Triera Biosciences - a Zentek Company - Launches Contract Research Organization Services for Custom Aptamer Discovery, Biosensor Enablement, and Machine-Learning Classification

The most recent news (March 25, 2026) announces that Zentek’s subsidiary, Triera Biosciences, is launching Contract Research Organization (CRO) services. This move transitions Triera from a pure-play R&D house into a service provider for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. The services include custom aptamer discovery (via SELEX), biosensor engineering, and machine-learning (ML) classification. This initiative leverages a 20-year exclusive license from McMaster University. Management expects this to generate "earlier and more predictable revenue" to fund internal product development.

The impact is Material - Positive for three reasons: - Revenue Generation: Historically, Zentek has been a high-burn R&D company (Net Loss of $6.2M in the quarter ended Dec 2025). Transitioning to a CRO model provides a path to non-dilutive cash flow, which is critical given the current cash balance of only $1.8M. - Market Validation: By offering services to third parties, Zentek validates its proprietary aptamer platform. The target markets (Influenza, Syphilis, VEGF) represent multi-billion dollar diagnostic opportunities. - Strategic Focus: This follows the "Strategic Reset" announced in January 2026, showing execution on the promise to focus on core platforms (Albany, ZenGUARD, Triera) while seeking "credible cashflow opportunities."

Zentek is an IP-development company. Its flagship mining asset is the Albany Graphite Project in Ontario, a unique igneous-hosted deposit. Recent testing (Jan 2026) confirmed it meets "nuclear-grade" purity (99.9992%), which is a significant differentiator from standard battery-grade graphite. The company also owns ZenGUARD (antimicrobial coatings) and Triera Biosciences (aptamer-based diagnostics/therapeutics).