Tel Aviv University Announces Collaboration With Biosynth on Pioneering Chemiluminescent Reporter Molecules

Biosynth, a global company supplying intermediate chemicals to the life science industry and Tel Aviv University (TAU) through Ramot its Business Engagement Center, announce the signing of a licensing agreement giving Biosynth the right to manufacture and sell probes invented by Prof. Doron Shabat from the TAU School of Chemistry.

Prof. Doron Shabat has developed a series of Dioxetane based novel chemiluminescence probes for research and diagnostic applications. This work was recently published in ACS central science and received much attention and follow up comments.

These probes offer unique advantages as they can work as single agents (without the need for enhancers), they have a higher efficiency and sensitivity over currently existing probes, they are especially designed to work under physiological conditions and can be used ex-vivo and in-vivo.
 Dr. Urs Spitz, President of Biosynth declared: “We develop reporter molecules for bioanalytical and diagnostics producers across the globe. As soon as I read Doron’s publication I realized how huge the invention’s potential really is - it will dramatically improve the handling and speed of bio tests.”
 Biosynth will receive a license to manufacture the probes and sell them to customers who develop and sell kits. The series of invented probes have multiple commercial applications, targeting a potential multibillion dollar market. Ramot has filed the series of probes under the trademark name AquaSpark.

"We are confident that Biosynth is the right partner with the most professional tools to rapidly bring this technology to the market. We intend to work with Biosynth to generate many agreements with multiple players in the various life science sectors in order to make AquaSpark™ the acknowledged standard Dioxetane-based novel probe for research and diagnostic applications”, said Dr. Adi Elkeles, VP BD Life Sciences, Ramot.

Prof. Shabat summarized: “We are extremely encouraged by the speed at which our initial communication and cooperation has developed and I look forward to expanding our collaboration with additional extensions of the current technology which look very promising”.

Contact Information

Media Contact – Biosynth
Mario Mehmel, Ph.D. +41.71.858 2658
mario.mehmel@biosynth.ch

Media Contact – Ramot at Tel Aviv University
Maya Kotler, +972.52.605 7144
maya.kotler@ramot.org

About Tel Aviv University 

Tel Aviv University (TAU) - Israel's largest and most comprehensive institution of higher learning - is home to over 30,000 students studying in nine faculties and over 125 schools and departments across the spectrum of sciences, humanities and the arts.

Situated in Israel's cultural, financial and technological capital, TAU shares Tel Aviv's unshakable spirit of openness and innovation – and boasts a campus life as dynamic and pluralistic as the metropolis itself. Tel Aviv the city and Tel Aviv the university are one and the same – a thriving Mediterranean center of diversity and discovery.

Consistently ranked in the top 20 in the world in terms of scientific citations and among the top 100 universities internationally, Tel Aviv University is also Israel's first choice for students, and its graduates are the most sought after by Israeli companies.

About Ramot at Tel Aviv University

Ramot is the Business Engagement Center at Tel Aviv University, Israel's largest research and teaching university. Founded in 1956, Tel Aviv University is located in Israel's cultural, financial and industrial center. Rooted in both academic and corporate arenas, Ramot is uniquely positioned to cultivate the special relationships between these two compelling worlds, creating win-win connections that support fertile, ground breaking research while providing companies with discoveries that give them a crucial competitive edge. For more information, visit http://www.ramot.org.

About Biosynth

Biosynth is an accomplished player with a successful history in the field of biochemicals for the diagnostics, pharmaceutical and chemical industries as well as food and environmental analysis. Biosynth's own biology and chemistry labs constantly drive the further development of molecules for the sensitive detection of pathogens. In recent years Biosynth has successfully introduced innovative chromogenic, fluorogenic and luminescence-based systems into the field. The Swiss-based organization has branches in the USA, China and the EU as well as a worldwide distribution network that reaches the entire diagnostics industry. Biosynth, with its product offering of over 80’000 substances is a competent partner for industrial as well as research customers. www.biosynth.com

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Detects Anthrax

In an effort to combat bioterrorism, scientists in South Korea have trained artificial intelligence to speedily spot anthrax. The new technique is not 100 percent accurate yet, but it’s orders of magnitude faster than our current testing methods. And it could revolutionize how we screen mysterious white powders for the deadly bioweapon.

Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology combined a detailed imaging technique called holographic microscopy with artificial intelligence. The algorithm they created can analyze images of bacterial spores to identify whether they’re anthrax in less than a second. It’s accurate about 96 percent of the time, according to a paper published last week in the journal Science Advances.

ANTHRAX CAN KILL QUICKLY, IF LEFT UNTREATED

Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis, which lives in soil. (Both the infection and the bacteria are often referred to as anthrax.) People can accidentally get anthrax infections when they handle the skin or meat of infected animals. But anthrax can also be a dangerous bioweapon: in 2001, anthrax spores sent in the mail infected 22 people and killed five of them.

Once the spores enter the body, they germinate and multiply, causing a flu-like illness that poisons the blood. At least 85 percent of people infected by inhaling the spores die if left untreated, sometimes within just one to two days after symptoms appear. (Anthrax infections of the skin, by contrast, tend to be less fatal.) For people especially at risk of contracting anthrax, like lab workers or people who work with animal hair, there’s a vaccine. For the rest of us, there are antibiotics — but these work best when they’re started as soon as possible after exposure.

IT’S IMPORTANT TO DETECT ANTHRAX FAST

So it’s important to detect anthrax fast. Right now, one of the most common methods is to analyze the genetic material of the spores or, once someone is infected, of the bacteria found in infected tissue. But that typically requires giving the spores a little time to multiply in order to yield enough genetic material to analyze. “It’s still going to take the better part of a day with the most rapid approaches to get a result,” says bacteriologist George Stewart at the University of Missouri, who has also developed an anthrax detector and was not involved in this study.

In search of a quicker screening technique, the study’s lead author, physicist YongKeun Park, teamed up with South Korea’s Agency for Defense Development. The goal is to be prepared in case North Korea is developing anthrax as a bioweapon, he says.

Park turned to an imaging technique called holographic microscopy: unlike conventional microscopes, which can only capture the intensity of the light scattering off an object, a holographic microscope can also capture the direction that light is traveling. Since the structure and makeup of a cell can change how light bounces off of it, the researchers suspected that the holographic microscope might capture key, but subtle, differences between spores produced by anthrax and those produced by closely related, but less toxic species.

THE AI COULD ID THE ANTHRAX SPORES WITHIN SECONDS

Park and his team then trained a deep learning algorithm to spot these key differences in more than 400 individual spores from five different species of bacteria. One species was Bacillus anthracis, which causes anthrax, and four were closely related doppelgängers. The researchers didn’t tell the neural network exactly how to spot the different species — the AI figured that out on its own. After some training, it could distinguish the anthrax spores from the non-anthrax doppelgänger species about 96 percent of the time.

The technique isn’t perfect, and as a tool intended to detect bioweapons, it has to be. “The drawback is that the accuracy is lower than conventional methods,” Park says. There are also multiple strains of each of the bacteria species analyzed — but the machine was trained on only one strain per species. Subtle differences between the strains might be able to throw off the algorithm, Stewart says. Still, the new technique is so rapid that it could come in handy. “It doesn’t require culturing organisms, it doesn’t require extracting DNA, it doesn’t require much of anything other than being able to visualize the spores themselves,” Stewart says.

“IT COULD ENHANCE OUR PREPARATION FOR THIS KIND OF BIOLOGICAL THREAT.”

Next, Park wants to feed the neural network more spore images, in order to boost accuracy. In the meantime, the method could be used as a pre-screening tool to rapidly determine whether a white powder that people have been exposed to is anthrax, and if they should start antibiotics. A slower, more accurate method could then confirm the results.

