CWA Innovator Spotlight: Rapid Detection

[00:00:00] Natalie Von Scyoc: Thank you everyone for joining. Welcome to CWA's June edition of The Innovator Spotlight. Today's topic is rapid detection and we'll be talking to two companies, Diamidex and Universal Biosensors, who are currently innovating within this space. We do have polling that will be launched during this webinar, so please participate.

[00:00:35] Natalie Von Scyoc: And we also have a Q&A function at the bottom of your Zoom. so feel free to send us questions throughout the presentation and we can get to them at the end.

[00:00:51] Natalie Von Scyoc: I would like to say a brief thank you to our sponsors of this webinar series, Badger Meter. They have a family of technologies enabling faster insights in the industry, Badger Meter is an industry leader, including their innovative Blue Edge solution for real-time monitoring and system optimization.

[00:01:12] Natalie Von Scyoc: So thank you Badger Meter for being a CWA supporter.

[00:01:19] Natalie Von Scyoc: And thank you everyone for joining. Again, my name is Natalie Van Scyoc, for those of you that don't know me. I'm the Innovation Associate with the Cleveland Water Alliance, and I talk to companies all over the world every day with our innovation team, assessing their viability for potential piloting opportunities, and CWA manages these collaborations in the region and beyond.

[00:01:43] Natalie Von Scyoc: One of the ways we're able to do this is through our Smart Lake Erie Watershed and testbed.

[00:01:52] Natalie Von Scyoc: So with our testbed, we're able to have faster insights in what's going on in the water, and CWA has deployed over 7,700 square miles of telecommunications coverage across the Lake Erie Watershed and over portions of the Ohio River.

[00:02:17] Natalie Von Scyoc: Enabling the deployment of over 200 water quality sensors capturing over a million data points annually. This equips CWA to assist with the ability to trial and demonstrate the various technologies across the IoT lifecycle we see from around the globe and in our world class testbed.

[00:02:40] Natalie Von Scyoc: As part of our work in IoT sensing and monitoring, which facilitates faster insights, there has been increased interest and opportunity in innovative technologies that enable rapid detection. This family of technologies includes portable systems for infield sampling and analysis, as well as benchtop devices for faster insights in a lab setting.

[00:03:01] Natalie Von Scyoc: And with that, allow me to introduce you to today's innovators. We have Sam Dukan, who's the CEO and founder of Diamidex. He's a research director at CNRS, joined ENSULM in 1991, and he has a degree in Hydrobiology and a Master's in Chemistry, as well as a PhD in Microbiology. He's collaborated with companies like SUEZ Environment and BASF, published over 44 papers and holds 14 patents.

[00:03:35] Natalie Von Scyoc: He also served on committees for NANESES and CNRS, and we also have Alex Certoma joining us from Universal Biosensors through his role as Associated Director. He supports the r and d team in bringing new, innovative products to market through market identification and initial partnering and distribution agreements.

[00:04:01] Natalie Von Scyoc: Since 2020, Alex has been involved in nine product launches across the human health, wine and veterinary industries. Prior to joining Universal Biosensors, Alex worked in financial services. Alex has his master's in Applied finance. And a Bachelor's of Finance and Materials engineering. and with that, I'd like to pass it off to Sam to tell us a little bit more about Diamidex.

[00:04:30] Sam Dukan: Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Natalie. So it's a pleasure for me to be here today, so I will make it as short as possible. And please feel free at the end of the meeting, I mean, to ask all your questions. So at Diamidex, what we are doing is to make the invisible visible faster. To make the world safer. And the idea for us is to be able to detect earlier microbes, you know, and please change the slide.

[00:04:56] Sam Dukan: And the idea is to make the possibility for everybody to perform microsurgical analysis and to be able to deliver the same type of result with the standard method. So it's why we are a culture-based method and we reduce the number of steps for each of these methods, and we make an. Automatic enumeration of the microbe of interest based on the technology that I will explain later.

[00:05:25] Sam Dukan: The idea at the end of the day, is to be able to install the solution in the field or in a laboratory to deliver equivalent results of the gold standard at the end. So please change the slide. So today, if we check on the way to enumerate microbes, we have more than 75% of microbiological tests that are performed using culture based methods, which are.

