Fort Collins, Colorado, March 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Burst Diagnostics, a pioneer in the rapid diagnostics industry, has announced the recent closing of a successful seed-stage investment. The round was led by Innosphere Ventures Fund, a venture capital firm leading early-stage investments in B2B SaaS, Cleantech, and Medtech enterprises, and backed by Zymo Research, a leading Life Sciences enterprise with a large commercial portfolio of innovative, reliable, and high-quality molecular tools.
Burst Diagnostics will use the funds to expedite the translation of its first-in-class platform from a working prototype to a commercial system capable of disrupting the >$45B point-of-care diagnostics industry. “The tests we are building are simple, convenient, and inexpensive like rapid antigen tests but capable of producing laboratory-quality data with the level of sensitivity and accuracy previously exclusive to central lab run tests,.” said Dr. Charles Henry, Founder, CEO and experienced Professor at Colorado State University.
The platform is based on a novel microfluidic cartridge capable of miniaturizing and integrating all of the classic steps performed in the clinical laboratory setting (including washing and signal amplification) in a simple, robust, and power-free hand-held device. Through a collaboration with Zymo Research, Burst Diagnostics has pushed its core technology even further, achieving sensitivity and multiplexing capabilities not yet reported for any antigen-based point-of-care tests on the market.
“The COVID-19 pandemic was the equivalent of the moon mission for molecular biology. With the advances in our industry over the last several years, no one needs to compromise between convenience and test performance,” shared Dr. Rose Nash, Chief Operating Officer and Scientist at Burst Diagnostics. “We have a radical new technology and with it, we will challenge the limitations associated with antigen tests as we know them,” she continued.
“Our mission at Burst Diagnostics is to bridge this sensitivity gap and bring more confidence to rapid, point-of-care and at-home tests,” said CEO, Dr. Henry. “We are excited to partner with Innosphere Ventures Fund and Zymo Research to bring this technology to market and explore additional applications in which rapid, ultra-sensitive, and reliable microbial, viral, and/or biomarker measurements are in demand.”
“Innosphere Ventures Fund is excited to partner with Burst Diagnostics as they revolutionize the point-of-care market. We are thrilled to see them achieve such great results and look forward to them bringing these significant benefits to the world,” said Innosphere Ventures Fund Principal, Tim Jones.
"The development of this new highly-sensitive technology will revolutionize protein-based detection and be a game-changer in the healthcare industry, allowing for faster and more accurate diagnosis and treatment of diseases," said Dr. Larry Jia, CEO of Zymo Research.
On a new strategic partnership with Zymo Research:
“We were connected with Zymo Research by the RADx program within NIH [National Institutes of Health] which funded the early development of this platform in my academic laboratory at Colorado State University,” shared Dr. Henry. From there, the two companies entered a productive chapter of collaboration and partnership.
“It was evident in our first meeting at Zymo’s headquarters that we were embarking on a very productive partnership,” said Dr. Nash. The two companies hold a shared vision for the future of diagnostics and are extremely technology focused, each with leading scientist-CEOs at the helm.
Burst Diagnostic’s CEO, Dr. Henry is a leading subject matter expert in low-cost diagnostics and has been published over 220 times. Dr. Larry Jia is the CEO and founder of Zymo Research, he previously worked as faculty at the University of California, and it was at that time that he grew Zymo Research out of a small garage in Orange, CA.
Burst Diagnostic and Zymo Research make for a dynamic duo as they are driven by the same principles to positively impact the biomedical field and contribute to the greater good of humanity. “Our cultures just really match,” shared Dr. Nash. “Our teams work well together, and I think all of us occasionally step back and admire how quickly what we are building is coming together. That can only happen when a team is playing to everyone’s strengths.”
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About Burst Diagnostics:
Burst Diagnostics is a growing diagnostics company with the mission of revolutionizing the at-home and point-of-care diagnostics testing industry. In support of this mission, Burst has developed a disruptive, rapid antigen diagnostics platform that puts a fully automated laboratory analysis in the palm of your hand.
About Zymo Research:
Zymo Research is a leading provider of innovative products and services for molecular biology, epigenetics, and microbiology research. Founded in 1994, Zymo Research has grown to become a global leader in the development of high-quality reagents, kits, and services for sample collection, DNA/RNA extraction, epigenetics analysis, microbial identification and quantification. Its technologies are used by researchers in academic institutions, government laboratories, and biotechnology companies around the world. Zymo Research is committed to providing its customers with the highest quality products and services at competitive prices, and their team of experienced scientists is dedicated to helping its customers achieve their research goals.
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