Innosphere Ventures Fund teams with Burst Diagnostics to improve accuracy of COVID-19 antigen testing
Fort Collins, CO, June 08, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Innosphere Ventures Fund, a venture capital firm leading early-stage investments in B2B SaaS, Cleantech, and Medtech enterprises, has announced its first pre-seed-stage investment into Burst Diagnostics. Burst Diagnostics will use the funds to reduce variability in assay times and prototype manufacture the updated system. Additionally, they will update their clinical trial and analytical validation plans for future regulatory submissions and commercialization.
Burst Diagnostics is developing a novel immunoassay test that miniaturizes and integrates all steps of a laboratory test (including washing and signal amplification) in a simple handheld device. This device can be used at the point of care (POC) or at-home and is more accurate than current point-of-care (POC) solutions, faster than laboratory solutions, and easy to use. “Capillary-Driven Immunoassay (CaDI) technology allows for a fully automated, laboratory-style test to be run in the palm of your hand. The test looks and feels like an off-the-shelf lateral flow test but there is a lot more there than what meets the eye,” said Dr. Charles Henry, Founder, CEO and experienced Professor at Colorado State University. Dr. Henry has had a notable career, being published over 220 times and named on 9 patents.
“Burst Diagnostics is building a test that will revolutionize the POC market by introducing a solution that yields laboratory-quality results in near real-time,” said Fund Principal, Tim Jones.
This technology allows users to simply swab the nasal cavity, place the sample into the device and obtain a reading. The reading can be obtained in as little as 10 minutes and provides a significant improvement over the accuracy of current antigen test solutions. The initial application to SARS-CoV-2 is the beginning of a journey to more accurate POC and at-home testing for numerous other infectious diseases.
“There is notable difference in the sensitivity of lab-run molecular tests (PCR) and at-home COVID-19 antigen tests. 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. Charles Henry. “We are excited to partner with the Innosphere Ventures Fund 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.”
For more information on Innosphere Ventures and this investment, contact Tim Jones, Innosphere Ventures Fund Principal, at (970) 818-7738.
For more information on Burst Diagnostics, contact Rose Nash, PhD, Chief Product Officer, at [email protected] or 970-632-2668.
About Innosphere Ventures Incubator:
Innosphere Ventures accelerates the success of science and technology-based startups through its unique accelerator and commercialization programs, specialized laboratory facilities, and venture capital fund. Innosphere has supported founders and CEOs building high-tech companies for 24 years and is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization with a strong mission to grow the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. https://innosphereventures.org/
Burst Diagnostics is a growing Fort Collins-headquartered 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. The underlying chemistry and microfluidic design were developed in the co-founders’ laboratories at Colorado State University (CSU). Burst-dx.com