“This paper will not change everything,” Park says, but it’s one step toward a method that can quickly detect anthrax. “It could enhance our preparation for this kind of biological threat.”

UW Receives Grant to Develop More Accurate Brucellosis Test for Swine, Cattle

Researchers in the Department of Veterinary Sciences at the University of Wyoming will use a $149,000 grant from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research to help develop a quicker, cheaper and more accurate test to detect brucellosis.

The money will help fund studies to detect swine brucellosis (Brucella suis), which is prevalent among feral swine in most of the United States, but not yet in Wyoming. B. suis also can infect domestic swine and cattle where their populations overlap.

The money will help continue efforts toward creating a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis, an ongoing effort by Dr. Brant Schumaker, an associate professor in the department.

There is a growing pressure for hog producers to move from confinement production to natural or pasture-raised swine. Serologic (blood) testing cannot discriminate between cattle brucellosis (Brucella abortus) and B. suis exposures.

“I think most of the state understands how much of a problem cattle brucellosis has been in the greater Yellowstone area,” says Schumaker, epidemiologist at the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory. He will lead the collaborative project with Texas A&M University.

“If this disease were to come to the state, we would have a hard time differentiating between the two organisms,” Schumaker says.

UW and Texas A&M will match the grant for a total of $299,000 for the project. Funding is through the foundation’s Rapid Outcomes from Agricultural Research program.

Texas has had several instances during which cattle in contact with feral swine have tested positive for brucellosis.

“It’s very complicated to try to differentiate between swine and bovine brucellosis,” Schumaker says.

Culture testing is the current gold standard for detection, Schumaker says, but it takes at least 14 days, is about $600 per animal and requires the animal be euthanized. Only 30 to 50 percent of animals that test antibody-positive in blood are culture-positive.

Schumaker says the research is a continuation of Ph.D. student Noah Hull’s studies at UW. The team is in the final stages of testing a PCR assay for bovine brucellosis. PCR can produce millions of copies of a section of DNA in only a few hours, yielding enough DNA required for analysis.

Preliminary testing has shown researchers are able to identify more than twice the number of serologically positive animals compared to culture and obtain results in two to three hours at one-fourth the cost.

Texas A&M researchers will collect and send swine tissue samples to UW for testing. Schumaker says there are more than 29 collaborators on the grant. Members include representatives from federal, state and local governmental agencies.

Indian Hospitals, Labs Told to Use IgM ELISA for Dengue Diagnosis

With dengue cases yet to see a marginal decrease, Health Department has directed hospitals and laboratories to use IgM ELISA as the standard method to detect dengue.

The use of antibody-based Immunoglobulin M (IgM) ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) test has been stressed for generation of accurate results of the viral disease.

Officials said that many hospitals and laboratories were using rapid diagnostic test (RDT) which can generate inaccurate results, that is, false positive or false negative results.

“Hospitals and laboratories have been instructed to use IgM ELISA test to confirm dengue. Use of RDT test kit can generate false results at times,” said P.G. Bhanumathi, Deputy Director of Health Services, Coimbatore.

According to senior doctors, NS1 (Nonstructural Protein 1) antigen-based rapid testing kit is normally used to detect dengue in the early stage.

Hence, chances are very high for RDT methods to generate a false negative result if samples are tested after five days.

When samples are tested using RDT method, there are also chances for the dengue virus to have cross reaction with other flavi viruses, malaria parasite, and leptospiras which may alter the actual result.

The dengue virus may also have cross reaction with immune disorders such as rheumatoid and lupus.

Health Department suspect that several medium range private hospitals and laboratories still use RDT method for dengue diagnosis.

Dr. Bhanumathi said that District Headquarter Hospital at Pollachi and Coimbatore Medical College Hospital were equipped to perform IgM ELISA test for dengue detection. In the private sector, several multi-speciality hospitals and laboratories had the same facility.

