Our mission: to make complex medical testing simple and accessible wherever and whenever needed.

Orbis Diagnostics believes everyone should be empowered to understand their true health status, irrespective of who they are and where they live. High quality, accessible diagnostics enable individuals within society to make life-changing decisions with confidence.

Established in 2016, Orbis brings together a proven team of world-leading researchers, backed by New Zealand’s largest early stage deep-tech investor, Pacific Channel. Orbis has developed a ‘lab on a disk’ testing platform that uses its microfluidic platform technology to miniaturise and automate accurate lab testing for use at points of need. Originally designed for the cowshed, the first product to run on this platform was able to accurately quantify progesterone in milk for heat detection, to inform the timing of artificial insemination. With the outbreak of COVID-19, Orbis recognised how the unique features of the system could help re-enable safe travel amidst a pandemic and quickly repurposed the technology to deliver a quantitative immunity test for COVID-19.

Current Activity

Validation Trials

Orbis has undertaken a trial with Air New Zealand employees to significantly accelerate the development of the Orbis Arca, an automated immunity testing platform designed to accurately measure immunity to COVID-19 within 15 minutes at high-volume, point of need locations such as airports, pharmacies, and workplaces.

In addition, Orbis' technology has been selected for Sir Ian Taylor’s self-isolation pilot trial, measuring his immunity and protection from COVID-19 on the day of his departure from New Zealand. Read more here.

March 2021

Prototype Arrives

Orbis' immunity screening platform is here! We're really excited about our commercial prototype - which successfully miniaturizes the highly accurate testing available in the lab onto a desktop-sized machine, readying our COVID-19 immunity test for deployment at airports.

JANuary 2021

Partnership with IDEMIA

Orbis announces an exclusive partnership with leading biometrics company IDEMIA to develop and deploy a complete immunity testing platform solution for the air travel industry that enables the best passenger experience without compromising on security. Read the announcement here.

JUNE 2020

Partnership with D&K Engineering

D&K Engineering, a San Diego-based global leader in product development, offers to productise and manufacture Orbis' system.

March 2020

From Cows to COVID

The COVID-19 pandemic clarified the need for a scalable quantitative antibody test to verify immunity at the point of need, and Orbis’ system was perfectly suited. The team pivoted to developing a COVID-19 immunity test, exploiting the advantages of an automated system designed for a non-lab environment.

2019

Progesterone Pronto

Development of a quantitative progesterone detection test of cows milk to assist with timing of insemination of cows to optimize reproduction and avoid unnecessary culling of cows with silent heats.

2018

Milk on a Disk

Proof-of-concept demonstration of a miniaturised immunoassay on our proprietary microfluidic disks, able to measure protein and fat content of cow milk.

2016

Our Origins

Orbis spun out of the Photon Factory, New Zealand's internationally-recognised research lab led by Scientific Co-Founder, Professor Cather Simpson. Orbis is the second company to originate in this lab, following Engender Technologies.

Partnerships