Purpose
"Make molecular reagents accessible for everyone, everywhere."
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📢 Our mission is to democratize biotechnology by decentralizing the means of reagent production (such as enzymes).
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Motivations
Problem Statement
Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) generally have lower rates of COVID-19 testing per 100,000 population (https://cen.acs.org/analytical-chemistry/diagnostics/Developing-countries-face-diagnostic-challenges/98/i27)
- Doing scientific research/R&D in low-middle inconme countries (LMICs) is not easy stuff: almost all laboratory reagents (and equipments) are imported and hence very expensive, due to the dollar's high values. Besides that, the importation process is not as fast as could be and most of the reagents depend on cold chain, which improves the chances to reagent loss, as not all regions have the necessary infrastructure to handle this type of product.
- In times like the COVID-19 crisis, this "lack of local reagent production problem" became an even more pronounced, as the diagnostic tests rely on the use of these same molecular reagents, which resulted in the initial shortage of the key chemicals of molecular tests and now in the high costs of these tests, difficulting they avalibility and consequently the tracing and containing of the virus.
- To conclude, molecular reagents showed to be one of the most important bottlenecks in the scale-up of COVID19 (and many others) diagnostic tests - especially in low-middle income countries. Therefore, stimulating their local production by making it more affordable and accessible could help overcome this problem.
- Besides that, by decentralizing the means of reagents production, we can not only reach the "molecular diagnostic tests problem" but also nurture the scientific development of these countries (in the sense of making scientific research more acessible) and give the community their right to learn, pratice, design and engineer biological solutions to the challenges they face (as its already occurs with other technologies).
Protein Purification Chain Map
Our Solution
A low cost and simple to use device/methodology to purify enzymes.
Goals **