The assay named Molecular Detection by Proxy is a bead-based technology coupled with ultra-sensitive CMOS capacitance detection. This fringe-field sensing method is the same principle used in every smartphone, where electrodes beneath the glass screen detect your finger above the glass. With minimal sample preparation, the Altratech product and assay can rapidly detect and quantify molecular targets from any sample.

There are three key steps to the assay. Firstly, proprietary bioorthogonal PNAs are used to address the complication of extracting genetic material from a biological sample without any sample preparation. These synthetic nucleic acids are highly specific and can be introduced directly into the sample.

They then capture the target onto a magnetic bead. Next, these captured molecules are magnetically removed from the sample and are tethered onto coded nanoparticles. These nanoparticles are now a proxy for the biological target. Therefore, each particle is equivalent to a single biological target. Finally, these particles are released over a highly sensitive, bioorthogonal CMOS biosensor chip which results in a change of capacitance. Thus, with more particles the higher the measured capacitance which results in a linear correlation with the initial target present in the sample. This is Detection by Proxy

Consequently the assay can be easily multiplexed and even used to quantify other targets such as antibodies or antigens within the same test. Furthermore, once a new genome is available we can immediately program our core biorthogonal PNA chemistry with the specific targeting sequences, allowing a new test to be deployed within days. The assay will be encapsulated in a solid-state device capable of being miniaturised, productised and mass manufactured.