New Promega Water-Glo™ System Combines ATP Detection and Bioluminescence Technologies for Quick, Highly Sensitive Water Quality Testing

Promega Corporation’s new Water-Glo™ System offers water plant operators a rapid, highly sensitive and flexible measurement tool for monitoring microbial contamination in freshwater, process water, seawater or wastewater samples. The Water-Glo™ System, launched by Promega this week, uses bioluminescent technology to measure adenosine triphosphate or ATP, the "energy currency" of all living cells that degrades rapidly when a cell dies. Even the slightest change in ATP levels acts as an early warning system to assess the presence of live microbes and possible dangerous pathogens in water.

Water-Glo™ reagents were used in recent research by scientists at the world renowned IHE Delft Institute for Water Education based in Delft, the Netherlands demonstrating the first “direct method” of measuring ATP in seawater. The paper “ATP measurement in seawater reverse osmosis systems: Eliminating seawater matrix effects using a filtration-based method” is published in the March 2019 issue of the international journal Desalination.

ATP detection provides technicians a number of advantages compared to other methods for detecting microbes in water such as heterotrophic plate count (HPC), flow cytometry and indirect methods such as turbidity or pressure drop. Benefits include:

• Sensitivity to directly assess living cells from any type of microbe even in samples with low microbial load, facilitating early intervention, or high biomass load, allowing technicians to monitor the effectiveness of biocide treatments or biological filtration processes.
• Rapid results from ATP detection provides an immediate indication of microbial contamination that does not require waiting for microbes to grow in media.
• Flexibility to use in the field, floor or lab since the reagent is stable for six months at 4°C or two weeks at room temperature.
• Higher throughput to measure up to 96 samples at once using the large format option.
• Promega, a leading manufacturer of reagents, leveraged the company’s expertise in bioluminescence technology developed over the last 25 years to develop the Water-Glo™ System, one of the most sensitive tools in ATP detection in the environmental and water testing industry.

Water-Glo™ Chemistry is also available as part of a fully automated system. The AppliTek EZ-ATP® Analyzer with the Water-Glo™ Chemistry provides a total solution for online microbial analysis of water samples.

New Tool Detects Cholera in 15 Minutes

Scientists at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), in partnership with Incepta Pharmaceuticals, have  developed a low-cost device which can detect cholera in only 15 minutes.

Called Cholkit, the tool has generated hopes of better management of cholera and if commercially produced, it will reduce dependence on imported testing kits and might be exported as well, scientists said.

“Presently, in addition to the laboratory culture of stool samples, imported rapid diagnostic test kits are being used for cholera detection,” said Dr Firdausi Qadri, the lead scientist in the project who works in the Infectious Diseases Division at icddr,b.

An estimated 1.3 billion people globally are at risk of cholera, with South Asia constituting the largest share, which makes the device export-worthy.

More importantly, Cholkit comes as a blessing for many in Bangladesh where at least 66 million people are at risk of cholera.

Moreover, nearly 110,000 cases are reported annually, according to a statement of icddr,b yesterday.

Scientists said the rapid diagnostic test (RDT) went through a rigorous three-year research and development process and successfully met requirements and guidelines for tests capable of detecting Vibrio cholerae from stool.

To use it, the device is dipped into a tube with stool specimen and then in 15 minutes it provides qualitative result (coloured band) which is readable by the naked eye.

A field evaluation of Cholkit has recently been published in the scientific journal “PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases” which showed the sensitivity and specificity of the dipstick to be similar to the commercially available rapid diagnostic test (RDTs) for detecting Vibrio cholerae from stool specimens.

A total of 7,720 stool samples were tested during the evaluation. Cholkit demonstrated a sensitivity of 76 percent and specificity of over 90 percent, while other RDTs showed around 72 percent and 86.8 percent respectively.

The gold standard for detecting cholera is laboratory confirmation by stool culture, which is sensitive to several factors, including the quality of sampling, delays in shipment, laboratory equipment, skilled human resources.

It also needs longer period of time (24 to 72 hours) and costs $6 to 8 per sample, icddr,b says.

Cholkit is priced around $3, said icddr,b. Officials, however, said they could not specify its commercial price or when it would go into production but added it would be soon.

The kit has been found to be highly effective in detecting V cholerae serogroup O1 and has received official licensure, said icddr,b.

From a public health perspective, cholera outbreaks need immediate and early detection as the pathogen can spread and cause epidemics in a short period of time, it said.

“Thus, the need for simple and easy to use RDTs, which are quickly interpretable, require simple storage facilities, and are reasonably priced is a clear choice,” icddr,b said.

It has the potential to be used at the primary health care level for cholera surveillance, for early outbreak detection and as a tool for an initial alert for monitoring of seasonal peaks in highly endemic areas and in peripheral health care facilities, it said.

The Incepta-produced Cholkit is now being used in 22 cholera sentinel surveillance sites across Bangladesh. The sites are managed jointly by icddr,b and Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control And Research.

