[ news_security_news ]
Invitrogen And Agilent Technologies To Co-Market PathAlert Detection System
SecurityProNews
Staff Writer
2005-04-07
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
Invitrogen and Agilent Technologies announced a two-year agreement to co-market the PathAlert Detection System, a cost-effective screening and confirmatory detection system for infectious agents.
The companies also announced that the PathAlert System has undergone successful evaluations coordinated by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In those government tests, the PathAlert System was shown to be sensitive and specific for the identification of air and waterborne pathogens.
The PathAlert Detection System can be used by government, military and research organizations for accurate detection of infectious agents such as Bacillus anthracis (anthrax), Yersinia pestis (plague), Vaccinia (smallpox simulant) and Francisella tularensis (tularemia) in samples collected from the air, food and water. According to the EPA assessment, the system accurately detected infectious agents such as anthrax and plague in drinking water with no false positives or false negatives at expected sensitivity levels. Invitrogen and Agilent will present full results of the EPA's Environmental Technology Verification program at the upcoming American Water Works Association (AWWA) Water Security Congress in Oklahoma City, Okla., on April 12 at 9:30 a.m. CT.
"The superior performance of the PathAlert system in rigorous government evaluations confirms its strength as a cutting-edge system for the detection of biothreat agents," said Willem Folkerts, director of Invitrogen's Biodefense business. "The application of our advanced sensitive and specific PCR assays to Agilent's versatile lab-on-a-chip platform provides scientists with a highly accurate, fast and efficient method of identifying biological threats to public safety."
The PathAlert System, which features Invitrogen's PathAlert Detection Kits and the Agilent 2100 bioanalyzer or 5100 Automated Lab-on-a-Chip Platform, will be distributed by Invitrogen.
"This collaboration combines the strengths of our two companies to provide a superior biodetection solution for our customers," said Mike McMullen, vice president and general manager of Agilent's Chemical Analysis Solutions business. "Invitrogen has a history of developing technologies particularly suited to the needs of scientists in diverse areas of research. Similarly, Agilent has extensive experience in applying its proven technology to new areas such as homeland security."
"Biological agents represent a grave potential threat to public safety, and it is imperative that the life sciences industry provides government agencies with the tools they need to detect and neutralize these threats in a timely and effective way," commented Gregory T. Lucier, president and CEO of Invitrogen Corp. "By combining the complementary capabilities of our two companies, this collaboration promises continued innovation in our efforts to help make society safer."
Each PathAlert Detection Kit is a reagent system optimized for the detection of a specific infectious agent. Based on multiplex-PCR, the kits detect multiple regions of pathogen DNA and include internal and external controls, greatly reducing false positive and false negative readings. Using the PathAlert multiplex-PCR kits with the Agilent 2100 bioanalyzer and DNA chip and reagent kits, users can monitor DNA targets and controls simultaneously without the constraints imposed by conventional real-time PCR. Agilent's 5100 Automated Lab-on-a-Chip Platform can be used for biodefense applications requiring high-throughput analysis. The PathAlert System also provides less costly capabilities to detect anthrax, plague, smallpox simulant and tularemia.
The PathAlert System also offers the unique capability of multi-agent analysis in a single assay based on the biothreat agents of interest in a specific matrix, such as water, food or animal feed.
U.S. Government Verification and Assessment
In a technology readiness assessment (TRA) conducted at the Army's Dugway Proving Ground, the PathAlert Detection System demonstrated that PCR-based technologies score high marks for both accuracy and low limit of detection. The system accurately detected the pathogens that cause anthrax, plague and smallpox (using Vaccinia as a simulant) with no false positives in over two weeks of testing.
The EPA's Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) program evaluated the PathAlert Detection System for its ability to detect the infectious agents that cause anthrax, plague and tularemia in drinking water. Above its limit of detection, the system accurately detected each of the target organisms 100 percent of the time. This evaluation clearly highlighted specificity, the ability to provide a negative response in the absence of the pathogen, and precision, the ability to provide a consistent result for multiple samples of the same pathogen.
About the Author:
SecurityProNews is a daily online and email publication focusing on internet security issues.
More news_security_news Articles
Insider Reports RSS Feed
|
|
iEntry 10th Anniversary
RSS
Archive
