Joint Venture between Mawi DNA Technologies and Biotessia

This sample collection technology is soley owned by Mawi DNA Technologies and offered in Africa through Mawitessia, a joint venture based in Morocco, between Mawi DNA Technologies and Biotessia.

Our certifications

ISO 9001-2015 Certificate

ISO 13485-2016 Certificate

Our Mission

At MAWITESSIA, our mission is to drive transformative change across Africa by harnessing the power of cutting-edge biotechnology. We are dedicated to unearthing and implementing innovative solutions that improve human health, elevate agricultural productivity, and contribute to a sustainable future for our continent.

Our commitment is to redefine the boundaries of scientific discovery, putting the latest biotechnological advancements to work for the people of Africa. From pioneering disease diagnostics to enriching soil health with Agrotech, we believe in a holistic approach to wellbeing, linking human prosperity with the vitality of our lands.

Together, we aim to build an Africa that is not only surviving but thriving, fostering resilience in our communities and our environment. We are confident that with our expertise, and through partnerships with individuals, communities, and businesses, we can usher in a new era of health sovereignty and sustainable development in Africa.

MAWITESSIA is more than a biotech company. We are a beacon of hope, a catalyst for change, and a testament to the boundless potential of African ingenuity. Join us as we shape the future of Africa, for Africans, by Africans.


Collect – Release – Transport: All in a Single Tube

Mawitessia has overcome the problems of low recovery, high bacterial content, sheared DNA, and excessive resampling costs common to most current non-invasive sample collection methods. The innovative design of the iSWAB™ collection device allows the release of cells captured from any swab into a proprietary lysis and stabilizing buffer.


iSWAB™ has been designed to address low DNA recovery and quality.

iSWAB™ has been designed to address the issues of low DNA recovery and quality, high bacterial DNA content, high cost, and processing issues that current noninvasive sample collection approaches suffer from. The innovative design of iSWAB allows for the removal of the cells captured by the swab and then release into a proprietary mammalian cell-specific lysis and nucleic acid stabilizing buffer. The combination of the mechanistic release of cells and proprietary lysis buffer allows for the collection of a high amount of cells in a concentrated manner from one or more swabs in a small amount of lysis buffer while yielding significantly lower bacterial contamination.

The iSWAB™ collection system is designed to facilitate self or assisted swab-based sample collection and concentration from a single or multiple swabs into a single tube for room temperature transport and long term storage. In addition the iSWAB™ collection system is optimized for both manual and common automated sample preparation liquid handling workstations without the need for additional accessories.


Challenges that are present with other methods

The use of swabs (buccal, nasopharyngeal, wound, etc. ) for non-invasive sample collection is well established. However the current sample collection process using swabs either allows for the collection and transport of a single swab in a specialized transport medium or the sample is collected by using two swabs at the most and then transported in a mail envelope. This sample collection process not only compromises the integrity of the sample, but in many cases results in low sample output making it not ideal for downstream applications such as immune or genomics-based assays.

Specialized saliva collection is another non-invasive sample collection method that is starting to be a preferred method over buccal swab and traditional mouth wash collection methods. Even though saliva collection allows for high recovery of human genomic DNA, the cost of the saliva collection devices, length of collection time, collection compliance, processing (automation) and storage remain major obstacles towards further adoption of this method to challenge blood sample collection.

Strategic Partnership
Management Team
Dr. Hanane Chaibainou
Founder & CEO of Biotessia

Doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and a practicing leader in the Focused Ultrasound and Functional Neurosurgery programs at New York Presbyterian Cornell and Columbia University.

President of Association Nahda for Education and Development in rural Morocco focused on supporting women and children in underserved areas.

Dr. Bassam El-Fahmawi, PhD.
Founder & CTO of MawiDNA

+25 years of experience in the genomics sample preparation market.

Led the commercialization of nucleic acid purification technologies at both Beckman Coulter Genomics (formerly Agencourt) and Corning.

Has published several patents for simplifying nucleic acid purification and sample collection

Jerome David
VP Operations MAWITESSIA

Co-founder and Chief of Staff at MawiDNA

Has worked in the life sciences/biotechnology industry for over 30 years at both start-up and global organizations such BD Biosciences, GE Healthcare, and Bio-Rad.

Lina Anwar
Investor Relations Director, Mawitessia

Co-founder of NassihaCom, 1st  administration & public policy advisory  firm in Morocco.

Former fraud analyst expert at CIBC in Canada & Former strategy consultant for Azenta Life Sciences, Silicon Valley Bank & U.S Bank.

BA from McGill University in Poli Sci & MSc In Business Management from Boston University.