Category Archives: Science: Biology

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Science: Biology

UK Police Use STRmix™ to Resolve 1994 Murder of Six-Year-Old

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STRmix™ has been extremely effective in resolving violent crime and sexual assaults, as well as cold cases like that of Rikki Neave in which evidence which originally would have been regarded as inconclusive can now be analyzed and reported.


WASHINGTON (PRWEB)

STRmix™ – sophisticated forensic software capable of resolving mixed DNA profiles previously regarded as too complex or degraded to interpret – has played a key role in solving the 1994 murder of a six-year-old in the UK.

Using STRmix™ to analyze DNA left on the clothes of Rikki Neave, the UK’s Cellmark Forensic Services was able to provide a link for James Watson, now 41, to his murder. Watson, who was only 13 when he strangled Neave and left his body in a wood in Peterborough, has been sentenced to life in prison.

The case remained unsolved until police reopened it as part of a cold case review in 2015 and, because of advances in the sensitivity of DNA profiling, Cellmark was able to recover DNA from tape lifts originally taken to recover fibers. Using STRmix™, Cellmark was able to analyze the mixed DNA profiles obtained and provide a link to Watson, who was later charged with the murder (England and Wales, Central Criminal Court, #T20207051).

“The conviction of James Watson for killing Rikki Neave concludes an appalling unsolved crime almost 30 years after it happened,” says Clare Forsdike, a Senior Crown Prosecutor at the CPS. “Ultimately, a combination of evidence from DNA, post-mortem, soil samples, eyewitness testimony, and his [Watson’s] changing accounts proved overwhelming.”

Since its introduction a decade ago, STRmix™ has established a highly successful track record of producing usable, interpretable, and legally admissible DNA evidence in more than 380,000 cases worldwide. It is now being used in 103 forensic laboratories, including 77 in the U.S., all nine state and territory forensic laboratories in New Zealand and Australia, and forensic labs in Europe, the UK, Asia, the Middle East, Canada, and the Caribbean.

John Buckleton DSc, FRSNZ, Principal Scientist at the New Zealand Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) and one of the developers of STRmix™, notes that STRmix™ “has been extremely effective in resolving violent crime and sexual assaults, as well as cold cases like that of Rikki Neave in which evidence which originally would have been regarded as inconclusive can now be analyzed and reported.”

STRmix™ works by assessing how closely multitudes of proposed DNA profiles resemble or can explain an observed DNA mixture, relying on proven methodologies routinely used in computational biology, physics, engineering, and weather prediction.

“The probability of the observed DNA evidence can be calculated by assuming the DNA originated from either a person of interest or an unknown donor,” Dr. Buckleton explains. “These two probabilities can then be presented as a likelihood ratio (LR), inferring the value of the findings and level of support for one proposition over the other.”

The success of STRmix™ has led the team behind its development to launch two related products which, when combined with STRmix™, complete the full workflow from analysis to interpretation and database matching. These products include DBLR™, an application which allows forensic labs to undertake superfast database searches, visualize the value of DNA mixture evidence, and carry out mixture-to-mixture matches; and FaSTR™ DNA, expert forensic software which rapidly analyzes raw DNA data generated by genetic analyzers and standard profiling kits, and assigns a number of contributors (NoC) estimate.

For more information about STRmix™, visit http://www.strmix.com.

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Science: Biology

National Pesticide Safety Education Month Focuses on Resources and Education to Support Safe Pesticide Handling and Use

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“It is important for each of us to focus on safety to protect ourselves, others and the environment during pesticide transport, storage, application and disposal,” says Lee Van Wychen, Ph.D., executive director of science policy for the Weed Science Society of America.


WESTMINSTER, Colo. (PRWEB)

February is National Pesticide Safety Education Month and a time to review pesticide safety practices at your home or place of business, the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) says. WSSA and the American Phytopathological Society (APS) and the Entomological Society of America (ESA) are among the many organizations in public and private sectors that promote pesticide safety awareness during February and throughout the year.

“There is no downtime in the safe handling and use of pesticides,” says Lee Van Wychen, Ph.D., executive director of science policy for the Weed Science Society of America. “It is important for each of us to focus on safety to protect ourselves, others and the environment during pesticide transport, storage, application and disposal.”

