Sagentia, an international technology and product development company, announced today that it has been selected by PathoGenetix to develop a commercial scale system for rapid microbial detection and strain typing based on PathoGenetix's Genome Sequence Scanning Technology (GSS). The system is being designed to capitalize on the broad range of potential GSS applications that span microbial genomics research, food and product safety, and clinical infectious disease testing.
PathoGenetix's proprietary GSS technology combines automated sample preparation and single molecule detection making it possible to detect and characterize microbes from complex biological samples in as little as three hours. Specifically, the technology extracts genomic barcodes from microbial DNA as it flows through a microfluidic chip at 150 million base pairs per second. A universal reagent set decorates the DNA enabling specific pathogens to be identified by comparing their unique DNA 'barcode' with PathoGenetix's own library of templates. With this approach, it is possible to identify thousands of different microbial strains through a single test, days faster and at far lower cost than current techniques. The GSS technology was developed with more than $50 million in support from the United States Departments of Defense and Homeland Security under advanced biosensor programs.
Sagentia, an experienced leader in the development of new technologies and breakthrough products, including complex diagnostics, was brought in to the project to take the current laboratory prototype and help turn it into a technically and commercially successful platform. Sagentia's work will include further integration of state-of-the-art optics and microfluidics, making the technology more robust, enhancing the usability of the system, driving cost reduction, and increasing manufacturing efficiency.
"Sagentia's commitment to PathoGenetix directly reflects our mission to help clients develop and deliver innovative technologies through all the stages of device development," said Brent Hudson, chief executive officer of Sagentia. "Working across the complete product development continuum - from market needs analysis to transfer to volume manufacturing - we make it possible for companies to take complex ideas and develop them into products that are robust and usable in many settings. We are excited to work with PathoGenetix and look forward to helping them bring this groundbreaking new technology to market."
"We are very excited to be working with Sagentia on this critical initiative," said John Canepa, chief executive officer of PathoGenetix. "At PathoGenetix, we are focused on revolutionizing microbial identification and diagnostics. We chose Sagentia because of the company's extensive technical knowledge and the team's understanding of our core objectives. We believe that Sagentia's team will add tremendous value to this project and we look forward to working with them to bring to market an instrument platform that will improve the speed and efficacy in a range of diagnostics applications." He added that PathoGenetix expects to launch the system's initial commercial application, for the research market, in late 2012.
This is another important client project for Sagentia as the company continues to grow its US footprint. In November of 2010, Sagentia expanded its presence in the U.S. by opening an office at One Broadway Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts where the company was selected to be a member of Governor Deval Patrick's U.S.-U.K. trade partnership.