NIAID Awards Zepto Life Technology Contract Valued at Up to $8.9 Million to Advance the First Deployable Liquid Biopsy Platform for Infectious Disease

Award funds Zepto's FungiFlex^® program from engineering and manufacturing through planned clinical validation and FDA submission.

ST. PAUL, Minn., Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Zepto Life Technology today announced that it has been awarded a contract valued at up to $8.9 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to advance its plasma cell-free DNA liquid biopsy platform for invasive fungal infections.

The award builds on major regulatory and commercial milestones already achieved by the company: Zepto's FungiFlex^® Mold Panel has received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation and is available for physician ordering today through Zepto's CLIA-certified reference laboratory. The contract supports development of Zepto's integrated molecular diagnostic system, including engineering, manufacturing, and if project milestones are met, a planned multi-center clinical study designed to support a future FDA submission.

Invasive fungal infections disproportionately affect the most vulnerable patients, including people with cancer, transplant recipients, older adults, and others with weakened immune systems. Despite advances in treatment, morbidity and mortality remain unacceptably high, largely due to delays in diagnosis. Current testing may require invasive procedures to collect tissue or fluid from the affected site, while blood-based methods can be slow, inconclusive, or unable to identify the specific pathogen. For these patients, time is critical.

Zepto developed the Zepto MDx platform to bring liquid biopsy into infectious disease. It detects pathogen-derived cell-free DNA directly from plasma, enabling targeted identification of infectious pathogens from a standard blood draw without waiting for culture or relying on invasive specimen collection. Designed for deployment in hospital and clinical microbiology laboratories, Zepto MDx brings this capability in-house and closer to the patient, shortening the time from clinical suspicion to an actionable diagnosis. FungiFlex^® is the first family of tests developed for Zepto MDx, beginning with invasive fungal infections.

"Today, FungiFlex^® is available through our CLIA reference laboratory, but we've always been building toward something bigger," said Hannah Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of Zepto Life Technology. "This award helps us advance Zepto's technology as a deployable liquid biopsy platform for infectious disease and bring that capability directly into hospital microbiology laboratories. That means getting clinicians actionable answers closer to the moment they first suspect an infection."

The contract includes a funded base period and additional option periods that may be exercised by NIAID as development milestones are achieved. NIAID has made an initial award of $1.9 million to Zepto Life Technology with further funding of up to a total of $8.9 million available over the course of the contract if all contract options are exercised.

This project has been funded in whole with federal funds from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. 75N93026C00010. One hundred percent of the total project costs are financed with federal funds.

About Zepto Life Technology

Zepto Life Technology is a molecular diagnostics company bringing plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) liquid biopsy testing into infectious disease. Through its CLIA-certified reference laboratory, Zepto offers the growing FungiFlex^® menu for minimally invasive, targeted identification of fungal pathogens directly from plasma. The company is also advancing the Zepto MDx™ platform to bring sample-to-result liquid biopsy testing directly into hospital and clinical microbiology laboratories.

For more information, visit www.zeptolife.com

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SOURCE Zepto Life Technology