The National Pesticide Safety Education Month webpage contains a quiz to check your knowledge of basic pesticide safety principles, as well as a self-assessment to evaluate your own pesticide safety practices at home and at work. The site also includes educational resources produced by Land Grant University Pesticide Safety Education Programs.

“We all strive for a safe home environment, healthy crops, successful conservation efforts, protection of agricultural workers and more – all of which require the safe handling and use of pesticides,” Van Wychen says.

About the Weed Science Society of America

The Weed Science Society of America (WSSA), a nonprofit scientific society, was founded in 1956 to encourage and promote the development of knowledge concerning weeds and their impact on the environment. The Society promotes research, education and extension outreach activities related to weeds, provides science-based information to the public and policy makers, fosters awareness of weeds and their impact on managed and natural ecosystems, and promotes cooperation among weed science organizations across the nation and around the world. For more information, visit http://www.wssa.net.

About the American Phytopathological Society

The American Phytopathological Society (APS) a nonprofit, professional scientific organization was founded in 1908. With more than 5,000 members globally, this organization advances the science of plant diseases and the practice of plant health management. For more information, visit http://www.apsnet.org.

About the Entomological Society of America

The Entomological Society of America (ESA) is the largest organization in the world serving the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and people in related disciplines. Founded in 1889, ESA today has over 7,000 members affiliated with educational institutions, health agencies, private industry, and government. Members are researchers, teachers, extension services personnel, administrators, marketing representatives, research technicians, consultants, students, and hobbyists. For more information, visit http://www.entsoc.org.

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Science: Biology

Pegasus Biotech Announces Major Lab Expansion at Charlottetown R&D Site

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The added space will be used to expand their existing CL2 services, fermentation capabilities, and process development capabilities, and it enables the company to accelerate its progress toward the addition of GMP pilot scale production capability within the next 3 years.


CHARLOTTETOWN, Prince Edward Island (PRWEB)

Pegasus Biotech has announced a major expansion to their Charlottetown, PE location, adding 1000 sqft of additional laboratory space. The added space will be used to expand their existing CL2 services, fermentation capabilities, and process development capabilities, and it enables the company to accelerate its progress toward the addition of GMP pilot scale production capability within the next 3 years.

“With the rapid growth we have experienced in the past two years, maintaining sufficient lab bench space has been an ongoing challenge for Pegasus. The additional laboratory space gives us room to maintain our aggressive pace of growth, and expansion of service offerings to the global human and animal health industry” said Dr. Yimy Mena, CEO of Pegasus Biotech. In the past 12 months Pegasus Biotech has more than doubled the number of scientists employed at its Charlottetown site in order to keep up with the high demand for both conventional and DNA vaccine development services from clients in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

The mission of Pegasus Biotech is to enable their clients to bring cutting edge innovation to the global human and animal health markets. Their area of expertise is ensuring that client biopharmaceutical and vaccine development activities result in commercially viable products that are compliant with global regulations. Services include seed-to-formulation process development along with associated analytical development.

To learn more about Pegasus’ services, click here http://www.pegasusbio.com.

About Pegasus Biotech Inc: Pegasus Biotech Inc. is a full-service biotechnology contract research organization. They offer both process and analytical development services to the global pharma industry. They specialize in vaccine and biopharmaceutical development and are global leaders in DNA vaccine development.

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Science: Biology

Genomics India Conference 2023, Feb 2nd and 3rd Bengaluru India.

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BENGALURU, KARNATAKA, India (PRWEB)

Bangalore the silicon valley of India is proud to host the five star edition of biotech conference Genomics India 2023 in NIMHANS convention centre, Bangalore, on Feb 2 to 3 of 2023. This conference is being hosted by Genotypic Technology a Pioneer in Genomics since 1998. Being early movers themselves had an insight to contribute to the indian genomics landscape and have been promoting through various forums including iBioM an MSME non-profit organization for Biotech start ups.

Leaders of the Genomics world are expected to grace the occasion including Prominent figures from USA, Peru, Tanzania, UK, Israel, EU are attending. Legends in the field of Genomics are delivering lectures on cutting edge research, throwing the Genomics enterprise in open forum thru brain storming sessions, panel discussions and Q&A sessions.