Shield Diagnostics Announces Launch of Target-NG Test for Antibiotic Susceptibility in Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Shield Diagnostics, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed clinical laboratory tackling antibiotic resistance by bringing precision medicine to infectious disease, announced the launch of Target-NG, a rapid molecular test for antibiotic susceptibility in Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

A common sexually transmitted infection, Gonorrhea has quickly become resistant to most major classes of antibiotics and resistance has now been reported in the final class of antibiotics we have left, requiring those patients to be hospitalized and treated with broad spectrum antibiotics in order to be cured. With 820,000 cases of Gonorrhea each year in the US, the CDC has named antibiotic resistant gonorrhea (dubbed "Super Gonorrhea") a top 3 urgent public health threat.

To slow the rate of antibiotic resistance, the last line of defence must only be used when strictly necessary. First line antibiotics can be used in the majority of patients if a precision medicine approach is taken to identify the specific resistance patterns of an infection & the appropriate drug then prescribed. Such an approach is being taken by the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV, who recently announced revised treatment guidelines to recommend treating with ciprofloxacin if susceptibility results are available prior to treatment.

"Rapid molecular testing for ciprofloxacin resistance allows for smarter medicine," said Dr. Jeffrey D. Klausner, a professor of infectious disease medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. "Right now we're treating gonorrhea with a sledgehammer, we're treating everything with the same exact regime. And it's not a surprise that the organism will become resistant to what we're currently using."

Ciprofloxacin can be used to treat 80% of infections, and is 99.8% effective when susceptibility has been determined. Because it is administered as a single oral dose, rather than the current injectable treatment, clinicians can prescribe antibiotics for the patient to give to their partners, ensuring that they are treated as well.

"Shield has launched Target-NG to help clinicians adopt a precision medicine approach to Gonorrhea treatment," said lead scientist on the project Dr. Nidhi Gupta.

"Target-NG can determine if a given gonorrhea infection is susceptible to ciprofloxacin with the same turnaround time as regular gonorrhea screening tests," said Fred Turner, the company's CEO. "This is enabling prescription of a single-dose pill (ciprofloxacin) as an effective treatment for gonorrhea." The test is available from urine, rectal & pharyngeal samples, ensuring that complete care is provided for higher risk groups.

Redberry Unveils Red One®, its New Rapid Microbiology Technology at Forum Labo Paris from March 26th to 28th 2019

Redberry, founded in 2017, announced today that it will present its new Rapid Microbiological analysis platform, Red One®, for the first time at Forum Labo Paris 2019. Redberry will offer live demonstrations at its dedicated booth. “Red One® can detect microorganisms instantaneously and deliver a quantitative result. The workflow is fully automated, which makes it very easy to use.

Visitors will be able to experience it themselves,” says Jonathan Macron, CEO of Redberry.

First applications are water microbiological tests, for the water industry (potable & industrial) and the pharmaceutical industry. Other developments are ongoing for the food and cosmetics industries. “Our technology shows potential beyond the field of industrial microbiology with applications in Research and Diagnostics,” says Dr. Joseph Pierquin, Founder and CTO of Redberry.

Fully automated, Redberry technology detects single cells but also micro-colonies at very early stages of growth. Using advanced image treatment techniques, the patented system tracks and analyzes the assimilation of staining agents by the targeted cells. This real time analysis enables differentiation of targeted cells from non-viable particles with a high level of reliability.

In the field of industrial microbiology, Red One® delivers instantaneous results in most cases, while traditional methods, requiring a phase of culture and growth, will deliver typically in a few days. “Our product is fast, easy to use, and reliable. As a complement to classical tests in labs, it sets the path for routine testing, closer to our customers’ processes.” explains Macron.

Redberry is preparing a test campaign on potable water in the Paris area by end of 2019, in collaboration with a specialized laboratory. “We will compare with other methods and test our system in the real world,” says Dr. Pierquin. “It is also an important step in our development as we are working on an automated online control solution that we could launch in 2020.”

About Redberry SAS

Redberry is a private company specializing in instrumentation and devices for Life Sciences and Health, located in the East of France (Strasbourg area). The six-person team develops and commercializes a new range of fully automated systems for Rapid Microbiology applications. Red One® is its first available product.

New Rapid Blood Test for TB Enters Clinical Trials

A new blood test for tuberculosis (TB) could, for the first time, enable screening of patients at an early stage of infection. The simple Actiphage® blood test is being investigated in a clinical trial by researchers from the University of Leicester and PBD Biotech - with results due to be announced later this year.

Despite recent reductions, the UK has one of the highest rates of TB in Western Europe. While TB cases have been declining overall in the UK, the rate of TB in some of the most deprived areas remains more than 7 times higher than in the least deprived. TB is a serious bacterial infection, which can be life-threatening if not properly treated with antibiotics. Pulmonary TB of the lungs or throat is contagious, but TB can affect any part of the body.

One of the biggest challenges in human TB is rapid early diagnosis. No blood tests currently exist to help with TB diagnosis. Traditional tests rely on sputum to detect the infection, but almost half of all people with pulmonary TB are unable to produce sputum, particularly in early disease. This contributes to delays in diagnosis and starting treatment, and promotes transmission within communities.

