Quansys Biosciences sample tray
LOGAN – Quansys Bioscience, a Logan company, has entered the fight against the coronavirus to detect COVID-19 antibodies.
Quansys has been testing a variety of diseases in developing countries around the world for 15 years. They have been nimble enough, in less than two months, to perfect this test and get it to the market.
Chris Lyman is vice president of research and development at Quansys. He said tests for those in northern Utah will be available next week.
”We are on track to have that up and going early to mid-next week, where we receive samples just from the community,” Lyman explained, “and be able to inform people as to whether or not…they have had the disease and if they have antibodies to the virus that causes COVID-19.”
He said the test will let individuals know if they have had the virus in the past.
“We want to know if the antibodies that you get as a response to an infection of COVID-19 are protective. And tests like this are going to be key to answering that question and being able to provide definitive information to the public that, yes, if you have antibodies you are protected from this disease.”
Lyman said most companies involved in this research are using the same methodology that is used in pregnancy tests, know as lateral flow tests. He said a lot of the false positives being reported in scientific literature are from these tests.
Quansys was founded in 2004, a for-profit spinoff from the Spendlove Medical Research Institute, founded by Dr. Rex Spendlove.
Those interested in taking the test can obtain a sample collection kit at vidacheck.com.