A person holding a Hound Labs device displaying a "pass" result for a cannabis breathalyzer test.

Cannabis Breathalyzer System

Client

Hound Labs

Practice Areas

Challenge

Hound Labs partnered with Triple Ring Technologies to invent a point-of-use breath analyzer to meet the needs of law enforcement agencies across the world and employers in states where recreational marijuana use is legal. Starting from a napkin sketch, Triple Ring, alongside Hound Labs, created a high-sensitivity portable breathalyzer system tailored to law enforcement and employment settings.  The project included ground-breaking validation, and peer reviewed publication, of ∆-9 THC pharmacodynamics in exhaled breath.

 

Outcomes

Fully functioning prototype systems were created featuring an easy-to-use breath capture device, a control station, and low-cost microfluidic lab-on-a-chip cartridges.  Clinical-grade data were robustly produced at the point-of-need to provide indications of recent marijuana use and possible impairment.

 

Triple Ring Value Proposition

  • Full R&D teams, on demand, flexibly resourced from concept to validation
  • Outsourced Tough Tech product development expertise
  • Deep expertise in biological sciences and bioengineering
  • Extensive intellectual property creation owned outright by client
  • Financial stake and shared-risk engagement models
  • Access to Agility Labs incubation facilities
Four conceptual sketches of the handheld Hound Labs cannabis breathalyzer device with different design features highlighted.
Exploded view diagram showing the components of the Hound Labs handheld cannabis breathalyzer, highlighting its interior parts and mechanical design.

Background

Hound Labs markets a first-in-class system for breath-based assessment of recent marijuana use. The company founders chose Triple Ring as their product development partner for our deep life sciences expertise and for our reputation of helping innovators do the seemingly impossible. In a collaboration that has lasted years, Triple Ring has been a trusted partner demonstrating high degrees of urgency, commitment, and ownership as this cutting-edge startup built products that satisfy critical market needs.

A portable cannabis breathalyzer kit by Hound Labs with carrying case and digital handheld device.
Close-up photograph of colorful microplastics on finger tips with gray background.

Ocean Microplastics Monitor

Client

Various

Challenge

Addressing a critical unmet need in environmental sensing, Triple Ring Technologies designed a fieldable, portable microplastics sensor system. The system enables quantitation of plastic particles in aqueous environmental samples and separates plastics from non-plastics for subsequent polymer identification. Triple Ring experts created an integrated and miniaturized unit that replaced a high-end instrument in a benchtop system. This unit was designed to successfully count microplastics under conditions expected in field use – not only measuring plastic but also working correctly in the presence of interferents, such as air bubbles and non-plastics (biological particles, sand, silt, and other non-organic materials).

 

Outcomes

The portable microplastics sensor system was deployed into the field and successfully demonstrated quantitation of microplastics in seawater samples.

 

Value Propositions

  • Relevant expertise in low-cost, ruggedized life sciences assay platforms
  • Rapid design and development process that met strict timelines for delivery
  • Flexible and highly collaborative design teams that interface seamlessly with research institutes
Comparison of current vs triple ring's microplastic testing methods, highlighting efficiency, cost, and portability differences.

Background

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) saw value in funding the Triple Ring and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution teams to produce a fieldable microplastics monitoring system. Triple Ring personnel brought previous experience of shipboard microplastic measurement from past collaborations with EPA in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. Woods Hole scientists invented a novel means of measuring ocean microplastics and Triple Ring provided integration support.

Illustration of real-time microplastics concentration data being transmitted via satellite or cellular tower to a centralized mapping system.
Two researchers in life jackets on a boat testing for microplastics in the surrounding water.

Combining WHOI’s core sensing technology with Triple Ring’s experience in delivering integrated products will significantly move the needle on the understanding of microplastic pollution and will drive data-based mitigation solutions.

Dr. Sheila Hemami
Senior Director Growth Initiatives at Triple Ring Technologies

 

My lab is especially interested in developing technologies that enable us to robustly count the number of microplastics in drinking water, ponds, lakes, and oceans. We need field-deployable sensors that provide us this information in order for us to understand microplastic pollution.

Dr. Anna Michel
Associate Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
A conceptual rendering of the at-home diagnostic device next to a bathroom sink.

At-Home Quantitative Diagnostics

Client

BARDA

Practice Areas

Challenge

To address critical needs identified by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), Triple Ring was awarded a contract to design, build, and test a low-cost multiplexed quantitative biomarker detection platform for lab-at-home and low resource settings.

 

Outcomes

Triple Ring and a close collaborator, in a project funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), have developed a low-cost, user-centric, diagnostics platform for multiplexed quantitative biomarker measurements in patient samples. This novel platform was designed for use in CLIA-waived in vitro diagnostic settings and is notable for its low manufacturing cost. The platform supports lab-at-home, point of care (POC), and direct to consumer workflows especially in low-resource settings. Triple Ring’s consolidated expertise across biological, electrical, embedded software, mechanical, and optical systems enabled a robust design capable of quantifying biomarker concentrations from multiplexed lateral flow immunoassay (LFA) test strips. Additionally, the system was demonstrated to extend the quantitative measurement range beyond that of typical lateral flow assay readers. Currently, the team is performing systems integration and testing for a handheld version of the diagnostic device.

 

Triple Ring Value Proposition

  • Multidisciplinary team including biochemistry, assay development, biology, computer science, optics, and multiple engineering disciplines to design, build, and test complex systems with very low manufacturing costs
  • Focus on building transformational platforms and capabilities to target unmet needs in the in vitro diagnostics space, including development for low-resource and remote settings
  • Valuable IP creation
  • Company formation services through General Inception venture studio
An isolated conceptual 3D rendering of the at-home diagnostic device next to a cup with blue liquid
Illustration showing two steps: 1) A test strip is dipped into a liquid in a cup. 2) The strip is inserted into a small, rectangular digital device.

It’s very rewarding to work with our collaborators to develop new diagnostic tools to help protect the health of some of the most vulnerable populations around the world.

Dr. Rachel Gerver
Director of Systems Engineering, Triple Ring Technologies