SKM Instruments, Inc.

SKM Instruments, Inc., a for-profit Subchapter S corporation manufacturer based in Centennial, Wyoming, operates as a federal grant recipient developing optical diagnostic platforms for rapid drug detection and antimicrobial susceptibility testing in clinical and public health settings.

SKM Instruments holds two prime federal grant awards from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), totaling $2.5 million across three awards since 2023. The company also received a sub-award under a remediation-focused federal grant. The vendor's federal footprint is concentrated in biomedical research and diagnostics within the Department of Health and Human Services, split between NIDA's Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs and CDC's Prevention of Disease, Disability, and Death by Infectious Diseases program.

SKM Instruments' primary research capability centers on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) technology for point-of-care diagnostics. Under a $314,317 NIDA project grant (CFDA 93.279) awarded July 1, 2026 and running through January 31, 2027, the company is developing a SERS-based lateral flow assay platform for rapid detection and quantification of illicit drugs in urine samples, including emerging synthetic opioids. The platform integrates a SERS-active lateral flow cartridge with thin-layer chromatography separation, a low-cost portable Fourier transform Raman instrument, and data-analysis software designed to match liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry performance while reducing cost and enabling deployment in resource-limited settings such as rural clinics and harm reduction centers. Under a separate $613,744 CDC project grant (CFDA 93.084) awarded September 30, 2025 and running through May 31, 2026, SKM Instruments is developing an ultra-rapid optical platform for antimicrobial susceptibility testing of pulmonary non-tuberculous mycobacterial infections to accelerate identification of drug resistance and clinical decision-making. All work is performed in Wyoming, primarily Laramie and Centennial. The vendor's award activity has been sparse—one award per year across 2023, 2025, and 2026—with one award facing completion within the next twenty-four months, exposing minimal near-term recompete risk.