The conference is co organized by QTLomics, Dhitiomics; The knowledge partner is iBioM a Biotech MSME organization nurtured by a group of Pharma-Biotech patrons in India. Biospectrum and Gubba are the press partners. A salient feature of the Conference is sheer variety of speakers from across the globe and India, delivering breakthrough innovations in Genomics in the past decades and the future to come by. M V Ramanujam Member iBioM quotes that India is well poised to explore Genome Informatics with Mathematical and Computational Prowess, as India is inherently strong in Math and Computers. This conference indeed is best suited to discuss the future of genome analytics in India, he concludes. iBioM members are offered special provisions to display their products and services at the conference.

Key round table discussions: 1- Has Genomics delivered its promise for healthcare?

2- The Regulatory environment in India for Drugs and development

3- Infectious diseases, surveillance and vaccines

The NGS analytic and Genome informatics Program runs as a satellite Program with the conference providing the scientific base and the NGS analytic session as a practical session for learning the basics of Genome informatics from QC to assembly annotation, variant calling and reporting. Certificates are provided for the Genome informatics session participants.

Special economical registration for students, Phds and postdocs available at https://genomicsindia.co.in/registration/

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Science: Biology

Next Gen Diagnostics CEO Paul A. Rhodes Announces Formation of Subsidiary NGD Israel, Ltd.

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Next Gen Diagnostics, which is bringing whole genome sequencing to clinical microbiology, announced today the formation of its subsidiary NGD Israel, Ltd., to offer low-cost pathogen sequencing, transmission detection, and sequence-based infectious disease diagnostics to Israel.


TEL AVIV (PRWEB)

Next Gen Diagnostics, which is bringing whole genome sequencing to clinical microbiology, announced today the formation of its subsidiary NGD Israel, Ltd., to offer low-cost pathogen sequencing, transmission detection, and sequence-based infectious disease diagnostics to Israel. NGD’s pathogen sequencing lab will be centrally located to facilitate providing rapid pathogen sequencing service to customers across Israel. NGD will offer a complete turn-key service including extraction, library preparation, sequencing, and fully validated bioinformatic analysis, at unprecedentedly low cost.

“NGD and its distinguished cofounders have developed and validated among the most advanced and complete automation of bacterial WGS bioinformatics, from quality control and relatedness determination to resistome profiling and antibiotic resistance prediction,” said Paul A. Rhodes, Ph.D., NGD’s founder and CEO. “The entire suite of information, validated in a series of published studies, is provided to users in an intuitive web-based interface that is automatically populated overnight with the information generated from each sequencing run. Our rapid turn-around enables this information to be at the fingertips of infection control and infectious disease services fast enough to have a real-time impact on infection control.”

NGD is able to offer a complete sequencing service at a price below PCR panels because of the cost advantages of its microfluidic sample preparation system. This proprietary system enables library preparation for up to 48 distinct strains to be processed in a disposable the size of a single plate, in a fully automated fashion. An instrument the size of a desktop computer replaces the dining table-sized robots used to automate sample preparation in competing services, with microfluidic reaction chambers less than a uL in volume enabling reduction in the consumption of costly reagents, together greatly reducing sample preparation costs.

“Israel will be one the first markets in which NGD will offer its complete sample preparation-sequencing-bioinformatics service,” noted Dr. Rhodes. “Israel is well-known to be an early adopter of medical system advances, as it demonstrated during Covid. NGD’s service will offer the chance to use prospective sequencing of pathogens to detect transmission of antibiotic resistant infection.”

“NGD’s bioinformatic system was applied at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge in tandem with prospective sequencing to detect transmission and guide intervention, where it was documented to have stopped an outbreak ,” said Dr. Rhodes. “The low cost of the service makes prospective sequencing practical as the new paradigm for the detection of transmission and prevention of outbreak in hospitals, where transmission of drug resistant infection is such an appalling problem.”

