Agri-science startup uses University of Lethbridge facility to analyze crops for fungal infections – Lethbridge

Without the University of Lethbridge’s makerspace SynBridge, Brent Puchalski doesn’t think his startup would have gotten its feet off the ground.

Last year, Puchalski connected with SynBridge while looking for equipment to run Paramoria Agri-Science.

“We were trying through various other channels to find a lab that would help us,” the founder explained.

“It was a lot of ‘Noes’ or they wanted an arm and a leg.”

“Companies that are just starting out typically don’t have a lot of money to spend on expensive scientific equipment,” said SynBridge manager and U of L professor Laura Keffer-Wilkes.

“Instead, they can rent space here on campus for a nominal monthly fee and get access to all of our advanced equipment and expertise that is available on campus here.”

Since April, Paramoria has been doing just that. The company worked with four farmers to analyze their crops for fungal infections.

“We were seeing recurring situations with disease and with farms, and we wanted to be something a little bit better than was out there,” Puchalski said.

“Essentially, it is a large metal cylinder, which is able to draw large volumes of air through the centre of it and is able to imprint the spores onto a set of filter cassettes.

“The filter cassettes are then collected and analyzed, using similar protocol as you would for the COVID test using qPCR.”

Damon Postman with Prairie Land Farms said fungal infections are hard to detect, and this technology could be a game-changer when it comes to deciding whether or not to use pricey fungicides.

“By the time you see it, it’s already done a bunch of damage, so by getting their spore counts, we’re able to see if it’s going to be a threat or not,” Postman explained.

“If we see the numbers increasing by a rapid rate week to week, then we know it’s on our radar that it could be a possibility that we should spray.”

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Postman and Puchalski found that due to the hot and dry conditions this past summer, there weren’t much data to look at, with diseases thriving in moist conditions.

However, Postman said he was glad to have participated.

“I think it’s a really important aspect to have companies that are out there looking for new ways to do things.”

Paramoria is one of three companies currently utilizing the space at SynBridge, and Kessler-Wilkes said there is room for more.

The contract is typically for one year but can be extended.

“(We’re) always looking for companies to partner with,” she said. “We have more space that we can offer companies if they’re interested in working with us here.”