Enabling high performance and cost-efficient Point-of-Care diagnostics using a new innovative synthetic lateral flow substrate

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Mercene Labs is a Swedish SME with expertise in material design for adhesion and surface control developing products that benefit quality of life worldwide through creating unique solutions based on our proprietary Ostemer™ polymer platform. Our newest product Synthetic Paper comes from an urgent industry need to increase the performance of point-of-care (PoC) medical diagnostic tests by finding better alternatives to the traditional paper-based lateral flow products currently in use. Improvements in the performance of lateral flow assays could lead to more rapid clinical decision making and timely interventions with appropriate treatments as well as more personalized healthcare benefiting millions of patients worldwide. Synthetic Paper provides superior material properties in terms of repeatability in geometry and surface energy while being able to directly replace nitrocellulose strips in current readers while utilizing the existing POC readers and infrastructure. Currently Mercene Labs is able to provide Synthetic Paper in A4 sheets with a native (untreated) surface, as well as surfaces modified for specific liquid flow speed. However, manufacturers of PoC tests are used to purchasing test strip material that is ready for antibody bonding. The feasibility study, performed under this SME Phase 1 project, will focus adding to the product offering by modifying the surface to offer customers a higher value product. Additionally, the feasibility study will focus on developing a pricing strategy and a business model for Synthetic paper.