Inspiration
We live in a world where times and times again big pandemic is occurring. 9 times for the last century. Claiming the life of more than 50 mln people.
Lives should not be statistics only. Finding a cure for new virus and diseases could take years. Detecting it and containing it should not!
”Our mission is to make the Word - “pandemic” - obsolete. To give the society a tool for having an advantage over contagious airborne viruses.”
Imagine... if we only had a tool accessible to every person, who can make tests and get the result in real-time, many times with one device until he tests positive. And all that with no need of medical team or facility, Just by breathing in...
Imagine... this tool feeding the results with a location in real-time to the health care officials and creating a real-time map with the virus cases.
Imagine… for the next pandemic outbreak of COVID-N, we can upgrade the virus definitions in the device like an ordinary upgrade of the antivirus on the computer. We can start rolling it out within weeks after the beginning of the outbreak.
Imagine… for the next pandemic outbreak of COVID-N, we can upgrade the virus definitions in the device like an ordinary upgrade of the antivirus on the computer. We can start rolling it out within weeks after the beginning of the outbreak.
Making a vaccine or medicine for a new virus can take years with the clinical trials. We don’t have much time in the case of the airborne viruses before they spread too far. This is the reason we need to focus on rapid and efficient prevention of viral pandemic trough testing.
What it does
Now is time to stop imagining. It is real. It has been done in the distant 2004.
In 2004 A. Gupta, D. Akin and R. BASHIR published a paper in APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS, VOLUME 84, NUMBER 11 15 MARCH 2004 Paper demonstrated successful detection of a single virus using microresonators with nanoscale thickness. It was a great achievement but staid in the lab for various reasons. The most important value of this paper was the fact that it proved using Microsensors for Detecting viruses is real. Then sitting in the drawer for the right time and technology to appear. All major obstacles in mass exploitation of microcantilever sensors will be removed by newly developed arrays of self-sensing cantilevers. Design of the cantilever array is just completed, and first prototypes will be available in June 2020. Mass manufacturing can be launching in 3-4 months after the transfer of technology to a reliable fabrication line
We have the technology
Similar devices, based on silicon microcantilevers with embedded piezoresistive detection, were successfully used in Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) for many years (incl. the schenes in our video) and first results for exploiting them in Air Quality Monitoring were obtained (Fig. 1- Fig. 3), recently. New devices will be modified for detection of pre-selected viruses, like COVID-19. Design of our new generation sensors based on microcantilevers was just completed.
Having said all that we have to say the great news that we have the technology and the know-how to overcome all the issues that obstructed the lab specimen in 2004 to become a mass-production test for viruses.
In dept advantages of our testing
Developing fast, reliable and non-expensive disposable test for the availability of COVID-19 virus (and any further than is needed) Key differentiating feature of the envisaged system is that it detects the viruses before symptoms appeared and, more important before lungs are affected. We detect the virus itself and not the antibodies. Due to the non-invasive manner of the virus detection (i.e., implementable everywhere, neither lab equipment, nor skilled personnel required), real-time results can be immediately communicated, thus following key performance improvements will be enabled.
Why our tests are So different and critical to COVID-19 detection:
Our detection aims at the virus itself and not products of its interaction with the human body. Thus results in the fact that we can detect infections IN EARLY STAGE. That is difficult to be detected with other tests because for a very long time the virus can be in the body without the immune system realizing that fact and starting to produce antibodies.
Paradoxically, the biggest competitive advantage of the COVID-19 – staying “silent and non-visible” (i.e., without symptoms) for longer than usual time, provides higher chance to detect and destroy it, before serious health damages are caused;
This Early stage detection will be key for successful healing of infected persons before revealing any symptoms, and especially before damaging the lungs, by enforced immune reaction, i.e. with commonly available anti-virus treatments, patients being at sill good condition to handle the virus infection;
Shortening the healing treatment (due to on-time intervention) will increase the critical capacity of the hospitals to recover the infected people. In addition, healed persons will return shortly after healing and trustable testing, to play their usual roles into society;
Successful execution on all levels from creation to adoption and implementation will give multiple other benefits and create its own ecosystem.