[00:05:57] Sam Dukan: Very slow and gives a very accurate result. So the issue is when you want to make a better quality control risk evaluation, and if you need to wait several weeks to obtain results, it's not possible, you know, to correctly control the center risk. So, by consequence, you have a lot of alternative methods, more than 30 years.

[00:06:23] Sam Dukan: But even if this method are rapid. They are not usually reliable to the gold standard, to the petri dish, you know, and to the Pasteur, I mean, method since the 19th century. So there is still a need to identify a solution that will be able to deliver accurate results, but earlier in order to save money for the company and save lives, please change the slide.

[00:06:50] Sam Dukan: So to make it very short to understand the issue, you know, for microbiology in water, you know, enumeration, you start with your sample and you need to filter your sample on a membrane. You put your membrane on a plate, and you have at the beginning microbes that are not visible by eye. You wait for this microbe to divide, which will take a lot of time.

[00:07:12] Sam Dukan: One day for the fastest and several weeks for the latest one in order to form a colony. When you have this colony, it's just the beginning of the story because you need to identify the colony of interest, which needs skilled people and more, I mean technical time. I mean technical steps, and this is what is done since the 19th century. at Diamidex what we are doing is we enumerate.

[00:07:40] Sam Dukan: We detect, identify and enumerate the microbe of interest at the stage of microcolony, and we do it automatically. So which means that we reduce the time to obtain the result and we reduce the labor time associated. Please change the slide. So what? What does it mean? It means that we are manipulating deep science, but at the end, what we want is to make tests that will be simple for everybody and at an affordable price.

[00:08:10] Sam Dukan: So we are located in France and we are a team of 34 people that work on this topic since 2014. Please change the slide. So what we have designed is a mica, which is a micro colony automatic counter. So it can be equipment that is based on optics and mechatronics, some specific probe that allows to level specifically the microbe of interest and a machine learning system, but allow to make the difference between the right microorganism and the wrong one.

[00:08:43] Sam Dukan: The one that you are not interested to detect. And this technology is protected by six family patents and it makes our technology the most powerful solution to enumerate microbes in a colony forming unique level. And earlier, please change the slide. So today we have two equipment, one that is based on fluorescence and we are able to detect and enumerate Legionella pneumophila in 10 days in, sorry, in two days instead of 10 days.

[00:09:17] Sam Dukan: So we divide by five the time. in for water. We are able to detect and enumerate Pseudomonas aeruginosa in one day instead of two to seven days, and we just release a new solution for where we enumerate Escherichia coli in six hours instead of one day, one equipment can perform up to 500 tests per day, which is a lot. And usually, like I say, four times the labor time.

[00:09:49] Sam Dukan: We have another equipment called MICA highlight that is based on light. And this solution allowed us to enumerate the total viable count and divide by two the time to result. Next slide. So just to make it very simple for Legionella pneumophila, which is our best seller, it was our first product, but has been released in 2024.

[00:10:15] Sam Dukan: So we use some specific probe that labels, specifically Legionella pneumophila. We take more than 100 images of the membrane after two days of incubation and based on machine learning we are able to make the difference between Legionella pneumophila microcolony and also the microbes. Please change the slide. So just to give you an idea, here on the left you have a membrane.

[00:10:40] Sam Dukan: After two days of incubation, you see almost nothing except one big colony. And based on our solution, we are able to see what is detected by MICA. In the image in the center, you see a lot of spots. That is fluorescent. And with machine learning, we detect the micro colony of Legionella pneumophila on the right and we are able to count 166, say a few per liter of Legionella pneumophila.

[00:11:09] Sam Dukan: Next slide please. So today we have a very, I mean we have accelerated ourselves so. We have today, 14 customers today. We have 25 in trial phase, and since last week when I sent a document, you know, we just sold one new solution in Switzerland and we are on the way to solve another solution in South Africa. Our distributor network grows very fast.

[00:11:39] Sam Dukan: You know, we were, we got eight distributors in 2024, and today we have 17 distributors that cover around 25 countries. Next slide. So we believe that we will be the future gold standard of microbiological testing, and with our solution, you are able to react earlier in case of microbiological contamination. Feel free to contact me if you need more information. Thank you.

