Base Pair Biotechnologies is delighted to announce that the company has been selected as a semi-finalist in the XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing competition. 219 teams were selected to advance from among approximately 700 total entries. Base Pair will use its proprietary aptamers in a novel electrochemical sensor for rapid testing of saliva samples. As part of the competition, Base Pair will take delivery of inactivated viral antigen samples and apply its test in a blinded fashion. XPRIZE teams that perform the best on this blinded proficiency test will be selected to advance to the next phase of the competition with a chance to win one of five $1M prizes.
Launched on July 28, 2020, XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing is a $5 million, 6-month competition that aims to increase Covid-19 testing capabilities 100-times past our current standard, the level of increase needed to more safely return to everyday activities. 219 teams moved on to the semi-finals after being assigned a “pass” by XPRIZE judges. Semi-finalist teams will be sent a blinded Proficiency Test Kit and be required to accurately identify which samples contain Covid-19. Teams will have one week to submit their results to the XPRIZE Data Collaborative, where their results will be scored on specificity, sensitivity, and limits of detection. Finalists will be announced October 23, 2020, and from there they will have two weeks to send their testing kits and protocols to two separate laboratories for clinical validation. To ensure a fair competition with comparable results, samples within each lab will be split and tested across multiple tests
XPRIZE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is the global leader in designing and implementing innovative competition models to solve the world’s grandest challenges. Active competitions include the $20 Million NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, the $10 Million Rainforest XPRIZE, the $10 Million ANA Avatar XPRIZE, the $5 Million IBM Watson AI XPRIZE, $5 Million XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling, XPRIZE NextGen Mask Challenge and $5 Million XPRIZE Rapid COVID Testing. For more information, visit xprize.org.