US-based Zymo Research is making a strategic investment to acquire an interest in Star Array, a privately owned, biomedical technology company based in Singapore.

The investment allows Zymo Research and Star Array to combine Zymo Research's nucleic acid purification and assay technologies with Star Array's engineering and automation expertise to expand into emerging For Research Use Only (FRUO) and diagnostic markets including Point-of-Care testing (POCT).

Star Array's focus has been on the development of an automated (cassette-based) nucleic acid purification system coupled with its superfast nucleic acid amplification technology. It manufactures and markets various genetic analyzers including its premier product, XDive, a superfast qPCR platform, with related kits and software.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, Star Array developed a test for SARS-CoV-2 detection utilizing its XDive system. The entire process from sample-to-answer takes less than 45 minutes and the system can be used in any clinical environment. Star Array is currently working through the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) process with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) programme.

Zymo Research will be partnering with Star Array to develop ready-made cassettes containing the necessary reagents for Star Array's COVID-19 test kit as well as future POCT.