[00:12:10] Natalie Von Scyoc: Thank you so much, Sam. That was a wonderful overview of Diamidex and your MICA solution. I wanna remind everybody again that there is a Q&A function in Zoom and please use it if you have any questions that we will get to towards the end. and with that I will pass it over to Alex to talk more about Universal Biosensors.

[00:12:36] Alex Certoma: Thank you very much Natalie, and thank you everyone for joining. I am really excited to present Universal Biosensors and our solution AquaScout today. So next slide please. So, Universal Biosensors is a company we're based in, Melbourne, Australia. We've, we've been around for, for 25, years now. We're a global biosensor company who have a long history, 20 years plus in manufacturing consumable electrochemical test strips for use across a variety of industries.

[00:13:10] Alex Certoma: we're a world leader in electrochemical cell technology. This technology has been used to deliver more than 15 billion tests to patients and customers worldwide already. We have a, a suite of 11 portable, electric chemical sensing products currently across the human health, wine and veterinary industry.

[00:13:31] Alex Certoma:And we are in the process of, of, developing and, and finally launching a portable heavy metal sensor, called AquaScout. next slide please. So, AquaScout is a handheld water testing product which enables you to detect and monitor heavy metals in water samples in the field. We're specifically starting with lead and copper and then hoping to extend the platform into a number of other heavy metals into the future.

[00:14:04] Alex Certoma: Like most of our tests, what AquaScout addresses, is some key issues that are associated with the, you know, current major method of testing, which is laboratory testing and. Is challenging the ability to provide results in a more time effective manner and also at a lower cost. So the AquaScout platform combines three parts.

[00:14:26] Alex Certoma: You have the handheld, portable analyzer on the left, which allows you to take the measurements. You have a consumable, electrochemical test strip in the middle, and then you have a, again, consumable, lyophilized or dried down buffer, which you add the sample to, and then you insert the test strip and allows you to take a measurement.

[00:14:49] Alex Certoma: There's a number of potential market opportunities that we have with the AquaScout product. but our initial target market is specifically drinking water utilities and helping them in their lead pipe inventory and replacement. But other opportunities as we add additional metals to the platform can be in, you know, mining, industrial waste, potentially water compliance as we move towards things like EPA approval, but then also potential to allow consumers and other interested parties to test their water as well.

[00:15:22] Alex Certoma: next slide please. So, in terms of the initial target market, as I said, what we're most interested in at the moment is helping utilities with their lead pipe inventory and replacement. So, as I'm sure you're all aware, in the US, utilities have until, you know, 2033 to remove all lead service lines and galvanized pipes in the network.

[00:15:47] Alex Certoma: There's a variety of current techniques that are used, which include anything from visual inspection, full excavation, or water analysis using laboratory based methods. All of these have their positives and drawbacks. A lot of them are very time consuming, costly, or require trained professionals to perform them.

[00:16:08] Alex Certoma: This is a really massive undertaking, as is an estimated over 9.2 million lead service lines, which are still in the US and they're quite heavily weighted towards the northeast, southeastern, and Midwest of the country. What's even more interesting is that, on average, water utilities in the US have over 30% of their service line network, which is currently made of an unknown material.

[00:16:35] Alex Certoma: And there's no easy cost-effective way to be able to identify a lot of these materials. And that's really what we're trying to help with. You know, with AquaScout, we hope we can offer a potential solution to this problem, but also have potential to be used in conjunction with some of the other methods as well to increase the opportunity and

[00:16:57] Alex Certoma: Basically increase the chance that you make the right identification of the material. One of the other things which we've found out over the last couple weeks and a potential opportunity for using this by utilities is in dealing with, you know, customer questions. So we talked with the utility, a couple weeks ago, who following publishing their inventory.

[00:17:20] Alex Certoma: Had hundreds of customers calling them, asking about their pipe, which was made of an unknown material. This caused them to have about four weeks backlog of lead testing in their lab. And we hope that using a product like AquaScout could help, you know, easily service this issue and also provide a much better customer experience.

