A team of Whitworth University faculty members and undergraduate students have launched Pacific Microdevices Corp., the university's first private tech spinoff.

The fledgling company, led by Whitworth engineering and physics professor Phillip Measor, plans to commercialize a patented, 3D-printed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) device used for testing infectious diseases.

John Pell, Whitworth's provost and executive vice president, says the spinoff has the potential to bring greater recognition to the small Christian school in North Spokane.

“This brings attention to the world beyond the pines, the world beyond our Whitworth community,” Pell says. “We are doing incredibly innovative, industry-changing research with our faculty. And our faculty are doing this alongside our undergraduate students.”

As its next step, Pacific Microdevices plans to seek $2 million in preseed funding to develop a beta prototype of its research product within the next year, he says.

Whitworth, Measor says, owns the intellectual property to the patent and will receive future royalties.

The company eventually plans to pursue Small Business Innovation Research grants through partnerships with either Whitworth or private investors, he says.

Pacific Microdevices was co-founded by Measor alongside Kent Jones, a professor in Whitworth's mathematics and computer science department who co-authored the patent, and Kristi Shaka, a biochemistry student who will attend the University of Washington School of Medicine in the fall. 

Since 2018, Measor and undergraduate students have been developing a microdevice, referred to as a “lab on a chip,” designed and manufactured using a custom-built 3D printer developed in house at Whitworth’s Microdevices Lab, founded by Measor.

The chip they developed is smaller than a microscope slide and substantially smaller than a traditional PCR testing apparatus that is about one cubic foot.

"We can test for any sequence of DNA or RNA,” Measor says. “We can test for any virus, any bacteria, any living thing with DNA or RNA. If it’s living, we can test it. That’s why PCR is so powerful.”

Measor says the benefit of 3D printing is the capability of printing microfluidic channels as small as 10 microns, “which is 10 times smaller than typical (Fused Deposition Modeling) printers," he says.

He says they can print down to the size of a blood cell.

“We use the printer to make microfluidic channels that are 100 microns, or the width of a hair,” he says. “And now we’re detecting things that are smaller. For this device, we’re looking at DNA.” 

The ultra-compact PCR chips function faster and are cheaper to produce than conventional PCR devices.

A typical PCR test can take four to six hours to generate results. Pacific Microdevices’ solution reduces the testing time to 15 to 30 minutes, he says. 

“We can do it faster, we can do it cheaper, and it’s just as sensitive as the best tests out there,” Measor asserts. 

The research initially began before COVID-19, but the pandemic increased its urgency and shifted the lab's focus.

Pacific Microdevices plans to target the research market first, offering high-volume PCR testing solutions to research labs and biotech firms.

“We will go first to the research market to develop high-volume testing capabilities,” he says. “The goal is to hit a higher throughput than the competitors.”

Once the company gains traction in the research sector, the team hopes to pivot to the at-home testing market, providing accessible and affordable tools directly to its customers.

With the ability to use less than a tenth of the standard chemical volume, he says the chip will not only increase the speed of the test, but also decrease the cost.

“We are trying to get as low of a cost per test as we can get,” he says. He estimates the ultimate price to be comparable to the current market price of an at-home test, within the $15 to $20 range. 

Measor says the at-home test will require approval by the Federal Drug Administration for consumer diagnostics and is a long road.

“That will probably require some partners,” he says.

Currently operating within the Microdevices Lab on Whitworth’s campus, the company employs six undergraduate students across multiple disciplines.

“I hire across the board from engineering to physics to computer science to biochemistry and biology,” Measor says. “I even had a couple MDs that came through."

He says the company will eventually expand to a new location in Spokane as it grows, but is comfortable where they are for now. 

“I don’t need a ton of space,” he says. “The 3D printer and everything are really compact. I’ve been able to run this for the last seven years in a fairly small lab here.”

Measor said he hopes to manufacture in Spokane and do some developmental research in San Diego, where the company's potential laboratory customers are located. 

Pell sees the venture with Pacific Microdevices as an example of what undergraduate research can achieve.

“It’s just incredible that this is the opportunity students have in this area (to) work on projects that have the potential to really alter industry,” says Pell.