She said that hospitals and laboratories with IgM ELISA facility could perform the examination for which they need not require any approval from the government as in the case of testing A (H1N1) influenza virus.

Taiwan CDC Unveils Locally Produced Rapid Test Kit for Dengue Virus

The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday announced a new domestically manufactured test for screening dengue fever that is able to show results within 30 minutes.

The mosquito-borne dengue virus is one of the diseases that the agency focuses on preventing each year. In a bid to support the nation’s biotechnology industry and enhance the ability to diagnose dengue, the CDC in September 2015 held an open process to select a company for a technology transfer.

The agency in January last year signed a contract with AsiaGen Corp and received a license from the Food and Drug Administration for the AsiaGen Dengue NS1 Antigen Rapid Test Kit — the only domestic manufacturer of a dengue test kit.

The rapid test kit can detect the four dengue virus serotypes and provide results within 30 minutes, far faster than the traditional reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method, which takes six hours, CDC Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said.

Before the new test was available, doctors had to diagnose dengue from a patient’s symptoms, then take blood samples for RT-PCR testing or imported rapid test kits, which are relatively expensive and unpopular, he said.

The new kit, which is of good quality and cheaper, is expected to help doctors diagnose and treat dengue faster, improving the nation’s dengue prevention ability, he added.

There have been numerous imported cases of dengue, with the top three sources of the disease over the past month being Vietnam, the Philippines and Myanmar, the agency said, adding that a total of 172 imported dengue cases had been reported as of Sunday, more than in the same period in the past six years.

As the number of dengue outbreaks in Southeast Asian countries has continued to rise, people who plan to visit the region are advised to take mosquito bite prevention measures and report to airport quarantine stations or see a doctor if they feel ill after returning to Taiwan.

Innovate UK Gives Atlas Genetics £2m Contract for Rapid Diagnostic Platform

Innovate UK has awarded a £2 million pound contract to Bath-based company, Atlas Genetics, for its diagnostic instrument (io System) and how to best adopt it into UK sexual health clinics.

Atlas’ io system is a molecular diagnostic platform that rapidly diagnoses a broad range of infectious diseases.

According to an Atlas spokesman, it offers results within 30 minutes, allowing clinical professionals to perform infectious disease tests that are as accurate as those carried out in hospital laboratories.

The two-year contract will allow Atlas Genetics to collaborate with Aquarius Population Health, an independent health economics consultancy, and the Applied Diagnostic Research and Evaluation Unit (ADREU) at St George’s, University of London where they will research the benefits of point-of-care testing for sexual health.

The company wants to further understand how to best integrate its io system into UK sexual health clinical practices and expand its research into diagnostic pathways within sexual health. The funding will also help Atlas develop its Multi-STI (MSTI) test ahead of clinical trials.

The first of the various studies and evaluations conducted by St George’s using the io system started mid-2015.

Atlas have collaborated with St George’s on variety of other projects including i4i, phase 1 of the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) project, and have also performed the company’s clinical trial for the CT product, eSTI2 project.

“The (IO) system is not yet commercially available, so while nobody is using the system for patient diagnosis yet, a number of clinics have used the system in a range of different evaluations and usability studies – St Mary’s, Portsmouth, Taunton, Royal South Hants and in the US, University of Alabama, Birmingham”, the spokesman said.

Tariq Sadiq, director of the applied diagnostic and research evaluation unit at St George’s reinforced that it is an innovative approach to better understand and overcome the often complex and substantial challenges to getting cutting-edge technology adopted into the NHS.

“We believe that there are real benefits to using the io rapid diagnostic platform as patients will be able to receive the appropriate treatment immediately and thereby reduce onward transmission, and ultimately save the NHS time and money”, Sadiq said.

Clinics will be able to get patient results in 30 minutes. “This has numerous benefits including reducing loss to follow-up, immediate treatment of positive patients, less empirical treatment / better antibiotic stewardship and reduction in onward transmission and improvement in the patient experience”, the Atlas spokesman said.

