Developing point of care diagnostic tools to improve patient outcome – Understanding the need for point of care pathogen detection

Spectra’s first technology allows for police to analyze drugs at the scene of a crime, meaning they know what they are dealing with immediately, versus standard one to three-month turnaround times from current lab testing processes. Public health can also use the tech at supervised consumption sites to help those who use drugs make informed decisions on what they are consuming. This drug analysis information can then be sent to a centralized database, allowing for the monitoring of street drugs both locally and nationally. To help accelerate development, Spectra is competing in Health Canada’s Drug Checking Technology Challenge, where they are one of three finalists and have received ~$190K in funding to date.

Beyond drug analysis, Spectra is has recently begun working on the development of future offerings, specifically for pathogen detection. The overarching theme of this project is to lead new vertical market research/business development efforts. As Spectra is early in the developments of their second product, this work can inform the technical team of what specific application(s) this work should be tailored toward, while allowing the business team to focus on selling the existing drug analysis product.

Faculty Supervisor:

Elspeth Murray

Student:

Partner:

Spectra Plasmonics Inc

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Manufacturing; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Queen's University

Program: