Aldatu Begins Offering COVID-19 Testing Services for Health Care Providers, Employers and Schools


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“COVID-19 presents unique diagnostic testing challenges,” said Iain MacLeod, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Aldatu. “Our PANDAA™ platform has demonstrated it can work with the new SARS-CoV-2 variants with no loss of sensitivity and specificity.”

Aldatu Biosciences, the leader in adaptive PCR diagnostics, announced the opening of new, expanded lab and R&D space in Watertown. The move to the new, 7,000-square-foot facility comes as demand grows for Aldatu’s unique PCR-based test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Along with the move, Aldatu is launching a new service, Aldatu Diagnostics, to provide rapid-turnaround processing of diagnostic tests for hospitals, employers, and other large organizations coping with new demands during the pandemic. Aldatu Diagnostics was certified last week as a CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) lab by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Aldatu also sells its diagnostics in kit form to health care providers, NGOs, governments, and other groups around the world.

“COVID-19 presents unique diagnostic testing challenges,” said Iain MacLeod, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Aldatu. “As the disease spreads, more localities need to engage in widespread testing to identify and contain outbreaks. At the same time, the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to mutate. This makes it crucial to employ a test that can accurately detect the virus and keep false positives and false negatives to a minimum. Our PANDAA™ platform has demonstrated it can work with the new SARS-CoV-2 variants with no loss of sensitivity and specificity.”

Aldatu Diagnostics is a CLIA-certified laboratory – additional information on the lab registration can be found on the CDC website at https://www.cdc.gov/clia/LabSearch.html (CLIA lab number 22D2209238). For health care providers, employers and others with the need for rapid-turnaround SARS-CoV-2 testing, Aldatu Diagnostics offers the following:


  • Sample pickup by local courier throughout New England
  • Results within 24 hours
  • Competitive pricing with volume discounts
  • Unique access to the PANDAA™ platform, which adapts to emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 with no reduction in performance.
  • A team with extensive experience in high complexity testing

Aldatu has doubled its staff to accommodate the new processing service as it continues to develop novel diagnostics for global health challenges and emerging diseases.

The company, launched out of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, had previously been located in Lab Central, the famed Cambridge biotech incubator.

“As a Public Benefit Corporation, Aldatu’s mission is to serve the growing testing needs created by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said MacLeod. “We’re excited to expand the scope of our services as governments work to halt the spread of COVID-19 and restore public health. In particular, we look forward to helping urgent care centers, clinics and schools which do not have in-house diagnostic capabilities.”

About Aldatu

Aldatu Biosciences is the leader in adaptive PCR-based diagnostics for global health and emerging diseases, including COVID-19. Our proprietary qPCR-enabling platform, PANDAA™, uniquely adapts to DNA sequence instability in probe-binding regions. This makes our diagnostics tests ideal for rapidly mutating viruses such as SARS-CoV-2. Aldatu packages its diagnostics in kit form, and processes tests at its CLIA-certified laboratory. Aldatu’s technology was developed at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Aldatu is a Delaware-registered Public Benefit Corporation. Learn more at aldatubio.com.

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