John Clarkson, chief executive officer of Atlas said Innovate UK’s commitment to introducing new, pioneering approaches to healthcare validates both their technology and leading role in molecular diagnostics.

Test Uses Nanotechnology to Quickly Diagnose Zika Virus

Washington University in St. Louis researchers have developed a test that quickly detects the presence of Zika virus in blood.

Currently, testing for Zika requires that a blood sample be refrigerated and shipped to a medical center or laboratory, delaying diagnosis and possible treatment. Although the new proof-of-concept technology has yet to be produced for use in medical situations, the test's results can be determined in minutes. Further, the materials required for the test do not require refrigeration and may be applicable in testing for other emerging infectious diseases.

Findings from the small study -- from Washington University School of Medicine and the School of Engineering & Applied Science -- is available online in the journal Advanced Biosystems.

The researchers tested blood samples taken from four people who had been infected with Zika virus and compared it to blood from five people known not to have the virus. Blood from Zika-infected patients tested positive, but blood from Zika-negative controls did not. The assay produced no false-positive results.

Among the reasons such a test is needed, according to the researchers, is that many people infected with Zika don't know they're infected. Although symptoms include fever, joint pain, muscle pain and rash, many people don't feel ill after being bitten by an infected mosquito. Testing is particularly important for pregnant women because Zika infection can cause congenital Zika syndrome, which contributes to several neurologic problems in the fetus or newborn infant.

"Zika infection is often either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic," said Evan D. Kharasch, MD, PhD, one of the study's three senior investigators. "The most effective way to diagnose the disease is not to wait for people to develop symptoms but to do population screening."

That strategy requires inexpensive, easy-to-use and easy-to-transport tests. Kharasch, the Russell D. and Mary B. Shelden Professor of Anesthesiology, collaborated with Srikanth Singamaneni, PhD, an associate professor of mechanical engineering & materials science, and Jeremiah J. Morrissey, PhD, a research professor of anesthesiology, to create the test, which uses gold nanorods mounted on paper to detect Zika infection within a few minutes.

"If an assay requires electricity and refrigeration, it defeats the purpose of developing something to use in a resource-limited setting, especially in tropical areas of the world," said Singamaneni. "We wanted to make the test immune from variations in temperature and humidity."

The test relies on a protein made by Zika virus that causes an immune response in infected individuals. The protein is attached to tiny gold nanorods mounted on a piece of paper. The paper then is completely covered with tiny, protective nanocrystals. The nanocrystals allow the diagnostic nanorods to be shipped and stored without refrigeration prior to use.

To use the test, a technician rinses the paper with slightly acidic water, removing the protective crystals and exposing the protein mounted on the nanorods. Then, a drop of the patient's blood is applied. If the patient has come into contact with the virus, the blood will contain immunoglobulins that react with the protein.

"We're taking advantage of the fact that patients mount an immune attack against this viral protein," said Morrissey. "The immunoglobulins persist in the blood for a few months, and when they come into contact with the gold nanorods, the nanorods undergo a slight color change that can be detected with a hand-held spectrophotometer.

"With this test, results will be clear before the patient leaves the clinic, allowing immediate counseling and access to treatment."

The color change cannot be seen with the naked eye, but the scientists are working to change that. They're also working on developing ways to use saliva rather than blood.

Although the test uses gold, the nanorods are very small. The researchers estimate that the cost of the gold used in one of the assays would be 10 to 15 cents.

As other infectious diseases emerge around the world, similar strategies potentially could be used to develop tests to detect the presence of viruses that may become problematic, according to the researchers.

Reference: Rapid, point-of-care, paper-based plasmonic biosensor for Zika virus diagnosis. Advanced Biosystems, published online Aug. 10, 2017.

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, grant numbers CBET1254399 and CBET1512043. Additional funding was provided by the Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Washington University in St. Louis.