Cambridge Consultants (Cambridge, MA) and XenBio Fluidics (San Diego, CA) just announced a new platform that may bring rapid diagnostic testing to the bedside.
Some details from the press release:
The new immunoassay platform is based on a novel time-resolved florescence (TRF) label and low-cost portable detection technology, providing the precision, accuracy and sub-pM sensitivity expected of a clinical laboratory in a cost effective near-patient setting, better enabling earlier diagnosis and the detection of a wider range of biomarkers.
Cambridge Consultants’ platform is based on the combination of a TRF reader and label that achieve high sensitivity by using a temporal, rather than spectral separation of excitation and detection light. At the core of the new platform is an innovative TRF label that offers far greater levels of sensitivity compared to existing gold labels. The new label, when integrated with Cambridge Consultants’ sophisticated detection unit, can deliver over four orders of magnitude improved sensitivity compared to gold labels. Using an NT-proBNP assay, Cambridge Consultants has demonstrated that the new platform is capable of detecting the biomarker in concentrations of less than 1pM and under certain conditions as low as 0.01pM.
Cambridge Consultants and XenBio’s new platform can be applied to a number of substrates, arrays and planar surfaces as well as being capable of being retrofitted to a range of existing lateral flow assays. As a result new tests can quickly be brought to market.
Press release: Development opens potential for earlier detection and treatment of major diseases…