About Next Gen Diagnostics

NGD, founded by Dr. Paul A. Rhodes along with Sanger Institute group leaders, has built and validated world-leading automation of pathogen bioinformatics enabling high throughput low cost clinical use of WGS. In addition, NGD holds the exclusive rights to a unique microfluidic sample preparation system for clinical and commercial applications of pathogen WGS. NGD offers a high volume turn-key sequencing services to enable detection of transmission in hospitals, and is working with leading collaborators in the US, Europe and Israel to be among the first to bring WGS-based regulated diagnostics to patient care. NGD is based in the US, with subsidiaries based in Cambridge, UK and in Israel.

For press inquiries, please contact: press@nextgen-dx.com

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Science: Biology

Patient Journey and Disease Progression — Exploring the Power of Images in Real-World Data, Upcoming Webinar Hosted by Xtalks

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Imaging is a critical part of care and has untapped potential when linked with a data source such as EHR data that reveals other key patient demographics and characteristics.


TORONTO, Ontario (PRWEB)

Claims and electronic health record (EHR) data are known sources of real-world healthcare data — neither of which were created for real-world evidence (RWE) generation — but have proved effective in deeply understanding the patient journey. More recently, it has become evident that medical images, from histopathology slides, X-rays, CT scans to MRI scans and ophthalmic images, can offer RWE insights as well when linked with sources such as claims and EHR. Ophthalmic images, for example, capture fluid levels, lesion growth and visual field, all of which are critical in an ophthalmologist’s diagnosis, treatment and care decisions. These variables are just as relevant for researchers to identify patients for a clinical trial, track disease progression within patient populations or understand how patient groups responded to a certain treatment.

Imaging is a critical part of care and has untapped potential when linked with a data source such as EHR data that reveals other key patient demographics and characteristics. In order to use these images as a source of real-world data (RWD) — all of which exist in different formats — researchers are applying machine learning (ML) techniques and developing algorithms to label and recognize patterns.

Join this webinar to learn about the power of images, specifically ophthalmic images, and how linking them with EHR data and applying ML can help support patient journey and disease progression research.

Bonus: Hear use cases for imaging that include support for clinical trials, optimized dosing schedules and comparative effectiveness studies.

Join Aaron Y. Lee, MD MSCI, Associate Professor and Retina Surgeon, University of Washington, Department of Ophthalmology; Michael Mbagwu, MD, Senior Medical Director, Verana Health; and Zhongdi Chu, PhD, MSc, Quantitative Sciences, Verana Health, for the live webinar on Wednesday, January 25, 2023, at 1pm EST (10am PST).

For more information, or to register for this event, visit Patient Journey and Disease Progression — Exploring the Power of Images in Real-World Data.

ABOUT XTALKS

Xtalks, powered by Honeycomb Worldwide Inc., is a leading provider of educational webinars to the global life science, food and medical device community. Every year, thousands of industry practitioners (from life science, food and medical device companies, private & academic research institutions, healthcare centers, etc.) turn to Xtalks for access to quality content. Xtalks helps Life Science professionals stay current with industry developments, trends and regulations. Xtalks webinars also provide perspectives on key issues from top industry thought leaders and service providers.

To learn more about Xtalks visit http://xtalks.com

For information about hosting a webinar visit http://xtalks.com/why-host-a-webinar/

Contact:

Vera Kovacevic

Tel: +1 (416) 977-6555 x371

Email: vkovacevic@xtalks.com

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Science: Biology

NGD and CEO Paul Rhodes Announce Publication in mSphere

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Next Gen Diagnostics and CEO Paul Rhodes Announce the Publication in mSphere of a Report Validating the Accuracy of NGD’s Automated Bioinformatic System for the Detection of Transmission of Infection


CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom (PRWEB)

Next Gen Diagnostics announces the publication in mSphere of a study validating the accuracy of its fully automated bioinformatics platform for the detection of transmission of infection. Titled “Large-scale evaluation of a rapid fully automated analysis platform to detect and refute outbreaks based on MRSA genome comparisons” and led by University of Cambridge Professor and NGD Scientific Advisory Board member Sharon Peacock, the study compared the detection of transmission clusters by the gold standard manual bioinformatics pipeline developed by the Peacock group for previous seminal publications on hospital transmission with the automated NGD system. Analyzing 3,311 case pairs, the paper reports that both the manual bioinformatics system and the NGD automated pipeline identified the same 66 transmission clusters. The authors concluded “…that [NGD’s] automated transmission detection tool worked at least as well as a researcher-led manual analysis and indicates how such tools could support the rapid use of MRSA genomic epidemiology in infection control practice.”

