PositiveID Corporation announced this week that it has signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA’s Ames Research Center to collaborate on testing the company’s Firefly Dx detection system as a platform for biological research and commercial development for ground and space applications.
The Firefly Dx is a point-of-need, handheld system designed to deliver molecular diagnostic results using real-time TaqMan PCR (polymerase chain reaction) chemistry. Firefly Dx is intended to derive results from a sample in less than 20 minutes at the point of need, compared to two to four hours for a lab device.
Under this Space Act Agreement, NASA will assess the company’s Firefly Dx technology for potential ground and space applications, while PositiveID will assess the technology to improve its development of the Firefly Dx hardware for extreme environments, such as Department of Defense field applications.
William J. Caragol, Chairman and CEO of PositiveID, said, “We are very proud to collaborate with NASA’s world-class team of scientists and researchers on the continued development of Firefly to advance mission-critical applications for point-of-need diagnostics, both in space and on the front lines to protect our nation from future bioterrorism threats.”
Source: PositiveID press release, adapted.