NEW YORK – Nicoya Lifesciences said on Monday that it has acquired LSK Technologies, a University of Toronto spinout seeking to decentralize laboratory testing via a high-throughput lab-in-a-box platform for nucleic acid and protein testing.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
LSK's core technology was originally developed for Zika virus detection, and the company pivoted toward COVID-19 testing in response to the global pandemic. It worked as a supporting partner for a federal grant awarded in 2020 to scale up portable diagnostic testing.
The acquisition adds to Nicoya's efforts to develop and market viral detection methods, for which it has received over C$2 million in Canadian federal funding in 2021 to continue developing its rapid, saliva-based COVID-19 antigen test. Last December, the company also raised C$20 million (US$15.5 million) in an extended Series A financing.
Kitchener, Ontario-based Nicoya has been incorporating its digital microfluidic and nanoplasmonic biosensor technology into a portable device for rapid antigen testing.
The firm's Alto SPR platform enables rapid, low-volume protein characterization and is undergoing further development toward applications in antibody quantification, epitope mapping, and drug screening.
Integrating LSK’s amplification technology and associated IP will enable Nicoya to further broaden the applicability of its own platform across a variety of testing and diagnostic applications, while maintaining affordability and ease of use.
"Joining forces with LSK presents a game-changing opportunity to strengthen our foundation in point-of-need testing and vastly change the future of how we discover and test for diseases," Ryan Denomme, CEO and cofounder of Nicoya, said in a statement.