[00:17:43] Alex Certoma: Next slide please. So how it works is, AquaScout detects the metal of interest in water by using an electrochemical sensing technique called Anodic Stripping Voltammetry. What we do is we basically apply a certain voltage, which coats the gold test strip with the metals. We then apply a reverse voltage, which trips that metal off, and then we measure this current difference.

[00:18:14] Alex Certoma: And then we can associate that with a concentration of the metal that we're trying to detect. What makes these tests specific for each metal is that each of them has a different buffer, which we can, can use to produce an electrochemical signal that's only, gathered from that medal of interest.

[00:18:36] Alex Certoma: And the sample test workflow is shown below quickly. So basically you can select which metal you're trying to detect. You can then put in a sample ID to show what you're testing, whether that's an address or a pipe number. You then select the buffer index that you're using. This just helps us identify which manufacturing lot of the tests you are using so we can make sure that you have the right calibration parameters.

[00:19:01] Alex Certoma: So no matter what you're testing with, you're going to get the same result. You then just need to add six mL of your sample to that buffer vial. The test strip then gets inserted into the handheld analyzer. The test strip vial, with the water in it then gets screwed on to that analyzer and the test gets completed within three minutes for lead and 30 seconds for copper.

[00:19:28] Alex Certoma: So we can provide quantitative measures for both. With lead, we can sense between five parts per billion and a hundred parts per billion, so sense quite low down. And with copper we can sense between 50 parts per billion and 2000 parts per billion. All those results are shown on the screen. They're also able to be sent wirelessly, via wifi, or a wired connection as well to help utilities manage their data as they start to collect this and input it into other systems that they may have.

[00:20:00] Alex Certoma: next slide. So some of the overall benefits that we have compared to traditional lab testing, obviously include the near immediate results. You know, you're talking about max five minutes compared to, you know, days, sometimes weeks, if you're sending a sample offsite. The ability to test in the field, particularly for something like customer complaints or customer questions can be very helpful.

[00:20:28] Alex Certoma: A really easy to use workflow where anyone can do a test. You don't need to be trained professionally or as a chemist to do this. The results can be transferred wirelessly and obviously we can be much lower cost. So the handheld analyzer we're looking at, selling at retail price for around $2,000.

[00:20:47] Alex Certoma: And then the test per test, which is one test strip and one buffer vial is gonna be around $10. Another really important factor is giving utilities the opportunity to control their own testing if they don't have their own lab, which allows them to do more testing if they need it, or more targeted testing.

[00:21:05] Alex Certoma: instead of sending it offsite. And then we're, we're striving to be obviously comparable in accuracy to that lab method. So we've gone through some initial field trials where we show really good correlation to ICPMS measurements, and we're just going through a few more in the field to really increase that performance and narrow down to, to be something comparable to what's currently done.

[00:21:31] Alex Certoma: Next slide, please. Where we currently are is all the base development of AquaScout has been complete. We're currently going through a number of, sort of pilot trials in both the US and the UK, to really understand the performance and usability of the product. We currently have two sites up and running, with the hope that we can get another sort of three to four, particularly across the US, involved in this.

[00:22:01] Alex Certoma: Following that sort of in that September to November period, we'll be implementing any required changes that we identified through these studies, mostly of the testing algorithm and any software improvements. And then in the background, what we're doing is setting up a full sales marketing structure to support the product launch with the product initially targeted to launch December this year, January, 2026.

[00:22:25] Alex Certoma: So. Really, the two big things for us at the moment is trying to get as many utilities as we can using this, over the next sort of three to four months to get as much feedback as we can before we finalize the development. Obviously this can continue as we move forward through to commercialization. As you know, we understand that piloting and trialing these solutions is very important in this area.

[00:22:48] Alex Certoma: And then we're also in the process of talking with potential distributors. Commercial partners to provide an avenue for us to get this into the hands of utilities in the US going forward. next slide please. So, yeah, in summary, you know, we're coming to the, to the very end of this development.

[00:23:08] Alex Certoma: We've been doing it for 18 months so far, and we've got another six months to go. So, really excited by the potential of this solution and happy to answer any, any questions, as well as, Sam, obviously after, in the next sort of 20 or so minutes. Thank you.

[00:23:27] Natalie Von Scyoc: Thank you so much, Alex. That was wonderful.