“We have seen our system enable the power of prospective sequencing to detect transmission and guide intervention to stop outbreaks,” noted Paul A. Rhodes, Ph.D., Next Gen Diagnostics CEO. “Now with this new publication from Professor Peacock’s group the accuracy of the NGD automated bioinformatics system’s computation of SNP-level relatedness between infections has been quantitatively validated. By combining high quality automated bioinformatics with our low-cost automated microfluidic library preparation system we will make prospective sequencing practical as the new paradigm for the detection of transmission and prevention of outbreak in hospitals, where transmission of drug resistant infection is such an appalling problem.”

NGD has combined world-class fully automated bioinformatics, validated in published clinical studies, with a revolutionary microfluidic sample preparation system to offer a low cost, overnight complete pathogen WGS service. NGD’s exclusive microfluidic sample preparation system reduces reagent volumes >10-fold, is highly compact and automated, and enables 48 bacterial samples to be simultaneously processed in an instrument the size of a desktop computer using a disposable the size of a single plate.

“We knew that a rigorous quantification of the accuracy of the NGD automated bioinformatics system was a key prerequisite for its consideration in clinical use,” said Professor Peacock, NGD Scientific Advisory Board member. “With this study, coupled with our earlier work1 reporting the successful clinical application of the NGD system to detect outbreaks, the time has come to consider prospective sequencing combined with automated bioinformatics as a foundation of hospital infection control practice.”

About Next Gen Diagnostics

NGD, founded by Paul Rhodes, the former CEO of Specific Diagnostics, along with Sanger Institute group leaders, has built and validated world-leading automation of pathogen bioinformatics enabling high throughput low cost clinical use of WGS. In addition, NGD holds the exclusive rights to a transformative microfluidic sample preparation system for all clinical and commercial applications of pathogen WGS. NGD offers high volume turn-key sequencing services to enable detection of transmission in hospitals, and is working with leading collaborators in the US, Europe and Israel to be the first to bring WGS-based regulated diagnostics to patient care. NGD is based in the US, with an office in Cambridge, UK and a subsidiary in Israel. For press inquiries, please contact: press@nextgen-dx.com

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Science: Biology

Syncell Expands Global Services for Spatial Biomarker Discovery

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Syncell’s Microscoop technology is unique in hypothesis-free high-precision spatial proteomics. Syncell will participate in the JP Morgan Healthcare Meeting 2023.


TAIPEI, Taiwan and LOS ALTOS, Calif. (PRWEB)

Syncell, a biotech technology pioneering in biotools for spatial proteomics, today announced the expansion of its Global Rapid Access Service Program (GRASP) to accept more service projects for microscopy-guided proteomics discovery. Syncell’s Microscoop (TM) system is effectively a “pickable” microscope that allows isolation and identification of proteins at special locations under a microscope. It has been successfully used to discover novel biomarkers for specific biological problems, including identification of disease-associated biomarkers. Due to popular requests of services, all previously built in-house Microscoop systems were fully occupied. To fulfill customers’ needs, Syncell has built additional systems and now can accommodate more service projects.

“Syncell’s Microscoop technology is unique in the spatial biology field because it enables hypothesis-free high-precision spatial proteomics,” said Dr. Jung-Chi Liao, the Founder and CEO of Syncell. “We are excited to see the high demands of services for diverse life science problems. We are also happy to see recent successful proteomics discovery for customers’ projects. To address the high enthusiasm of our technology, we accelerated in-house system production and now we are able to expand our service program to accept more projects.” It is expected that scientists from different fields such as neuroscience, cancer biology, immunology, and cell biology will be benefited by Syncell’s pioneering technology to reveal proteins or biomarkers at specific microscopic locations.

