Superfast Covid tests after firms team up
TWO trailblazing start-ups at Daresbury Laboratory have teamed up to create a rapid lowcost Covid-19 test.
Daresbury Proteins and Revivocell’s laboratory-based test is intended to be easy to use, more accurate than existing options, and able to adapt to mutational chances in the virus.
A Sci-Tech Daresbury spokeswoman said the test can produce precise results in minutes and doesn’t need any specialist training.
The two companies have been carrying out their own research and development using the cutting edge research facilities at Daresbury Laboratory, which is part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), since 2018.
This allowed them to combine their expertise to develop the testing platform, which has been backed by funding from the Liverpool City Region’s Innovation Fund established by Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram to support pioneering businesses.
This cash will support them to scale up and manufacture their technology.
Further endorsement came from Amanda Solloway, science minister.
She said: “The UK’s scientists have been leading the way in testing, treatments and vaccines throughout this pandemic, and this new partnership is another example of that excellent work.
“The biotech sector in the North West has a bright future thanks to initiatives like this, which will be essential as we continue to tackle coronavirus and build back better from the pandemic.”
Paul Vernon, head of STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory, said: “With the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic being felt in the UK and across the world, I’m immensely proud to see start-ups at STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory networking, collaborating and innovating to find solutions to this crisis.
“In a mission to repurpose and develop new technologies that will provide desperately needed routes back to normality, I am thrilled that the cuttingedge laboratory facilities and business support we provide are proving catalytic to help start-ups, Revivocell and Daresbury Proteins, work together to succeed.”
Daresbury Proteins, a spin-out company from the University of Manchester, moved to Daresbury Laboratory after winning a six-month R&D and business support competition.
Its research focussed on refining a new technique for developing human proteins from mammalian cells to speed up processing drug development, but at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic it switched to developing and commercialising a rapid antibody