Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

OCT1 2012

Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN) is the world's most widely read biotech publication. It provides the R&D; community with critical information on the tools, technologies, and trends that drive the biotech industry.

Issue link: http://gen.epubxp.com/i/83770

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 30 of 89

OMICS Sample Prep Continued from page 26 sized disposable cartridge containing all re- agents necessary for the extraction, and the cartridge is placed in the instrument. After 50 minutes a tube is ready to be removed and used for PCR. There is currently a list of 19 organisms that the system will recognize, including Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria as well as the C. albicans fungus, accounting for 96% of all bloodstream infections. The company expects the system to be fully automated by the end of the year, and to begin trials in Europe in Q1 of 2013. Field Work While nanoMR's initial primary market is likely to be hospital clinical microlabs, Integrated Nano-Technologies (INT; www. integratednano.com) aims to create a fully automated field laboratory using cartridges and a generic platform. Input can be a wide variety of samples: blood, tissue, insects, soil, or air filters. "The fluidic cartridges and the devices that we've developed allow us to do a lot of the basic techniques you find in a laboratory," explains INT's president and CEO Michael Connolly, Ph.D. These include ultrasonic and chemical disruption, filtration, magnetic separation, washing and concentration of nu- cleic acids or proteins from a sample, small column desalting, or purification. "And then we do PCR amplification in the cartridge, and then take that material to the detector in there." The company will initially produce two fully integrated units: one battery-powered, and plug-in (with battery back-up) capable of running ten tests simultaneously. Each has an integrated barcode reader and is GPS-, WiFi-, cellular-enabled, which allows them to be deployed on ships and in remote outposts. Applications not requiring regulatory approval are expected to be available by year's end. In one such application, the car- tridge will contain a panel capable of rec- ognizing the major mosquito-borne disease pathogens, including the alpha-, flavi-, and bunya-family viruses, dengue, and malaria. "So you can drop the mosquitoes in there and DNA will be taken out, cleaned, amplified, and taken to the sensor, and read. The results will then be reported to you," says Dr. Connolly. The company will pursue three market segments. Much of their funding has come from the U.S. Department of Defense for military/security applications, and the com- pany has a multiplexed test for biothreats including anthrax in the offing, for example. They also plan to pursue the veterinary market and, as a longer-term goal, human diagnostics. The latter, Dr. Connolly points out, overlaps with the military market in that applications will be designed to test deployed soldiers for endemic infections. Diving into miRNA Detection Signs of organ disease may be in the blood long before other phenotypic signs are evident. The kidney and liver, for example, release abundant amounts of miRNA indi- cating that the organ is no longer healthy, explains Martin Hegner, Ph.D., professor in the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nano- structures and Nanodevices at Trinity Col- lege Dublin. Similarly, such miRNAs could be used to confirm a diagnosis in an emergency situation. Dr. Hegner has been working for the past decade on ways to detect soluble macromol- ecules with small cantilevered array sensors. See Sample Prep on page 30 Get more. " We found speed, qualiy, resolution and versatiliy in the Fragment Analyzer." Dr. Sunil Chandran, Senior Scientist, Amyris, Inc. Fragment Analyzer TM customers since its January, 2012 introduction: Dozens of core labs regularly use the Fragment AnalyzerTM fragments prior to Next Gen Sequencing runs. to qualify DNA 20 government institutes and labs in Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, China, Brazil, Canada and the U.S. 18 leading U.S. plant science universities. QIHMGEP KIRIXMG KIRSQMGW XIWXMRK ½VQW 7 U.S. medical schools 6 of the 10 biggest seed companies in the world 3 of the 10 Ivy League schools Biofuels manufacturers Children's hospitals Pharmaceuticals manufacturers Medical research foundations Reverse genetics TILLiNG sites, including Arcadia Biosciences — the world's largest corporate provider of TILLiNG services International universities in Germany, France, Switzerland, Japan, Brazil, Canada and the United Kingdom Each day dozens of labs use the Fragment AnalyzerTM DNA fragments as large as 40,000 base pairs The disposable test cartridge for the Palladium field diagnostic system automates all steps of sample preparation, amplification, and detection in a single low-cost disposable, according to Integrated Nano-Technologies. The development of robotic systems for automating sample preparation and analysis has been one of the key drivers for modern drug discovery and development. Max Tactic/Fotolia " to separate genomic The Fragment Analyzer is easy to use and performs many tasks." Dr. Caroline Allix-Béguec R&D; Manager, Genoscreen Lille, France www.aati-us.com Contact us today to learn about our multiple instrument genengnews.com | October 1, 2012 | 29 purchase discount.

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News - OCT1 2012