At Varro Life Sciences, we believe there is an urgent need for new technologies that detect infectious pathogens to better inform and accelerate mitigation response times to limit spread and save lives.
- Since 2000, the world has experienced more than 80 pandemics and epidemics, including COVID-19, SARS, MERS, Ebola, and Swine Flu
- Testing for infectious disease has been limited by long testing times, complexity, high cost, low sensitivity and poor specificity.
Leading-Edge Technologies to Detect Aerosolized Pathogens in Breath and Air
- Technology originally developed by WashU with NIH grants that immediately detects SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens in people and spaces
- Varro commercializing the technology with an Open Source business model
Our Goal: Create biodetector devices which are inexpensive, easy to operate, and provide results in under 60 seconds with the accuracy of qPCR.
Varro was founded to develop innovative technologies that prevent the transmission of disease. Our biodetection platform combines microbiology, aerosols engineering, and advanced electronics to create a powerful tool to bend the curve on infection for patients and for public health.
About Marcus Terentius Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome‘s greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as “the third great light of Rome” (after Virgil and Cicero).
Varro studied under the Roman philologist Lucius Aelius Stilo (died 74 BC), and later at Athens under the Academic philosopher Antiochus of Ascalon (died 68 BC). Varro proved a highly productive writer and turned out more than 74 Latin works on a variety of topics.
One noteworthy aspect of the work is his anticipation of microbiology and epidemiology. Varro warned his readers to avoid swamps and marshland, since in such areas
“…there are bred certain minute creatures which cannot be seen by the eyes, but which float in the air and enter the body through the mouth and nose and cause serious diseases.”
