Roswell Biotechnologies, a leading name in molecular electronics, develops solutions for DNA sequencing and biosensing. Together with the hub for nanoelectronics and digital technologies imec (Interuniversity Microelectronics Center), the Californian company has announced a collaboration to commercialise new molecular biosensor chips. These chips are the brains behind Roswell Technologies' powerful new DNA sequencing platform, useful in precision medicine, molecular diagnostics and infectious disease testing. "The need for a new generation of rapid, low-cost diagnostic and monitoring tools emerged in all its urgency with the Covid-19 pandemic ," said Paul Mola, president and CEO of Roswell. "Our platform will transform the way infectious diseases are identified in this area, with powerful new capabilities that enable rapid screening of the diseases themselves, or viral strains, using handheld and portable devices."
Roswell's new molecular sensors
Roswell's platform is the first to offer the power of molecular sensing to support a wide range of biosensing and DNA sequencing applications. These include tests required for the identification of infectious diseases such as Covid-19, sequencing, nucleic acid, antigen and antibody identification. The scalability of the platform also allows its use in solutions for rapid and cost-effective genome sequencing in precision medicine, for treating cancer and other diseases, as well as for reading the large amounts of data stored in DNA. Roswell's molecular sensors are a new class of sensors specifically designed to be compatible with modern CMOS technology, enabling cheaper and faster biomedical tests that are essential in modern medical diagnostics to be performed on handheld or portable devices.
The contribution of imec
Molecular sensor chips integrate single molecules as electronic sensor elements onto standard semiconductors. "Although molecular electronics has long been seen as a scientific breakthrough, its commercial application required the technology to be embedded on a standard semiconductor chip," explains Barry Merriman, Chief Science Officer at Roswell. "One of the main obstacles in commercialising molecular electronics was the need for expensive customised solutions for large-scale production. Imec overcame this limitation by utilising state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing technology, combined with its deep expertise in biosensor technology, and thus commercialised molecular electronics using standard tools." Simone Severi, program director for life science technologies at imec, concludes: "We are excited to collaborate with Roswell on the integration of their molecular electronics sensors and to develop the fastest route to large-scale production of their sensor chips .
Imec and Roswell have successfully completed the theoretical testing phase of the project and are now focused on developing the final process. The first products are expected to be available in 2021.
Roswell and molecular electronics
Molecular electronics involves using individual molecules as components in electrical circuits. It is a form of nanotechnology, as molecules are the elements of nanoscale circuits. The first circuits with single molecules were made in research laboratories in the 1990s. Roswell takes this technology to a new level by integrating molecules directly onto circuits in standard semiconductors.