[00:23:30] Natalie Von Scyoc: Please use the Q&A function if you have any questions for either of these innovators, because we will be pivoting to the Q&A panel discussion now. So I'd like to stay on Alex for a second. How do you educate your buyers and end users about what becomes possible in their work as a result of using your technology?

[00:23:55] Alex Certoma: Yeah, I think. A lot of it is to do with the marketing efforts and outreach that we're starting now. trying to demonstrate, you know, the costs and the impacts of how it's currently done with an external, you know, external lab and really demonstrate the benefits of being able to take this in the field, being able to respond to questions or queries quicker, and really helping them understand

[00:24:23] Alex Certoma: You know, I guess the legislation government push around, the whole lead pipe removal as well, and what they're gonna have to meet because not everyone understands, you know, I guess the massive undertaking or how massive the undertaking is going to be and, and that there are solutions out there that are gonna make it hopefully, a little bit easier.

[00:24:43] Natalie Von Scyoc: Right. Definitely. and Sam, I'm gonna ask you the same question. How do you educate your buyers and end users about what becomes possible in their work as a result of using your MICA solution?

[00:24:57] Sam Dukan: Well, it's not a simple question because I mean, we are focused on laboratory, so we are not in relation with end user, you know, so what, what, what I can say it's that our buyer are interested by our solution because they increase the productivity, you know, they are able to perform much more analysis, you know, with the same period of time and with the same number of

[00:25:24] Sam Dukan: Technicians, and same number of equipment. And in the meantime they are very happy because they can deliver premium results to the customer. You know? So this is something very important for them.

[00:25:38] Natalie Von Scyoc: Yeah, totally. Thank you so much. And we had a question in the Q&A for you as well. Is the MICA equipment primarily for use in the laboratory, or can it be adapted for continuous water monitoring?

[00:25:52] Sam Dukan: No, it can't be used for continuous monitoring, but it could be installed in the field. We have a customer that has a cooling tower, you know, and that has installed in the facilities or solution and in between all the regulatory analysis. They perform MICA analysis for Legionella especially, and they're able to adjust and adapt, you know, the control and the bio seed and all the molecules that they add in, in the pipe, you know, so it's a way for them to adjust, you know, the treatment, which is very important.

[00:26:37] Natalie Von Scyoc: Wonderful. Thank you so much. And that is, absolutely crucial. Alex, we have a question in the Q&A for you. What makes your approach superior to other wet chemical approaches for lead detection?

[00:26:54] Alex Certoma: I think, I guess it's a combination of the usability and also the accuracy compared to lab-based methods.

[00:27:06] Alex Certoma: So I think a lot of the other rapid methods might not necessarily get down to the limits of detection that we can in the field, in a portable product, but also then closely aligned with what you get in, in the lab. So that's something that we've been really focusing on. And one of the other reasons why doing these initial studies are really important to us is to make sure that we are really, really accurate down in that five to 15 parts per billion range.

[00:27:34] Alex Certoma: Because that's where most people are gonna see their readings if they're not less than five, which hopefully they are. and so I think that's sort of the main selling points for us is ease of use. But also being as accurate as what you can currently do in a lab.

[00:27:53] Natalie Von Scyoc: Right. That's wonderful. Thanks for that insight.

[00:27:57] Natalie Von Scyoc: And I know earlier you touched on how the EPA guidance has been focusing on lead service lines and all of that. Could you speak to how UBI's technology applies to the efforts and how these regulations are? Shifting how you are marketing.

[00:28:19] Alex Certoma: Yep, absolutely. Yeah. So I think, there's sort of two main uses that we see for the product.

[00:28:26] Alex Certoma: There's one as a screening and complimentary to what's currently done. Which means that you're not providing an EPA approved result for something like compliance testing, but you are finding a much easier way of being able to identify where problem areas are. Or if again, customers are calling in asking you to test, that you can go out quickly, in the field with any operator and do a quick test.

[00:28:55] Alex Certoma: The other area that we're also investigating is there is an EPA approved method, which this product would lie under in a laboratory, so potentially also working with labs. To provide them with a more cost effective solution, than running, you know, large ICPMS, to provide an EPA approved or compliant result, as well.

