Akonni Biosystems, a molecular diagnostics company focused on commercializing rapid sample preparation and molecular diagnostics systems for the detection of infectious diseases, and CUBRC, Inc., have been awarded a $774,000 contract by the U.S. Army to develop an automated sample preparation system for isolating biological threat indicators for downstream use with field-based detection systems. This award will enable CUBRC and Akonni to accelerate development of a family of disposable, rapid, multi-analyte extraction and purification products that utilize Akonni's TruTip technology for rapid solid phase extraction of nucleic acids and proteins.
Under the contract, Akonni and CUBRC will design, manufacture, and test prototype systems to automatically extract nucleic acid and protein from a single source sample. Development of such systems is critical to the U.S. military for addressing the challenges that biological warfare and terrorism pose to the warfighter. By further simplifying the isolation technologies and removing the majority of manual steps, CUBRC and Akonni will design a system that provides a rapid, reliable, and standardized process for biological threat detection in the field.
CUBRC's David Pawlowski, Ph.D., Principal Investigator on the contract, states, "We selected Akonni's TruTip sample preparation technology based on its ability to be integrated into a cartridge-based system and its proven performance in terms of speed, yield, and quality as determined in head-to-head evaluations against the industry gold standards. Akonni's best-in-class technology has the greatest potential to succeed in the field and save lives."
"We are very excited to be collaborating with CUBRC and the U.S. Army on this project that will improve the armed forces' ability to rapidly identify infectious agents and ultimately save lives," states Kevin Banks, Ph.D., Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Akonni Biosystems. "In TruTip, we have a highly flexible approach for rapidly extracting nucleic acids, and now proteins, with high yield and purity, a technology that is easily integrated into both commercial off-the-shelf pipette tips and custom-built, cartridge-based systems."
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency provided the funding for this program through the U.S. Army Research Office.