From NTNU’s COVID-19 Test to Lybe Scientific: The Journey

In the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (Spring 2020), the global surge in demand for diagnostic testing led to critical shortages of reagents within healthcare systems. St. Olav’s University Hospital in Trondheim, Norway, faced imminent depletion of essential testing materials and initiated a collaboration with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) on March 21. Professor Magnar Bjørås at the Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine and his research group quickly decided to try. They had the required knowledge they needed, but to succeed they also needed magnetic particles that can capture RNA, the virus's genetic material.

Associate Professor Sulalit Bandyopadhyay and colleagues at the Department of Chemical Engineering have been researching magnetic nanoparticles for years. Bjørås' network knew about this work and made contact. Eight days later, the two research communities had jointly developed a corona test technology that worked at least as well as the commercial tests.

This talk will reveal the journey of inventing a diagnostic test method for COVID-19 based on magnetic nano beads, its impact and further translation to spin-off Lybe Scientific A/S, which currently develops and commercializes test technologies that can be used in the diagnostics of various types of viruses – not only in humans, but also in fish farming.

Short Bio:

Sulalit Bandyopadhyay is an Associate Professor within Particle Engineering and Hydrometallurgy at the Department of Chemical Engineering, NTNU. He graduated with a B.E (Hons) in Chemical Engineering from Jadavpur University, India and was thereafter awarded the Erasmus Mundus Fellowship to do his MSc in Chemical Engineering at NTNU, Norway and ETH Zurich, Switzerland. His PhD from NTNU focused on Smart and Multifunctional Core-Shell Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery.

During 2018 - 2021, he worked as a Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Chemical Engineering, NTNU and Department of Water Management, TU Delft. He also worked as a Polymer Scientist in Jotun Antifouling for a short stint. Before joining Jotun in 2017, he was working as a Post Doctoral Researcher at TU Delft and UNESCO-IHE. He is currently the Centre Manager for the Particle Engineering Research Centre at NTNU.

Recipient of NTNU's Outstanding Academic Fellowship, Research Council of Norway’s Innovation Award 2021, NTNU Employee Award Innovation and Collaboration with Working Life 2021, JBNSTS 2006, DAAD 2009, he leads a research team comprising ~35 members and his research interests include synthesis, characterization and functionalization of nanoparticles with applications in nanomedicine, hydrological tracing, water management and recycling of Lithium-ion batteries. He played a pioneering role in the development of NTNU’s COVID 19 Test kit with his contributions on the magnetic bead technology in early 2020, and the subsequent large-scale production which led to the establishment of Lybe Scientific. Sulalit is co-founder and CTO of Lybe Scientific.

More information: https://www.ntnu.edu/employees/sulalit.bandyopadhyay

Email: sulalit.bandyopadhyay@ntnu.no