[00:29:22] Natalie Von Scyoc: Wonderful. Thank you so much. Shifting back to Sam. Not everyone may be familiar with Legionella, so could you speak to the importance of receiving quicker results and how it impacts the community regarding the dangers of Legionella exposure?

[00:29:42] Sam Dukan: Wow. Okay. So I mean, indeed maybe not everybody is familiar with Legionella and what is important to have in mind

[00:29:51] Sam Dukan: It's. Probably in the US 20,000 people that are infected every year, you know, by Legionella. Legionella is growing on hot water, you know, and you generate droplets of water coming from cooling towers or just from your shower. You breathe, you breathe this, this droplet, and it goes into your lungs and you become sick, you know?

[00:30:21] Sam Dukan: And around 10% of the people that are infected, you know, die due to Legionella disease, which is Legionnaire disease because it came from Philadelphia in 1976 and today to perform Legionella analysis, it takes around 14 days to obtain the results. So it's late, you know, if you have a high concentration of Legionella you know it.

[00:30:50] Sam Dukan: 14 days after. So during these 14 days, you will contaminate people, which is an issue. So if you are able to obtain a result only after two days, you know, after collecting the sample, you will be able to adjust and to adapt and to react really faster in case of contamination. So it's why it's something very important.

[00:31:18] Sam Dukan: I hope that I have answered the question.

[00:31:20] Natalie Von Scyoc: Yes, yes. Thank you so much. That was wonderful. I know we talked to Alex a little bit about some of the regulatory shifts that are impacting his work. Are you interfacing with regulatory authorities about the capabilities of rapid detection and how it may change sampling methodologies?

[00:31:43] Sam Dukan: It, it's, it's a very hot topic, you know, because compared to chemical, you know, analysis, microbiological analysis. It's a nightmare, you know, to change the regulation, to change the rule, you know, it'll take years and years and years. So we, we need just to prove, you know, that our solution is working very well.

[00:32:04] Sam Dukan: And when we are in microbiology, it's not simple to do it. So we are very happy because we already have several laboratories all around the world that have been certified. You know, by, for our solution, which means ISO 17025, which is something that is important for people that are aware about microbiological evaluation, but it's not something that will change the game because they will not be allowed, you know, to use our solution in replacement of the standard method.

[00:32:37] Sam Dukan: So the guideline will stick on the standard method that is coming from the 1997, if I remember correctly, for Legionella pneumophila, and there are no change since that time. So what we are doing is we try to educate the Ministry of Health. We try to educate the end user. We try to educate the laboratory to show them and to demonstrate to them that we have a solution that is.

[00:33:06] Sam Dukan: Better or equivalent to the standard method in terms of reliability, but in the meantime we'll be able to reduce the time to obtain the result. And this will take a lot of time and we expect that maybe in 10 years we'll be compliant, you know, will be equivalent to the standard method. So today the people that are using our solution are using it for their own purpose.

[00:33:33] Sam Dukan: You know, it cannot replace the standard method.

[00:33:37] Natalie Von Scyoc: Wonderful. Thank you so much for that insight. That's really helpful. So shifting to Universal Biosensors, I know you've been successful launching this product, but I know the journey to get to where you are was not easy. Could you touch on challenges that you've faced during the process of commercialization?

[00:33:59] Alex Certoma: Yeah, absolutely. I think one of the main problems that we have found with sort of through the process of launching this product has been our inexperience in the water industry. We obviously, you know, are very experienced in producing, you know, rapid handheld products in a variety of industries, but have traditionally come from human health.

[00:34:22] Alex Certoma: So understanding how, you know, the water industry in the US works. And then, I guess starting to make the connections to help us through the development, but also move towards the commercialization has been really, really difficult. And, and things like, working with CWA, going to some of the large industry conferences like the ACE conferences over the last couple of years.

[00:34:47] Alex Certoma: Have been really instrumental in us, starting to make those contacts and then ultimately getting to the position where we are now, where we have people in the field using it, trialing it, to hopefully finalize everything before we launch, later in the year.

[00:35:06] Natalie Von Scyoc: So we are gonna start wrapping up with one of our last questions. So if you have anything else you wanna ask, please use the Q&A function now. but Sam, you've come a long way on your journey as well. Could you speak to challenges you've faced in bringing your product to market? And are people skeptical about the abilities of devices capable of rapid detection when you tell them what you're capable of?

