Seek Labs, a biotech company boldly seeking a healthier world through AI-powered discovery, programmable therapeutics, and point-of-care diagnostics, today announced a significant advancement in the global fight against tuberculosis (TB) with an investigational prototype for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) detection on its SeekIt™ platform.

In internal analytical testing, the MTB SeekIt test delivered accurate results in under 60 minutes. Importantly, this innovation addresses a key limitation that has historically hindered effective TB diagnostics: breaking apart MTB’s waxy, lipid-rich cell wall to gain access to detectable genetic material. In internal testing, SeekIt’s proprietary chemical lysis step achieved this in just 15 minutes without heat, mechanical disruption, or complex lab tools and skilled operators.

Seek Lab’s MTB test demonstrates the speed, adaptability, and field-readiness of the modular SeekIt platform. All SeekIt’s components—lysis chemistry, extraction, amplification, and detection—are proprietary to Seek Labs, exclusively discovered and developed in-house, and have been internally validated for performance and integration across multiple applications.

The Global TB Testing Gap

TB kills more than 1.25 million people each year, with nearly one in three cases going undiagnosed. In high-burden, resource-limited settings, centralized molecular tests face major hurdles:

• Pathogen complexity: MTB’s waxy, lipid-rich cell wall has proven intractable to portable lysis methods for decades.
• Infrastructure dependence: Gold-standard molecular tests require expensive, power-intensive instruments, refrigeration, and highly skilled (or trained) operators.
• Sample limitations: Sputum collection is challenging for many patients and can deter testing.

“TB diagnostics have long been limited by gaps in both infrastructure and innovation that have often meant severe consequences for patient care and public health,” said Jared Bauer, CEO of Seek Labs. “Our rapid, point-of-care SeekIt MTB test is designed to enable molecular-level detection in settings where access to equipment and electricity may be limited.”

From Sample to Result: A Simplified Workflow

At the core of the MTB SeekIt test is a proprietary, single-step chemical lysis buffer, involving a specially-formulated solution that disrupts MTB cells to release their genomic DNA. This breakthrough innovation takes just 15 minutes at room temperature, while competing methods (high-heat incubation or mechanical bead-beating) require longer times plus expensive equipment, specialized technicians, and complex infrastructure. More importantly, the integrated SeekIt test means the lysate itself flows seamlessly into SeekIt’s downstream test components:

• Seek Extraction™ — A proprietary membrane-based binding system, developed and validated by Seek Labs, that rapidly captures MTB DNA without lab instruments. In validation testing, the MTB DNA yield for Seek Extraction was consistently more than 70% when compared to leading spin-column kits.
• Seek Amplification™ — A proprietary process that exponentially copies DNA at a constant temperature, detecting as few as 10 MTB genomic copies in 30 minutes without thermal cycling (internally validated), the conventional lab-based method.
• Molecular Lateral Flow Assay (mLFA) — A test strip that delivers clear, visual results in minutes indicating the presence of amplified DNA in a manner that can be optionally paired with the SeekIt mobile app for digital analysis and connectivity.

Speed as a Strategy

Conventional development of a molecular test for MTB can take a year or more. Seek Labs achieved a functional investigational prototype in one quarter by leveraging its suite of in-house, pre-validated diagnostic technologies, focusing new innovation efforts on the MTB-specific lysis step. This rapid-deployment approach illustrates how SeekIt can be rapidly developed for numerous high-priority diseases in record time.

“This was more than a fast project; it’s proof of our platform’s flexibility,” said Kim Wirthlin, Chief Strategy Officer. “By focusing our innovation on the MTB-specific lysis step for compatibility with our downstream isothermal amplification, we solved one of TB diagnostics’ toughest technical challenges and produced a functional investigational prototype in a single quarter.”

From Conference to Collaboration

Seek Labs will debut the MTB SeekIt prototype at the 2025 Next Generation Dx Conference (August 18–20, 2025, Washington, D.C.), including:

• Podium Presentation — Enabling Point of Care Diagnostics Track, Tuesday, August 19 at 10:00 AM ET.
• Scientific Poster — Detailing the proprietary lysis chemistry, rapid development process, and validation data.

Seek Labs is actively seeking partners across global health (ministries of health, TB-focused NGOs, and diagnostics distributors in high-burden regions such as sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia) to advance the MTB SeekIt test through clinical validation, regulatory approval, and deployment.

“Innovation means nothing if it doesn’t reach people,” said Bauer. “We want to work with those who share our vision to advance development of accurate, accessible TB testing solutions wherever they’re needed most.”