Date: 21st March 2019
A start-up engineering biology company Sherlock Bioscience has opened its doors for business in Cambridge, USA with an initial investment of $35M. Aimed at providing fast, affordable and accurate diagnostic testing utilising engineering biology tools, including CRISPR and synthetic biology.
Its foundational platform technology, SHERLOCK™ (Specific High-sensitivity Enzymatic Reporter unLOCKing), was developed as a method for identifying specific genetic targets using CRISPR. Genetically fingerprinting across multiple organisms or sample types SHERLOCK is a simple paper strip to display test results able to detect signatures the likes of viruses, pathogens or tumour DNA.
The company is also developing INSPECTR™ (INternal Splint-Pairing Expression Cassette Translation Reaction), a synthetic biology based molecular diagnostics platform able to distinguish targets based on a single nucleotide. Again simplicity at its core, diagnosis is achieved without machines and at room temperature.
The cofounders of Sherlock Bioscience span a wide range of disciplines and are using their expertise to improve health worldwide by creating and developing this new generation of diagnostics tools. It is hoped that they will disrupt the diagnostic markets, the affordability, ease and mobility of their diagnostic applications will not only be transformative in the range of settings in which these tools can be used but also in the breadth of use. For more information read the press release by following the link.
https://sherlock.bio/better-faster-affordable-diagnostic-testing/
