Dr Meng Han Kuok: Founder and Managing Director of Camtech

Meng-Han is Founder of Camtech Diagnostics, a biotechnology company developing solutions for the biodefence, food safety and clinical diagnostic sectors based on its sensing platforms. He is passionate about novel lab on chip based solutions for biomedical diagnostics and biotech applications, integrating innovative technology and design in microfluidics, biological sensing and cell manipulation.

He also previously setup the Camtech incubator for early-stage tech and biotechnology start-ups where he has helped to mentor and co-found several promising companies

[box type=”shadow” align=”” class=”” width=””]Newsdesk: Please tell us a little bit about yourself. 

Dr. Meng Han Kuok: I did a Materials Engineering degree at Cambridge University followed by a Phd in microfluidic biosensors at Cambridge University. Following that I started Camtech to commercialise the Phd project i had worked on which had a unique application in rapid anthrax detection. My passion is applying microfluidics and new technologies to help advance healthcare and nutrition. [/box]

[box type=”shadow” align=”” class=”” width=””]Newsdesk: Camtech established in 2009. It has 3 Branches in Singapore, UK, USA. Please brief a little about Camtech’s journey from “Camtech Management Pte Ltd to Camtech, Inc.” What motivated you to expand particularly in these countries? 

Dr. Meng Han Kuok: We started Camtech Management in Singapore to incubate Biotech companies based in Singapore. Camtech Innovations works on R&D and Technical Consultancy projects and Camtech Inc is our presence in the US market. We have to expand as we do not have a sizable enough market in Singapore to gain critical mass. [/box]

[box type=”shadow” align=”” class=”” width=””]Newsdesk: Camtech developed World’s Only Reagentless Biothreat Screening app: Camthrax biodefense. How it works & how you get the idea for work on this concept?

Dr. Meng Han Kuok: This is based on optical fluorescence/deep UV imaging to detect the presence of Bacillus Anthracis spores within 10 mins. This came out of my Phd work in which i applied optical holographic sensors to detect bacterial spore germination real time in microfluidic devices. However this required the use of reagents and the biosensor indirectly measured the products of germination so we searched for a more direct imaging technique that was reagentless. [/box]

[box type=”shadow” align=”” class=”” width=””]Newsdesk: Camtechs developed another application Aquafarm which works for aquaculture farmers, does it work only as a sensor or application?

Dr. Meng Han Kuok: It works as a combination of real time sensors for wireless water quality management, for use in aquaculture applications. [/box]

[box type=”shadow” align=”” class=”” width=””]Newsdesk: Please brief us about Aflatoxin rapid test kit.

Dr. Meng Han Kuok: Its a rapid test kit consisting of a reader and test strips to detect the presence of Aflatoxin in food and agricultural products, and its being used industrially. We can now also detect a range of other toxins. [/box]

[box type=”shadow” align=”” class=”” width=””]Newsdesk: For a very long time, Camtech successfully works with sensors in food safety, point-of-care diagnostics. What is the main goal of Camtech?

Dr. Meng Han Kuok: Our mission is to bring innovative point of care testing technologies to market in the food safety and clinical diagnostic fields. [/box]

[box type=”shadow” align=”” class=”” width=””]Newsdesk: Please brief us about your services such as Microencapsulation, Microfluidics.

Dr. Meng Han Kuok: We carry out microencapsulation using microfluidic droplet generation and have applied that to bioactive compounds and nutritionals for global food and beverage companies. We’ve got a lot of experience designing, prototyping and manufacturing microfluidic devices, especially for point of care blood testing and novel research devices, and have carried this out for companies and academic labs internationally.[/box]

[box type=”shadow” align=”” class=”” width=””]Newsdesk: Camtech incubates new technologies for a long time. What are the current focus and success stories of Camtech?

Dr. Meng Han Kuok: The success stories from our incubator includes JN Medsys, Camtech Diagnostics, Lucence in the biotech area and also Bandlab Technologies. In terms of incubation, currently we’re bringing forward Aktivolabs in digital health/insuretech and also Redbite in Internet of Things/ traceability.

For Camtech our focus remains very much in the diagnostics, point of care testing and microfluidics space. [/box]

[box type=”shadow” align=”” class=”” width=””]Newsdesk: Any other message for ComingTechs readers?

Dr. Meng Han Kuok: Certainly these are exciting times for deep tech. [/box]

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