Syncell will participate in the JP Morgan Healthcare Meeting in San Francisco, CA on Jan 9-11, 2023. It will announce its second grant competition focusing on cell biology soon. Currently Syncell is working with two awardees of the first grant competition to identify novel biomarkers for two important problems, one in neuroscience and the other in immunology.

About Syncell

Syncell is a commercial stage biotech company, with a vision to revolutionize spatial biology research. Its first product, Microscoop, is the first and only microscopic bioimaging system that allows researchers to pick up, identify and quantify thousands of known and unknown proteins in specified cellular and subcellular locations. Microscoop will provide deep spatial proteomics insights to transform a wide range of basic biology and translational research including neuroscience, oncology, immunology, or infectious disease to identify novel biomarkers with spatial context to accelerate biomarker discovery research and drug development programs.

To learn more about Syncell, visit:

Website: https://www.syncell.com/

Follow Syncell on LinkedIn and Twitter and tag your posts with #syncell or #microscoop

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/syncell

Twitter: Twitter: https://twitter.com/IncSyncell

Contact

Dr. Yoshihiro Kawano

Director of Business Development

yoshi.k@syncell.com

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Science: Biology

Announcing the Winners of The Scientist’s Top 10 Innovations of 2022

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The Scientist Top 10 Innovations

The Scientist Top 10 Innovations

The Scientist is a publication for life science professionals that is dedicated to covering a wide range of biological fields.


WILMINGTON, Del. (PRWEB)

Each year The Scientist highlights the latest and greatest tools, technologies, and techniques to hit the life science landscape. For more than a decade, we’ve been employing the assistance of expert panels of independent judges who weigh submissions of innovative products that are speeding work in laboratories and facilitating biological discovery.

This year’s crop of entries to The Scientist’s Top 10 Innovations contest included many with a clinical focus, and others that represent significant advances in sequencing, single-cell analysis, and more. The winners that emerged reflect the fact that the research enterprise continues to hum along as the world emerges from the worst that SARS-CoV-2 threw at us.

The winners of The Scientist’s Top 10 Innovations of 2022 contest are:

1. NeXT PersonalTM (Personalis): A personalized assay that detects, quantifies, and monitors circulating tumor DNA in order to spot molecular residual disease following surgical removal and track responses to therapy

2. CosMxTM Spatial Molecular Imager (NanoString Technologies): A product that visualizes and quantifies RNA and protein levels at the single-cell and even subcellular levels, and allows researchers to image multiple targets in one sample

3. UG100TM (Ultima Genomics): Technology that can sequence an entire human genome for US$100, and also boasts higher speed, better efficiency, and less waste than other sequencers, according to the company

4. ProteographTM Product Suite (Seer): A nanoparticle-based assay that allows unbiased sampling of all peptides in a biofluid sample, allowing researchers to track small molecular changes associated with disease and enabling the identification of novel and biologically relevant proteoforms

5. Live T Cell Assay (Nanolive): An application-specific digital assay that examines how T cells locate, bind, stress, and kill their targets, such as infected, foreign, or cancerous cells

6. MARS® Bar (Applied Cells, Inc.): A closed system that selects cells based on the presence of specific cell surface antigens and is not limited to use in a clean room or biosafety cabinet

7. Single Cellome™ System SS2000 (Yokogawa Electric Corporation): An automated subcellular sampling system that contains both a dual spinning-disk confocal microscope to visualize tissues and a sampling setup to collect either whole cells or intracellular components from a single cell

8. LightBench® Detect (Yourgene Health): A DNA processing tool that separates fragments by length for applications such as noninvasive prenatal testing, which involves analyzing fetal DNA collected from the mother’s blood

9. Molecular Cartography™ (Resolve Biosciences): A single-molecule fluorescence in situ hybridization technology that offers a three-dimensional view of gene expression within cells without damaging the tissue section or cell culture sample

10. OCELLOS 3.0 (TrakCel): A cloud-based software that tracks cell and gene therapies from extraction or manufacturing to the moment they’re administered to a patient, managing the chain of identity and chain of custody data that regulatory agencies require

Congratulations to this year’s winners. Be sure to visit the online feature where you can read more about the products that earned top spots and see comments from our expert judges.

