Sept. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Boston Biomedica, Inc. (Nasdaq: BBII - news) announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued the Company a patent covering devices for the separation and purification of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) from cells, tissue, and microbes for use with BBI's proprietary Pressure Cycling Technology (PCT). These devices will make it possible to couple PCT extraction with adsorption-based technology for nucleic acid purification and concentration, to provide a versatile, rapid, efficient and simple PCT-based technology for DNA and RNA extraction from a variety of cells and tissues. This is the second patent issued to BBI this year for an application of its proprietary PCT technology platform.
Also announced today is the award of a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grant from the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) for studies that use PCT to release DNA and RNA from tissues or difficult-to-disrupt cells, such as certain bacteria. The nucleic acids released using PCT will be evaluated for use in state-of-the-art amplification-based nucleic acid tests (NAT). This is the second Phase I SBIR Grant related to PCT-mediated nucleic acid extraction awarded to BBI in the past two months. The first award was for the extraction of nucleic acid from viruses contained in human plasma. Each Phase I Grant provides BBI with approximately $100,000 to support feasibility studies during a six-month award period, with the expectation that additional Phase II funding for commercialization of the technology will subsequently be requested.
``Extracting nucleic acids from clinical, environmental, and agricultural samples is the essential first step for the precise and exquisitely sensitive NAT-based tests currently in use or under development to identify pathogenic organisms, detect genetic disorders, expose contaminants, and provide forensic evidence,'' commented Dr. Mark Manak, Senior Vice President at Boston Biomedica. ``This grant will allow us to apply PCT to the disruption of biological materials which currently require very time consuming and labor intensive procedures. The released nucleic acids can then be purified and concentrated using our patented device to provide improved sample preparation.''
Richard T. Schumacher, Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Boston Biomedica said: ``Molecular diagnostics is one of the fastest growing sectors of laboratory medicine today, and reflects the rapid application of NAT methods to research, pharmaceuticals and genetics. The nucleic acid sample preparation market alone is expected to be in the $2-4 billion range by 2005. Although the introduction of NAT may dramatically decrease the time necessary for diagnosis, this technology is often limited by cumbersome requirements for chemical extraction of nucleic acid from patient samples. The NCRR-funded project will allow BBI scientists to test the feasibility of extracting, separating, and purifying nucleic acids from a wide range of clinical sample types using PCT and patented PCT devices that we believe may rapidly and inexpensively provide DNA and RNA for NAT analysis.''
BBI acquired PCT in late 1998 and has been developing its potential commercial applications, while concomitantly establishing the infrastructure required to take full advantage of opportunities for implementation. In addition to nucleic acid extraction, other potential applications include the use of PCT for the inactivation of pathogens in human plasma, the pre- treatment of clinical samples prior to testing to protect laboratory workers, food safety, and genomics -- such as nucleic acid sequence analysis. |
