Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was tremendous interest in developing test strips to detect biomarkers. The pandemic has heightened that interest. Meanwhile, researchers have been working on uses for graphene, and are finding new opportunities for the technology.

Grapheal, a France-based associated member of the Graphene Flagship, has merged these two fields with its TestNPass technology. Grapheal’s TestNPass technology features a stand-alone test strip to detect biomarkers that is connected to a smartphone. After the test, the test strip delivers a time-stamped, encrypted RFID tag. Graphene provides outstanding sensitivity within the test digital biosensor. 

The initial model of the TestNPass technology targeted antigens created by the COVID-19 virus infection in body fluids, and the technology provides a secure, biometric health pass in less than 5 minutes, the company reports.

Since the device is simultaneously coupled with a free smartphone app through NFC, the test results become immediately available on your digital device, quicker than traditional COVID passports. To protect the users’ privacy, TestNPass uses secure biometric identifiers and encrypted RFID technology.

TestNPass caught the eye of the judges at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), earning the technology the “Best in Innovation” Award. Grapheal’s TestNPass was one of only 15 awardees in different categories, from a pool of more than 1,800 candidates worldwide, a record number of applications for this prestigious technological prize.

Vincent Bochiat, CEO and co-founder of Grapheal, noted that Grapheal was the only start-up to receive a Best in Innovation award at CES 2022 in the healthcare/wellness category.

“This is a great honor for the company that will hopefully attract interest from future partners,” added Bochiat. “The short-term objective is to receive funding at a sufficiently high level to complete the pilot line for this product.” To that end, the company attracted almost €2 million in private investments in 2021.

Grapheal’s Plans

A Medtech spinoff of CNRS-Grenoble, France, Grapheal is a startup incorporated in 2019, focused on graphene applications in healthcare.

“It is a spin-off of my former university laboratory (Neel Institute CNRS Grenoble) where I was senior scientist and group leader in nanotechnology before leaving to start this company,” Bochiat said. “We decided to bring to market new materials (graphene/polymer films) that we showed were both biocompatible and very sensitive to electric charge.  We identified them as having great potential for sensors and medical sciences.”

The development of TestNPass was an ideal opportunity to use graphene for medical sensors.

“TestNpass is an ultrafast antigen test based on the combination of graphene sensors with radio frequency identification (RFID),” said Bochiat. “The smartphone connects to the sensors and powers them using a near field communication (NFC) port. With this technology, there is no need for batteries or any external reader. The result is either stored in the smartphone, sent to a website or portal, or alternatively if confidentiality is required, the data can simply be encrypted onto the RFID tag, which can then be separated from the device.”

Graphene plays a critical role in TestNPass.

“Graphene is key to creating highly sensitive and rapid sensors at an ultra-low cost (<1€) for use in testing applications,” said Bouchiat. “We exploit graphene’s uniquely high sensitivity to detect biomolecules at a low level, without need for amplification.”

Bouchiat said that attendees at CES were very interested in the potential of TestNPass, which should reach the market this year.

“We were very well received overall at CES 2022, and even though the overall attendance at CES was reduced due to COVID, our booth was overwhelmed by visitors,” Bouchiat noted. “If everything goes as planned, we anticipate the commercialization in second semester of 2022.”