DVRG.L Regulatory News (DVRG)

10 February 2021

DeepVerge PLC

("DeepVerge" or "the Company")

DeepVerge expands and adds two virus containment laboratories

Additional laboratory space added for Skin Trust Club in response to a 95% conversion rate in pre-registration for personalised skincare Home Test Kit in the first 10 days

DeepVerge (LSE:DVRG.L), the environmental and life science AI company, announces the addition of two Containment Level 3 (CL3) laboratories at the Company's York, UK HQ facilities, creating a Centre of Excellence for the EcowaterOS consortium, Labskin initiatives, and increases laboratory space in preparation for the launch of the Skin Trust Club, later this quarter.

The Centre of Excellence expands on the successful product testing using Labskin with the SARS-CoV-2 virus with University of Aberdeen, Public Health England, University of Liverpool, Cork Institute of Technology and the work completed with industry partners including Dell Technologies, Unilever and the Water Rising Institute. 

The CL3 laboratories will be focused on three areas:

1. Labskin is a key partner with the Liverpool Tropical School of Medicine and Unilever in a multi-year project, the Strength in Places partnership initiative, to create specialist, commercially sustainable research platforms for infectious disease therapeutics in north-west England. The project will see an expansion of Labskin COVID-19 related services to provide clients with the ability to test their soaps, washes and sanitisers and their effectiveness against COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. 

2. Further development alongside partners, such as the Aptamer Group, Tyndall Foundries and a number of undisclosed partners to investigate new variants of SARS-CoV-2 by adding a multiplex nano-chip to test for a range of infectious viruses and bacteria on a single chip for the MicrotoxPD range of equipment for detection and identification of SARS-CoV-2, E.coli, Legionella and Cryptosporidium.

3. Continued In-house development of the PulMoBioMed breathalyser condensate on the identification of a variety of respiratory diseases from influenza to SARS-CoV-2, as well as delivering a diagnostic fingerprint for biomarkers relating to diseases where there are no specific and sensitive diagnostic methods available and prognosis is difficult. Further details on this will be provided at a later date.

Retrofitting has begun with Modern Water equipment to add to the range of real-time surveillance services in Water Monitoring. New services for Modern Water clients will include standard tests associated with dangerous pathogens, including contagious infections as well as community detection of opioids. Future services will include real-time monitoring and identification of small and large molecules within the pharmaceutical sector during bio-processing.

Gerard Brandon, CEO of DeepVerge, commented:

"The Centre of Excellence and the addition of two CL3 laboratories, at our York, UK headquarters is the culmination of the successful outcome of handling with SARS-CoV-2 at the University of Aberdeen and the University of Liverpool and used to test dangerous viruses such as Ebola and Lassa as far back as 2015. With Labskin services filling our existing space the 95% conversion rate of pre-registration of the Skin Trust Club is a major achievement and additional space is to be added to accommodate the demand for home test kits which will roll out in March."

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About DeepVerge plc (www.deepverge.com)

DeepVerge is an environmental and life science group of companies that develops and applies AI and IoT technology to analytical instruments for the analysis and identification of bacteria, virus and toxins. Utilising artificial intelligent data analytics to scientifically prove the impact of skincare product claims on skin microbiome for most of the top 20 global cosmetic company clients and remotely detect and identify in real-time, dangerous pathogens in wastewater treatment plants, drinking water, rivers, lakes and reservoirs.

Skin Trust Club (www.skintrustclub.com)

Note: There is limited availability on pre-registration of Skin Trust Club. Priority will be given to pre-registered users for home test kits at the formal launch. Pre-registration and the downloadable App are free.

Customised skincare routine derived from a home test kit, lab tested and linked to local environment via a free smartphone App that updates in real-time and identifies ingredients that suit the subscribers unique skin microbiome. This revolutionises how you take care of your skin with your own skincare routine.

Home Test Kit comprises a single swab that maps the skin microbiome delivering a report that produces the most appropriate daily skincare routine based on science, not guesswork. Using real-time air pollution and weather data from the customer's location, the Skin Trust App builds a complete picture of the skin microbiome and the impact of local surroundings.

Skin Trust Analysis includes:

· Microbiome identification and quantification of living organisms (bacteria, viruses, bacteriophages, fungi, parasites, etc.) on the skin;

· Skin gene expression analysis to quantify the biological activity of living organisms on the skin ;

· Analysis of metabolites in the skin sample;

· Personal genetic analysis - analyse genomic data to understand potential skin concerns and future risks but does not analyse genes to identify inherited diseases.

Labskin (Life Science Division)

Labskin have been pioneering the development of a laboratory grown human skin platform for more than 13 years and is the only commercially available lab-grown full thickness human skin model that naturally mimic the skin's microbiome. With top 20 global consumer health and skincare clients, thousands of industry tests, the good and bad bacteria that naturally exists on human skin is present on Labskin when testing skin care, cosmetics, health care, drug delivery or wound care products. The Labskin test platform and protocols help clients maintain an optimum real-world environment, when testing their new ingredients and existing products, that shows the positive or negative impact on skin's natural microflora.

Modern Water (Environmental Health Division)

Modern Water is a pioneering and innovative technology subsidiary, and over a 30 year period, with installations in more than 60 countries, this division has built core expertise in the development of analytical instruments and technology for monitoring toxicity in water, soil, food and industry. The core systems use bioluminescent bacteria to perform biosensor testing that detects the presence of toxic substances.

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