Optical Spectroscopy

Optical Spectroscopy

Principal Investigator

Frédéric Leblond
Polytechnique Montréal and CHUM

Collaborators

  • Ludvik Martinu and Jolanta-Ewa Sapieha (Polytechnique Montréal)
  • Mathieu Dehaes (Université de Montréal and CHU Sainte-Justine)
  • Dominique Trudel (Université de Montréal and CHUM)

Getting your COVID-19 test results in seconds with almost 100% precision and accuracy, that is the goal of the C19-Raman project. The team of experts in medical optical instrument design, machine learning, surface and nanomaterials engineering, pathology, and infectious diseases is developing a biofluid characterization platform using Raman spectroscopy (based on the interaction of light with matter) for the development of rapid, simple, reliable, reagent-free, and inexpensive tests performed on site from saliva or blood.

“The work initiated in this project has provided preliminary data, which will ensure the success of our grant proposal accepted by the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Technology transfer has been initiated through a licensing option to an industrial partner, and a growing patent portfolio. The team’s preliminary results are encouraging, already being able to determine if an individual is infected with SARS-CoV-2 in saliva (75 volunteers) and blood (45 volunteers).”

Pr. Frédéric Leblond

In the winter of 2020, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in many challenges that frontline staff and the healthcare system had to face. The TransMedTech Institute launched a “Call for Solutions” on March 16, 2020, to support the most relevant applications and solutions that are feasible in the short term (less than 6 months), while providing coaching and funding for their implementation.

The TransMedTech Institute has accompanied some 20 initiatives, acting as an “intermediary”. From the moment the needs were expressed, TransMedTech was very active in supporting the interdisciplinary teams in the realization of innovative solutions with the various stakeholders. The projects ranged from solutions for the protection of health care workers to the development of medical technologies for the prevention, diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of diseases, as well as the analysis of data related to population conditions.