Market Assessment of PLUM: A camera-based multimode electronic reader system

用于测量和材料表征的光学仪器已经成为从制造业到食品工业到临床实验室等环境中的常见场所。光学测量的一个关键工具是平板阅读器，它提供多种模式（如吸光度、荧光）的大规模平行测量。成像系统也已成为大量类似环境中的标准设备，并在研究实验室中大量使用（例如Western blot，蛋白质/DNA凝胶）。尽管这些仪器的使用相对广泛，但它们的高成本和笨重/不可携带的设计限制了光学表征的广泛使用。正如我们在拉丁美洲诊断（寨卡）试验的实地工作中发现的那样，目前没有低成本便携式光学定量和表征的商业选择。为了满足这些需求，我们开发了一种基于摄像头的设备，我们称之为“PLUM”，它本质上是一个盒子里的实验室，作为一个低成本的车牌读取器和成像系统。我们独特的分析方法需要更少的组件操作相比，传统的吸光度模式阅读器。硬件和软件的结合为广泛的应用提供了一个独立的、自动化的和易于使用的系统，包括机载数据收集和分析、孵化、基于云的数据存储（通过Wi-Fi），并能够8-9小时的电池操作。当与感兴趣的分析相结合时，我们的平台设备可用于检测从诊断，农业到边境安全等领域的各种物质。为了研究目的，已在多伦多、厄瓜多尔、巴西和哥伦比亚成功地部署了多个PLUM副本。这是一份I2I市场评估拨款的申请，旨在接触现场和潜在客户，以确定理想的目标市场和痛点，从而为我们的技术的成功商业化提供信息和阐明价值主张和市场进入策略。

Optical instrumentation for measurement and material characterization has become common place in settings ranging from manufacturing to the food industry to clinical labs. A key tool for optical measurement is the plate reader, which provides large-scale parallel measurement in a number of modes (e.g. absorbance, fluorescence). Imaging systems have also become standard equipment in a large number of similar environments and are heavily used in research labs (e.g. Western blot, protein/DNA gels). Despite the relatively widespread use of these instruments, their high cost and bulky/non-portable design have limited broad access to optical characterization.As we discovered as part of field work for diagnostics (Zika) trials in Latin America, there are currently no commercial options for low-cost and portable optical quantification and characterization. To meet these needs, we developed a camera-based device that we call "PLUM", which is essentially a lab-in-a-box that serves as a low-cost plate reader and imaging system. Our unique analysis method requires less components to operate compared to conventional absorbance mode readers. The combined hardware and software unit provides a self-contained, automated and easy-to-use system for broad applications and includes onboard data collection and analysis, incubation, cloud-based data storage (via Wi-Fi) and is capable of 8-9 hours of battery-operation. When coupled with assays of interest, our platform device can be used to detect variety of substances in fields ranging from diagnostics, agriculture to border security. Multiple copies of PLUM have been successfully deployed in Toronto, Ecuador, Brazil and Colombia for research purposes. This is an application for an I2I Market Assessment grant to reach out to the field and potential customers in order to identify ideal target markets and pain points that will inform and articulate the value proposition and market entry strategy for the successful commercialization of our technology.