{"id":6896,"date":"2021-08-23T03:53:18","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T03:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca\/ip-education\/?post_type=spotlight&p=6896"},"modified":"2021-09-03T19:03:09","modified_gmt":"2021-09-03T19:03:09","slug":"this-is-the-place-to-scale-up-virus-testing","status":"publish","type":"spotlight","link":"https:\/\/entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca\/ip-education\/spotlight\/this-is-the-place-to-scale-up-virus-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"This is the place to scale up virus testing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This is the place to scale up virus testing<\/h1>\n\n
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Prototype versions of LSK Technologies Inc.\u2019s portable diagnostic devices. Photo courtesy of LSK Technologies Inc.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Portable diagnostic devices built by U of T startup LSK Technologies Inc. can diagnose viral diseases on the spot, even in remote areas.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A technology inspired by the Zika virus crisis is now helping the world cope with COVID-19\u2014and prepare for future pandemics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LSK Technologies Inc. (LSK) is a startup founded by U of T alumni Seray \u00c7i\u00e7ek and Yuxiu (Livia) Guo with professor Keith Pardee. The trio invented their portable diagnostic devices to help strained health-care systems in remote Latin American communities meet the threat of the Zika virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, they quickly expanded their platform to diagnose COVID-19 in areas without adequate lab facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LSK Technologies Inc. originated in a U of T lab<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The technology originated in 2016 when Pardee, who is Canada Research Chair in Synthetic Biology in Human Health at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and Chief Scientific Officer with LSK, created a special paper that changes colour in reaction to a viral genome. By simply adding a medical sample and incubating it, the presence of a virus could be detected in one hour, instead of the usual several days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, Guo and \u00c7i\u00e7ek, then master\u2019s students in working in Pardee\u2019s lab, built a portable device that could use the paper, operate off a battery and provide an easy-to-read result, even for users without special medical or lab expertise. Since then the team has expanded their platform to detect proteins and nucleic acids, making it possible to conduct a wider range of diagnostic tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe realized we were building a product that people wanted<\/em> to use and seeing that made us graduate as soon as we could to start working on this!\u201d says \u00c7i\u00e7ek, the company\u2019s CEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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