Market Assessment of Re-PAIR: A CRISPR-based technology for secure molecular tracking and supply chain control

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The need for a secure, tamper resistant means of supply chain tracking is increasingly urgent in commerce. With global fraud at an all-time high, increasing complexity in regulated markets and challenges in the chain-of-custody with high-risk products, the timing for a tractable and point-of-use molecular barcode is ideal. Molecular barcoding is the use of molecular technologies to label, using synthetic nucleic acid sequences, commodities for the purpose of identifying the product and related information such as manufacturing origin. The concept is analogous to optical barcoding systems, such UPC or QR codes, but with the advantage that the "barcode" is difficult to counterfeit and can be embedded throughout the product, making tampering difficult and the chain of custody more secure. In this proposal, we present a new CRISPR based technology that allows molecular barcodes to be read from products at the point-of-need, enabling simple product authentication and tracking by end-users, importers, government agencies and beyond. Our workflow has been used to successfully design and perform RNA and DNA barcode sensing (diagnostic-like) at attomolar concentrations, showing its ability to detect any type of nucleic acid in complex samples. We will use the unique opportunity presented by the I2I Market Assessment grant to reach out to the potential customers in order to identify ideal target markets and pain points that will inform our market entry strategy for the commercialization and allow us to define the value proposition for our innovative technology.