Ubiquitome’s Liberty16 Pro ready to carve up next COVID wave

Ubiquitome, which won through the United States’ NIH RADx shark tank COVID innovation initiative in 2020 and got FDA emergency use authorisation together with Yale’s School of Public Health, has developed an even faster COVID PCR testing tool.

It is revealing the Liberty16 Pro at the 2022 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo in Chicago today.

Dr Paul Pickering, Ubiquitome’s CEO, says the Liberty16 Pro allows workplaces of up to 500 employees to conduct COVID-testing efficiently with a single, real time PCR device. Surveillance testing at onsite locations can give better early warning, as well as potentially being more cost effective than rapid antigen tests.

“The need for diagnostics that advance clinical care and public health has never been greater with the mutation of Omicron variants picking up speed,” Dr Pickering says.

Now Ubiquitome has developed an advanced version of its mobile real time PCR device, to expand testing capacity and enable pathogen detection with a multiplex assay and even greater speed – while retaining the existing simplicity of use.

It was simplicity of use that won over the companies and organisations like Ballance Kapuni, Napier Port and a large New Zealand surgical hospital.

The Liberty16 mobile PCR system allowed them to instigate surveillance –  checking patients pre-admission, monitoring staff, splitting teams into shifts, and keeping vital supply chain services running.

After training by Ubiquitome, many companies and organisations set up dedicated rooms on site and interpret sample results with ease through Ubiquitome’s proprietary mobile phone app.

“Developments in the Liberty16 Pro potentially expand testing capacity without sacrificing the assay’s detection sensitivity, while further reducing test consumable costs and retaining the unique features which are best fit to a near-patient setting,” Dr Pickering says.

The Ubiquitome team is at the 2022 AACC to demonstrate the technology and provide relevant scientific data.

The Liberty16 and Liberty16 Pro are research use only devices, not for diagnostic purposes. The Liberty16 has FDA emergency use authorisation for use with the Yale School of Public Health SalivaDirect™ SARS-CoV-2 assay for diagnostic purposes at certain designated CLIA laboratories.