemic is still with us and will continue to be part of our lives well into the new year. This partnership with ams will continue to provide innovative solutions urgently needed by government and authorities to help track and control this virus,” says Dr. Mario Thomas, CEO, Precision
Biomonitoring. “We are dedicated to developing quality testing devices and with the addition of this highly-sensitive technology we will continue to change the testing landscape.”

To create innovative solutions and support pandemic control, ams and Precision Biomonitoring are investigating the efficacy and sensitivity of a lab-free lateral-flow test connected to a medical cloud, to detect virus particles in as little as around 15-minutes. The test is focused on detecting the virus at earlier stages of infection, before symptoms have appeared.

The ams spectral sensor solution allows fluorescence-based read out of antigen detection, strengthening ams’ leadership in delivering high-quality professional health diagnostics, designed to improve speed and reliability of rapid, point-of-care diagnostics.

“Governments and authorities need to enable fast, reliable and effective testing. Our initial results for this solution indicate that even asymptomatic patients who carry the virus could be more readily identified. We expect the combination of Precision Biomonitoring and ams technology to become an essential tool in the effort to help control the pandemic and resume the many economic and social activities that comprise what we call normal life,” says Jennifer Zhao, Executive Vice President, division Advanced Optical Sensors, ams. “This is aided by the fact that, once approved, the testing solution can be produced inexpensively and without complex limitations at high scale. We hope that this solution will eliminate complicated logistics and clinical processes and streamline approaches to mass testing.”

For more information about ams spectral sensing, please see
https://ams.com/technology/spectral-sensing

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About Precision Biomonitoring 
Founded in 2016 by a team of scientists from the University of Guelph’s Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, Precision Biomonitoring provides TRIPLELOCK™ onsite eDNA surveillance platform solutions that give customers earlier detection of organisms for a more rapid response. Customers are any organizations that need onsite surveillance and rapid identification of any organism in any environment. The Precision Biomonitoring team is at the forefront of technological innovations in the genomics industry. Our vision is a world where we can identify any organism on the spot, in an instant, anywhere on the planet.  https://precisionbiomonitoring.com