In collaboration with University of Texas Health Science Center – Houston (UTHSC-Houston), NanoLogix is developing a multi-well microplate reader variant of the company’s BioNanoFilter (BNF) live cell diagnostics for use in large volume laboratory environments. Early analysis of the multi-well plates shows exceptionally fast live-threat results similar to the company’s standard BNF technology.
NanoLogix technology can detect whether or not a microorganism found in the sample is alive, and therefore a viable health threat. This distinction between live and dead cells is considered a crucial requirement in the identification of pathogenic microorganisms. It is the reason many laboratories continue to insist on live-cell results, despite the slightly longer wait over methods such a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) which only detect the presence of the organism in the sample.
Research from a recently completed clinical study using NanoLogix technology was presented last week at the General Meeting of American Society for Microbiology by Dr. Jonathan Faro of UTHSC-Houston. The study, focused on detection, identification, and determination of antibiotic sensitivity of Group B Streptococcus (GBS) during pregnancy, demonstrated how NanoLogix diagnostics consistently provided quality results in a 4 to 6 hour window, dramatically shorter than standard culturing times of 48 to 72 hours. The data is currently being formatted for submission to the US FDA for acceptance as a non-invasive diagnostic technology.
“We are thrilled to be dramatically cutting bacterial detection times from days to hours for many pathogens,” said NanoLogix CEO Bret Barnhizer. “Specifically, we have reduced wait times for TB (tuberculosis) from weeks to days, while protozoa detection times for Cryptosporidium, which is responsible for over 50 percent of waterborne illnesses, have been cut from weeks to hours. At the same time, we have been able to accomplish these results with improved quality of detection.”
Conventional tests for anthrax can take 24 hours, and more than 48 hours for bubonic plague. The NanoLogix BNF technology cuts those times to less than an hour, providing critical information more rapidly to decision makers during a public health emergency.
