Nicoya gets $300K to develop quick COVID test

Kitchener-based tech company’s test aims for results in 20 minutes

KITCHENER — Kitchener-based biotechnology company Nicoya is getting almost $300,000 in specialized funding through the National Research Council to develop a saliva-based portable COVID-19 diagnostic test that would be able to detect for the virus in 20 minutes or less.

The saliva-based diagnostic test will be powered by smartphones to make rapid, low-cost testing more widely available.

Nicoya will receive up to $299,190 in research and development funding from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program to develop a portable COVID-19 diagnostic test called Atlas. This funding comes as part of a joint challenge issued by the Public Health Agency of Canada and the National Research Council of Canada.

Nicoya hopes to develop the new test within a year.

The user connects Atlas, a small hand-held device, to their smartphone and opens up the app. The user then collects a small saliva sample and inserts the sample swab into the Atlas test cartridge. The device then delivers lab-quality results to the app in under 20 minutes. The swab and the single-use, disposable device are discarded afterwards.

A quicker, easy-to-use test will make it easier to trace infections and help curb the spread of the disease, said Ryan Denomme, co-founder and CEO of Nicoya. “There is an urgent need for diagnostic kits that can provide users with immediate results, rather than having to rely on testing labs that can take two to five days,” he said in a news release.

“Delays increase the possibility of infected people spreading the virus further, or uninfected people facing unnecessary quarantine.”

A quick, portable test like Atlas will fill an important void, Denomme said, making testing more widely available, and making it easier to run tests in remote areas and on the front lines.

Nicoya specializes in advanced analytical instruments for biotechnology and pharmaceutical clients. It is one of several local firms stepping up to help out during the pandemic. It is offering technical support for researchers working on a COVID vaccine.