Business View Magazine | June 2020

19 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JUNE 2020 KALIGIA BIOSCIENCES DEVELOPING PORTABLE, RAPID, SALIVA- BASED COVID-19 SCREENING DEVICES Data collection underway with AdventHealth, University of South Florida College of Medicine and College of Pharmacy and Tampa General Hospital The reopening of the world economy is largely reliant on easy and accessible COVID-19 screening. Kaligia Biosciences, a medical device company, is working with major Florida medical institutions to develop a portable, saliva-based device that can produce results in less than three minutes. Kaligia Biosciences is starting clinical trials of the Rapid Biofluid Analyzer 2 (RBA-2) device using saliva samples of COVID-19 from Bay-area hospitals and beyond. The method uses a proven Kaligia Biosciences device that analyses multiple blood components. Kaligia Biosciences is collaborating with AdventHealth, the University of South Florida College of Pharmacy (USF) the USF College of Medicine and Tampa General Hospital (TGH) to adapt the device for COVID-19 screening. “Currently, COVID-19 tests require uncomfortable nasal swabs or blood samples, and can take days, if not weeks to obtain results. We want to make screening more accessible, faster and non-invasive,” said Kaligia Biosciences Co-Founder and CEO Fazal Fazlin. “The device we are developing can scan a simple saliva sample and produce results almost instantly. The machine is portable (smaller than a shoe box) so it will be accessible to hospitals, pharmacies, doctors’ offices and clinics.” The difference between RBA-2 and other devices is the underlying technology. The RBA-2 uses Laser- Raman spectroscopy, directing a laser at a sample to reveal the underlying chemical components, and then draws on machine learning to identify positive and negative results. This avoids the time- consuming and highly delicate process of most current tests that utilize “wet” chemistry to test fluid samples. Step 1: Subjects provide a sample of saliva for screening. Step 2: The sample is inserted in a disposable viewing station attached to the RBA-2. Step 3: The spectrum of the saliva sample is recorded and used to produce a positive or a negative result for COVID-19. Step 4: Researchers dispose of the subject’s tube and viewing station, ensuring safety, and OPENING L INES The device we are developing can scan a simple saliva sample and produce results almost instantly