NGen invests additional $3.5M in COVID-19 filtration, testing solutions

Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen) is funding an additional $3.5 million for projects developed to help in the fight against COVID-19.

The industry-led organization leading Canada’s Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster launched its COVID-19 Response program in March and has since funded 20 projects valued at over $54 million.

The projects involved in NGen’s latest round of Supercluster funding are led by:

DMF Medical Inc., based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, is working towards a regulatory and manufacturing fast track of memsorb™, a medical-membrane based CO₂ filtration technology to enable the repurposing of anesthesia machines to act as closed-loop ICU ventilators to address critical shortages.

The use of medical membranes eliminates the mandatory replacement and monitoring of chemical absorption components and allows for continuous use while eliminating performance issues related to chemical absorbers.

LuminUltra Technologies Ltd., based in Fredericton, New Brunswick, has developed both diagnostic and environmental testing solutions for the fight against COVID-19.

LuminUltra is already providing the reagents needed for 500,000 tests/week for the Canadian testing program.

The company also recently introduced environmental monitoring solutions that test for the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on surfaces, air and in wastewater to facilitate non-invasive surveillance testing of populations.

Supercluster funding will support advanced manufacturing scale-up with a new facility that further grows capacity to meet national and international demand.

“Our latest round of funding exemplifies the ingenuity and advanced capabilities that have been leveraged to deploy innovative solutions from coast to coast,” says Jayson Myers, chief executive officer of NGen.