[00:35:33] Sam Dukan: Thank you for the question. You know, it's very interesting. So yes, it's a long, long journey and what surprised me the most, you know, is that laboratory, you know, that our main targets are not happy, you know, to change. And the question is why, you know, why laboratories are not happy to change? And from my point of view it is because they have the monopoly.

[00:36:00] Sam Dukan: You know, they have a business that is running well and they don't need to change. You know, because they have customers that send samples and they have money for that. Now our strategy is to educate the end user, is to educate, you know the company that has a cooling tower, the company, that has a potential issue with, and explain to them that we have a solution that will help them, that that will help.

[00:36:29] Sam Dukan: A lot for them, you know? And by doing so, we expect that this end user will contact the laboratory and push them to start to use our solution. And by the way, I will have tomorrow a meeting with a big company in the US that performs a huge amount of tests. And when they, I start to explain to them that, look, we can deliver the same result as.

[00:36:57] Sam Dukan: Standard method, you know, that delivers, is it in two days? In two weeks? Just in two days. They say, okay, we'll contact our contract laboratory and explain to them that the solution is reliable, you know, and we'll make a meeting with them in order to use it. So we need more and more, I mean, end user that contact the laboratory and say, look, here is a solution that we want to adopt.

[00:37:20] Sam Dukan: You know, and by doing so, we expect that the laboratory will adopt it faster. Sorry, Natalie, you are on mute.

[00:37:31] Natalie Von Scyoc: Oh, no, you're all good. Uh,

[00:37:32] Sam Dukan: sorry. Okay. I thought that you asked me something, you know? Yes. So, so, so the idea for us is here because people say, no, it's not possible. You know, you cannot do it in two days.

[00:37:44] Sam Dukan: So, but when we ship them the equipment and we say test it, they say, wow. We cannot see something in the membrane and we detect it, or the membrane is crowded with microbes and it's not possible with our method, you know, to do it. And with your method, you obtain the result. So they are convinced, but it takes a lot of effort, you know.

[00:38:08] Natalie Von Scyoc: Yeah. Thank you so much for providing your input and how you're navigating this market. Are there any takeaways about rapid detection you'd like to leave the audience with today?

[00:38:22] Sam Dukan: I

[00:38:22]Alex Certoma: I think that, I think maybe, yeah, please go ahead, Sam.

[00:38:26] Sam Dukan: So I, I think it's the future, you know, a rapid method is essential because it.

[00:38:32] Sam Dukan: Provide, you know, faster results. It could be in chemical, it could be in microbiological, and you could adapt, you know, your treatment. You could adapt and react earlier, you know, and this will be essentially for, for my point of view, you know?

[00:38:49] Alex Certoma: Yeah. I think probably. Adding on top of Sam there and about the, you know, struggles with the regulatory push.

[00:38:56] Alex Certoma: You know, it really is gonna take a massive undertaking from obviously innovators and companies, but also, as Sam said, end users to push the need for this across a number of different areas, to increase usage and then ultimately, get regulators to understand how these tests work and that they.

[00:39:16] Alex Certoma: Can perform as well, if not better than what's currently done as a lot of the methods that are currently standard have been around for tens of decades, or decades and decades of, of time. So I think that's probably the key to this whole area is getting people comfortable with doing things differently, understanding if there are differences, why there are differences, and that, you know, the results that they produce are, are just as good.

[00:39:44] Alex Certoma: In terms of accuracy or reliability, and then have a number of other benefits, which help everyone in the end. Exactly.

[00:39:52] Natalie Von Scyoc: Yeah. Awesome. Thank you both so much for joining us today. I really appreciate you being here. Speaking to Universal Biosensors and Diamidex. I also wanna extend our thanks to our sponsor again, Badger Meter for sponsoring this Innovator Spotlight series.

[00:40:12] Natalie Von Scyoc: Finally, thank you to our network and supporters and everyone who participated in the Q&A. We really appreciate you being here and showing up to learn more about the innovations we see, and we hope to see you in July for our AI and machine learning session. And have a great day, everybody. Have a great day everybody.

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