Actiphage®, developed by PBD Biotech, is an alternative to bacterial culture. The test’s underlying biotechnology was originally used for the detection of human TB - under the FastPlaque brand - but was only suitable for use on sputum. Now the phage-based diagnostic has been optimized, so it can detect the presence of the mycobacteria in blood in just six hours. This means it may help to improve the speed and reliability of diagnosis for TB patients and avoid the need for some patients to have more invasive tests performed.

The clinical trial of the new Actiphage® test will involve a cohort of patients with both latent and active TB at Leicester’s Hospitals.

Dr Pranab Haldar from the University of Leicester, one of UK’s leading TB research groups, is the lead clinician on the trial and commented:

“Many think of TB as a disease of the past and yet it is continuing to affect people, particularly in vulnerable communities across the country.

“Despite having a modern and well-equipped NHS, a third of patients still wait more than three months after symptoms begin to have a diagnosis made and treatment started. Through this trial, we are keen to explore the potential of Actiphage to provide better insights into M. tuberculosis infection and determine how the test can support and contribute to tackling this public health problem in the UK as well as internationally.”

Dr Berwyn Clarke, CEO of PBD Biotech, said:

“Actiphage is the first sensitive, specific and speedy blood test for Mycobacteria. Its effectiveness has been proven in TB trials with other species, so it is an incredibly exciting opportunity to be working with one of the world’s leading human TB research groups to investigate its potential as a transformational tool in human health.”

Clinical trial findings will be announced at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) International Conference, Dallas, in May 2019.

PathSensors Breaks New Ground Into Detecting Pathogens for the Potato Testing Industry

PathSensors is excited to break some new ground and expand their pathogen detection capabilities to work closely with the potato industry. The Baltimore-based biotechnology company is focused on delivering highly rapid and sensitive pathogen detection solutions to the agriculture, food safety, and biodefense industries and is currently working to employ their technologies to save time and money for potato seed growers.

VP of Product Development, Dr. Andrew Flannery, recently attended the National Potato Expo in Austin, Texas on January 9-10th. The expo was a gathering of leaders in the potato industry, from grower associations to chip manufacturers and marketing associations. PathSensors attended as a company creating diagnostic solutions for potato disease and received valuable insights from other attendees about challenges they face.

The current potato testing process is long and arduous. Potato farmers generally grow tubers in their home states before shipping these tubers to seed certification labs, which then ship the tubers to be grown out into sprouts in Hawaii so that the leaves may be tested for plant disease. This process involves large amounts of sample processing time, months of waiting, and has the added expense of shipping and testing outside of the continental United States. Wouldn’t it be great to make testing simpler? That’s why PathSensors is working to develop a high throughput potato tuber testing assay.

To achieve this goal, PathSensors scientists have started working to create assays for the most common viruses that can infect potatoes. They are first focusing on potato virus Y, a Potyvirus which is commonly tested for in seed potatoes. This proof-of-concept assay will be developed in collaboration with two USDA-ARS scientists, Dr. Ramon Jordan and Dr. John Hammond, who are experts on Potyviruses and developed monoclonal antibodies for their detection. “Potato virus Y causes one of the major potato diseases wherever potatoes are grown worldwide, causing losses of up to 60%; necrotic strains are especially important,” they commented. By creating a novel Potyvirus biosensor, PathSensors instruments can be used to detect to rapidly detect PVY in the required high testing volumes to help growers know they are producing high quality seed.

PVY will be the first of many pathogens afflicting potato crops detected by PathSensors technology. The biotech company has licensed antibodies from organizations like Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA), and Fera Science Limited in the United Kingdom in order to do further research into developing assays for the detection of other viruses, like potato mop-top and potato leafroll.

Rapid and Accurate Diagnosis of the Respiratory Disease Pertussis on a Point-of-Care Biochip

Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis (B. pertussis). The infection is difficult to diagnose especially in underserved or resource-limited areas. Scientists at the University of Texas, University of Southern California and Children's Hospital Los Angeles have developed a low-cost and instrument-free diagnostic method for rapid and accurate detection of B. pertussis on a point-of-care (POC) testing device.

The technology employs a paper/polymer hybrid microfluidic biochip integrated with loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method for the rapid and accurate detection of B. pertussis. This microfluidic approach was validated by testing 100 de-identified remnant clinical nasopharyngeal swabs and aspirates, which were confirmed to be either positive or negative for B. pertussis by a validated real-time PCR assay at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
Findings

The instrument-free detection results could be successfully read by the naked eye within 45 min with a limit of detection (LOD) of 5 DNA copies per well. Our optimized bacterial lysis protocol allowed the direct testing of clinical samples without any complicated sample processing/preparation (i.e. DNA extraction) or the use of any equipment (e.g. centrifuges). The validation of the microfluidic approach was accomplished by testing 100 clinical samples. High sensitivity (100%) and specificity (96%) with respect to real-time PCR were achieved.
Interpretation

This microfluidic biochip shows great potential for point-of-care disease diagnosis in various venues including schools and physician's offices, especially in low-resource settings in developing nations.

The full study (and a link to the publication in PDF format) has been published in the online version of The Lancet.