DeepVerge starts deploying Covid-19 wastewater testing
By Josh White
Date: Monday 16 Nov 2020
(Sharecast News) - DeepVerge has started deploying near-source wastewater contamination test equipment, branded 'Microtox PD', into water treatment plants in Ireland, it announced on Monday, with the first shipments to China and the United States expected by the end of the year.
The AIM-traded firm said Microtox PD units, retrofitted with artificial intelligence (AI)-based optofluidic pathogen identification scanners, were also being shipped to the University of Aberdeen CAT3 laboratory, adding to the ongoing trials with the live SARS-CoV-2 virus, supplied by Public Health England.
In addition, DeepVerge said it had agreed to license a patented breathalyser from PulMoBioMed (PBM), a spin-out technology company of Northumbria University, to capture SARS-CoV-2 particles in breath condensate for the DeepVerge optofluidic breath test, dubbed 'Microtox BT'.
Phase 3 field trials were expected to begin shortly at multiple sites in Northern England.
In collaboration with EcoWaterOS consortia partners, aggregated anonymised data would provide datasets for AI model simulations from human volunteers who would undergo Covid-19 testing with a combination of Microtox BT, a lateral flow antigen test and an rt-PCR test.
DeepVerge said sufficient datasets were expected to be complete early in 2021.
"Phase 3 field trial testing is the last step to establish permanent anonymised mass surveillance of dangerous pathogens in wastewater, in real-time," said chief executive officer Gerard Brandon.
"The field trials will combine the deployment of Microtox PD wastewater units and daily testing of individual volunteers with a Microtox BT breathalyser test, a lateral flow test and a PCR test."
Brandon said the data from the tests was expected to simultaneously identify the source of Covid-19 cases, identify Covid-19 clusters, and indicate the size of each cluster in real-time.
"As the data grows, AI will offer the potential to predict the trajectory of growth of future clusters of Sars-CoV-2 or any future dangerous pathogen.
"As we progress towards commercialisation, PulMoBioMed's patented technology will enable a quick roll-out of our Microtox BT breath test once field trials have completed."
At 1346 GMT, shares in DeepVerge were flat at 22.5p.
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