NEWTON, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–LabShares Newton, a shared office and laboratory incubator for emerging biotechnology and life science companies, today announced that it has selected three startup companies developing COVID-19 diagnostics to receive free lab space. The companies, DOTS, Mantle Biotech, and NowAware, will receive three months of free access to a lab bench in LabShares fully-equipped BL2 lab space, including access to tissue culture facilities, a full set of laboratory equipment and related resources. The goal of this initiative is to support small biotech companies and academic researchers conducting critical COVID-19 research to address the coronavirus pandemic.

LabShares offers free space to 3 COVID-19 diagnostic companies.

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“We are excited to welcome Mantle Biotech, DOTS and NowAware to LabShares to help support timely and important COVID-19 research,” said Jeff Behrens, Founder and CEO of LabShares Newton. “We launched this initiative to aid researchers impacted by recent lab closures due to the coronavirus crisis. We are pleased to be able to provide free, term-limited lab space to support these early-stage companies as they work to develop essential diagnostics tests for COVID-19, one of the most urgent health issues of our time.”

The selected companies are outlined below.

• DOTS Technology Corp is a startup democratizing science by unlocking the power of point-of-care detection. With a focus on developing diagnostics for severe food allergies, DOTS is applying its novel protein detection technology to target COVID-19 viral RNA.

• Mantle Biotech is developing heat-stable, mass-manufacturable biological reagents for the detection of coronavirus proteins in patient samples, enabling the high-throughput production of rapid, low-cost, and instrument-free diagnostic assays.

• NowAware, a subsidiary of Bambu Global, is developing a rapid point-of-need detection diagnostic test that will enable both consumers and healthcare professionals to detect COVID-19 within a sample in minutes, if not seconds, using its proprietary color-changing expertise.

As an “essential business,” LabShares Newton remains open, with careful restrictions in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and ensure workplace safety. Current protocols include a no in-person meeting policy, no guests, daily surface disinfection, social distancing in the lab, and other related measures. LabShares will continue to evaluate and revise these protocols in accordance with the guidance from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

LabShares is a fully permitted, professionally maintained facility that provides turnkey access to cutting-edge lab instrumentation, equipment and services so that scientists can immediately start experiments.

About LabShares Newton

LabShares Newton is an office and laboratory incubator for emerging biotechnology and life science start-ups. The shared space provides a collaborative, affordable, and entrepreneurial research environment for early-stage companies near the Charles River and close to Cambridge and Boston. For more information or to arrange a (virtual) tour, please visit www.LabShares.com.