About The Scientist:

The Scientist is a publication for life science professionals that is dedicated to covering a wide range of biological fields. The Scientist provides print and online coverage of the latest developments in the life sciences, including trends in research, new technology, news, business, and careers. It is read by the science-curious public and leading researchers in industry and academia who value penetrating analyses and broad perspectives on life science topics both within and beyond their areas of expertise. Written by prominent scientists and professional journalists, articles in The Scientist are concise, accurate, accessible, and entertaining.

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Science: Biology

Dutch-Based Life-Sciences Company, Detact Diagnostics, Opens First US Operational Lab in New Hampshire

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Detact Diagnostics, a life-sciences company that develops diagnostic tests for the health & food sector, opened its first U.S. operational laboratory in Keene, N.H. Courtesy of Detact Diagnostics.

“New Hampshire’s robust life science sector continues to attract companies developing groundbreaking technology, treatments and detection solutions,” said BEA Commissioner Taylor Caswell. “The expansion further enhances our economy by creating jobs, opportunities and resources for the community.”


KEENE, N.H. (PRWEB)

New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs(BEA) announced today that Detact Diagnostics, a Dutch-based life-sciences company that develops diagnostic tests for the health and food sector, opened its first U.S. operational laboratory in Keene, New Hampshire. Located in Keene State College’s Putnam Science Center, the lab will serve as a diagnostics research and development space, with plans to roll out bacterial diagnostics clinical testing in the coming months once it receives federal certification.

“New Hampshire’s robust life science sector continues to attract companies developing groundbreaking technology, treatments and detection solutions,” said BEA Commissioner Taylor Caswell. “This expansion further enhances our economy by creating jobs, opportunities and resources for the growing biotech community in the Granite State, while also attracting new talent and companies. Successful programs and business opportunities like this one are possible because of our ‘triangle’ strategy – the collaboration among our academic institutions, employers, and state and local economic development agencies.”

The patented Detact Diagnostics platform technology called VIPER® (Visualization by Infrared Peptide Reaction) involves the immediate release of a quenched Near Infrared (NIR) molecule from its peptide bond after contact with a specific bacteria/enzyme, which emits NIR-light (NIRL). The amount of light released determines the presence of bacteria or viruses. Due to its speed, precision and sensitivity, even with very diluted samples, the potential of this technology is superior compared to other testing products.

The company plans to hire Keene State College students for academic internship opportunities each semester and will roll out multiple hiring incentive programs in partnership with the institution.

The expansion is in conjunction with the Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship’s BioNest program, which provides targeted biotech support along with their core programming for entrepreneurs and companies in the state’s rural Monadnock Region.

“We couldn’t have selected a better location for our U.S. headquarters,” said Joost Gazendam, CEO of Detact Diagnostics. “From the support we received from Hannah Grimes to the region’s growing life science community and access to a booming workforce, there are endless aspects that drew us to New Hampshire.”

In the coming months, the laboratories at Keene State College will be certified by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment (CLIA), which recognizes laboratories that are certified by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services which regulates labs researching human specimens to ensure that they provide accurate, reliable and timely tests. The facilities will allow for fast, affordable and precise treatment and will attract biotech companies to the state.

New Hampshire’s life science industry is a leading driver of economic growth in the state. The life science and medical device sector includes over 600 companies, employs over 7,000 people and contributes nearly $6 billion to New Hampshire’s gross domestic product (GDP).

About Detact Diagnostics

Detact Diagnostics is a life-science company based in the Netherlands, founded in 2014 by former trauma surgeon Joost Gazendam, MD, PhD. Seeking to develop diagnostics to detect the presence of post-surgical infection, Gazendam and team developed a novel and disruptive bacterial-detection platform/technique, VIPER®, that is both highly sensitive and specific to pathogens, and thus, uniquely suited to developing quick, affordable point-of-care tests. Detact is advancing its applications in healthcare and food safety. For more information, visit: https://www.detactdiagnostics.com.

About the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs (BEA)

The Department of Business and Economic Affairs is dedicated to enhancing the economic vitality of the state of New Hampshire while promoting it as a destination for domestic and international visitors. For more information, visit http://www.nheconomy.com or http://www.choosenh.com.

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