Earlier this month, Hememics Biotechnologies, developer of a rapid handheld bio testing platform based on unique graphene-based sensors, raised a $2 million seed round to help build its “lab in a hand” tech. Now, Hememics Biotechnologies also entered into a strategic partnership with General Graphene Corporation, the culmination of a four-year collaborative effort to develop a scalable, non-clean-room process for the manufacturing of the company’s 32-plex, graphene biosensor chips.
Combined with Hememics’ expertise in long-shelf-life detection biology, this partnership aims to revolutionize point-of-care diagnostics tools for pathogens and environmental toxins.
In the past nine months alone, Hememics in conjunction with General Graphene has reportedly manufactured more than 100,000 graphene biosensors. Using its patented desiccation technology for detection biology, Hememics has functionalized and tested these biosensors through numerous molecular and antigen tests to detect SEB and ricin at consistent sensitivities in the low picomolar range and get results within 5 minutes.
The 100,000+ sensor tests are part of a broader program for perfecting chip designs. “Feedback from these tests will help a great deal in furthering products targeted for human trials,” said John Warden, CEO of Hememics.
These chips are capable of detecting multiple pathogens from a single saliva or blood sample with a level of detection more than 100x more sensitive than lateral flow, a common point-of-care test format.
“We are more than delighted with the performance of our penny-sized, 32-plex graphene sensor array,” said Sri Aithal, Director of Research and Development at Hememics.
“In the highly competitive world of diagnostics, speed and cost define whole product categories. At single-digit picomolar levels of detection, five-minute test times and non-cleanroom manufacturing techniques, we broke through three significant barriers at once,” said David Ho, President and CSO of Hememics.
“Our collaboration with Hememics has been extremely positive and productive from day one. As a pure-play graphene foundry, General Graphene seeks partners who possess the application expertise necessary to commercialize graphene-based applications. Hememics has been an excellent fit for us with their vast knowledge and expertise in graphene-based biosensors,” said Greg Erickson, CEO of General Graphene.
A few days before this announcement, General Graphene Corporation also announced a strategic partnership with GrapheneDX and Sapphiros, to industrialize graphene-based biosensors for medical devices used to diagnose a variety of diseases at the point-of-care and in consumer settings.