About Us

Mission

Removing the barriers to CKD testing by creating accessible and affordable lab- equivalent technologies.

Vision

Affordable and accessible diagnostics for everyone.

A nurse holding a pink anatomical kidney model and smiling while explaining to a patient, who is pointing at the model.

Assure CKD’s History

Founding Story

AssureCKD is built on over a decade of innovation, collaboration, and a shared vision to transform how chronic kidney disease (CKD) is detected and managed.

Our journey began in 2013, when Dr. Claudio Rigatto and Dr. Francis Lin first joined forces to explore the potential of microfluidic technology for point-of-care diagnostics. With the support of a major national grant in 2014, their work facilitated years of groundbreaking research, personnel training, joint publications, and patent development, laying the scientific foundation for what would eventually become MATLOC.

Even during the global disruption of COVID-19, development of the technology continued through a combination of public and private support. By 2024, the technology had evolved into a fully integrated lab-on-chip platform and was licensed to AssureCKD to take it forward into clinical and commercial reality.

Today, AssureCKD is a team of nine and growing. We’re advancing the MATLOC system through FDA and Health Canada regulatory pathways to bring lab-equivalent CKD screening and diagnostic testing directly to the point-of-care. By improving access to early detection, we aim to help slow or even prevent progression to end-stage kidney failure, improving lives while reducing the burden on healthcare systems.

See How MATLOC Works

Partnerships

Logo for the Chronic Disease Innovation Centre featuring a purple hexagon with a 3D cube inside and the organization name in purple text.
Logo of Research Manitoba featuring colorful concentric circles to the left of the text.
Logo with the text 'ARC-ARC Canada' and a maple leaf, featuring a star and a curved line, with a red and orange background.
Logo of North Force with a yellow shield and black letters NF and NE
Logo of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research with text in English and French
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Memberships

Meet the team behind the mission

  • A young man with curly brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a navy checkered blazer and a white shirt, against a plain gray background.

    Harrison Ross

    CFA CEO

    Principal at Rydra Capital Corp.

    Director at Duncan Ross Associates.

  • A man smiling outdoors in front of a brick wall, wearing a plaid button-up shirt.

    Claudio Rigatto

    MD, FRCPC CMO

    Professor, University of Manitoba.

    Past President, Canadian Society of Nephrology.

  • Portrait of a smiling young man with dark hair, wearing a gray t-shirt and backpack, standing outdoors among trees and greenery.

    Jared Schacter

    COO, Fractional

    Previously with McKinsey and Uber.

    Has helped companies through 6+ exits.

  • A man in a suit smiling outdoors with blurry cityscape background.

    George Kovalyov

    CPA (Director)

    Officer and Director of (NASDAQ/OTC/TSXV) corporate entities.

    Expert financial controller.

  • A man smiling in front of a brick wall, wearing a light blue dress shirt and a navy blue tie.

    Navdeep Tangri

    MD, PhD, FRCPC (Director)

    Founder of the Kidney Failure Risk Equation (KFRE).

    Founder of Klinrisk.

  • A smiling man with short brown hair, wearing a dark suit jacket and white dress shirt, posing against a plain white background.

    Paul Komenda

    MD, MHA, FRCPC, FASN (Director)

    Chief Medical Officer at Quanta Dialysis.

    Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology.

  • Francis Lin

    PHD Technology
    Founder

    Department of Immunology Physics and Astronomy University of Manitoba.

  • Aline Proenca

    Aline Proença

    CMO, Fractional

    Sessional Instructor at The University of Manitoba and The University of Winnipeg. Fractional CMO for StartUps, and Strategy Consultant.