In today’s world, one of the biggest cause of fatalities are bacteria and toxic chemicals at the nano-particle level which usually are present in nearly everything that we either consume or produce whether it be sterilized solutions in drug manufacturing or food and beverage packaging. The number of fatalities per year are estimated at about 1.5 million. So to combat this, a startup has come up with a goal to save the most number of lives on planet earth – a different metric and quite noble in this era of competitiveness.

The Wave Talk – Making an Impact

The Wave Talk is a biotechnology start-up based out of Taejon-jikhalsi, South Korea founded by YoungDug Kim, a materials scientist who had previously worked as a research scientist for LG Chem and founded a battery technology startup Powercell and then Routejade and Park Yong-Keun, who specializes in optical holography. The Wave Talk has an exciting mission which sets it apart from the numerous startups out there inspecificity and ambitiousness.

To date, it has raised about 2 million USD from South Korean investors, like Naver, a provider of Internet services; Estechpharma, a drug company; and Bluepoint Partners, an advanced technological venture-capital company. Besides the above, some amount of funding was also provided by the Korean government. The start-up is brimming with brilliant people from a wide variety of backgrounds bringing in both diversity and contrasting perspectives. From KAIST graduates to UC Berkeley fellows to Psychologists, TWT has an unmistakably brilliant lineup of employees across their entire organizational structure.

A Revolutionary New Bio-sensor

Their technology aims to facilitate real-time monitoring of waterborne vectors and bacteria using a laser biosensor that can be attached almost anywhere – even inside small pipes to detect the presence of micro- and nanoparticles, including bacteria. That too within as short as 1 second compared to the existing sampling methods which usually take about several hours. Their biosensor has a lot of potential regarding solving food-borne diseases and anti-microbial infections, which are collectively estimated to cause about 1.5 million fatalities annually, primarily in the developing world, by ensuring the safety of the food and water intake through these techniques which they have pioneered.

Chaotic material scattering and structure Delivers a cost-efficient, rapid, highly sensitive (low-concentration) testing method for nanoparticles and microparticles in large samples.

In Collaboration with KAIST, development of a newer biosensor based on the time-reversal mirror technique for recognition, analysis of particle sizes in the order of nanometers.

Deep learning Enables bacteria to be easily classified thereby reducing the rate of resistance caused by common antibiotic prescriptions, providing an accurate and rapid prescription.

Further Applications and The Road Ahead

The ultimate aim of the company is to reduce the total cost requirement drastically for production and diagnoses by increasing efficiency and accuracy. The new technology could track domestic water systems and make sure that liquids that necessitate absolute purity, such as mineral water or IV fluid, are free of contaminants during production and distribution. It could also be used for increasing the efficiency of semiconductor and LCD fabrication, urine and blood testing, beverage, beer, and for use in refrigerator and humidifier industries as well.

Get in touch with the team today.