Area of application
Our device will have a huge area of application - It will start with companies and public places like aeroports, Train stations, Schools, Public institutions, Courts, Shopping centres, etc) and eventually will be accessible to private use in companies and at home. In this case, we will be able to get to the right track of balancing scalability and price. With the time our tests will become cheaper and cheaper and we will be selling hundreds of millions.
Scalability and Bottleneck
Our project will be scalable on the right stages - prototypes and first elements of up to 100 000 devices will be done inside our own facility. In the meantime, while we wait for all approvals and green light from the authorities we will be dining the Technology transfer with few manufacturing companies that will be doing the necessary components. Our software system will be in-house and we have capabilities to keep it inside even with millions of users every day.
The only bottleneck of the production would be the microcantilever sensors, as they are the unique device that we have filled application for patent and will be produced by a limited amount of companies. And in this way, we will be reducing the impact of the bottleneck.
Time to the market
First prototypes of the new sensors and detection systems will be available in two months after launching the project. Characterization and validation can be expected in about two-three weeks later. Mass fabrication (50-100K/month) of the key elements – self-sensing microsensors can be started in 8 - 10 months after the same starting moment. In the same time, we will start the Know-how transfer to big facility production so we can reach in the following months, production in the scale of millions per month, then this can be replicated to other facilities in different continents if needed. Mass fabrication (1-10M/month) of the key elements – self-sensing microsensors, can be started in 3 - 4 months after the beginning of the transfer of technology to well-known marker player.
Design complexity
The Testing device will have a very simple design and the electronics inside will be made as simple as possible to minimize the potential issues and errors with non-essential parts. The device will have the functionalized sensor, battery, microchip and electronics for analyzing the signals from the sensors. 2G module for communication and simple robust plastic case.
The device is by essence disposable because after the first positive test the microcantilever sensor is blocked with the virus, and needs changing. It is important to say that this blockage happens only on positive results and thus a person can make multiple tests to the device before the sensor needs exchanging. This is an example in Private use at home. In public areas, it will have personalized disposable tubes for personal hygiene in the moment of taking the test and they will be exchanged after every use.
Virus variety
Our device will be a broad-spectrum screening device that can include measuring multiple types of airborne viruses like MERS, SARS, COVID-19, Ordinary flu, Influenza, etc. It can actually tell you exactly which one of these viruses is the virus that is inside. Potentially, our system could have strong impact on current outbreak, even before COVID-19 specific vaccine appears on the market, or these effort does not yield sustainable results. The best scenario would be if our sensor system will be fused together with novel diagnostic tools, vaccines and remedy equipment in a completely new screening & therapy strategy, preventing any future outbreak.
The small details
In short to share few worlds for important small details in the last period just before the final stage - selling. Device complexity is relatively small and will not be difficult for Quality control before release. There is a lot of experience in the field when it comes to QC of Microelectronics. Every batch will be tested with random selection on the captivity and reaction to COVID-19 or the targeted virus in order to ensure functional efficiency. Besides that everything else is going to be a very simple device - detection module with functionalization and communication module. There will be no restrictions on the life span of the product. Storage needs to be in sterile packaging in order to keep the quality of the testing efficiency. Ones open can be used for no more than 30 days for single use at home before the need to change the sensor. Room temperature will be ideal. Any direct sunlight will have to be avoided.
What's next
We are looking for help in getting our Solution to the market faster, at a lot bigger scale and pace than we can achieve alone. We need support, political, scientific, legal, financial, you name it. It is a huge project.
We can work on this together! Only together we can get better control over the invisible micro-world and have bigger chance to overcome all potential threats. The value now and after the crises will increase a lot because there will be found a lot more new applications.
Go Hackaton #EUvsVIRUS!
Built With
- bio-functionalization
- cloud
- embedded
- functionalized
- mems
- microcantilevers
- piezoresistive
- silicon
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