Product category:
Calibration and Laboratory Instruments
News Release from: LGC
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 23 April 2003
Portable DNA Probe Technology Receives
DTI Award
LGC has teamed up with BJS Biotechnologies and the University of Manchester in a bid to revolutionise point-of-care diagnostics and crime scene forensics.
LGC has teamed up with BJS Biotechnologies and the University of Manchester in a bid to revolutionise point-of-care diagnostics and crime scene forensics Identifying infectious bacterial or viral agents at GPs' surgeries or key STR profiles at crime scenes within 15-25 minutes could become the norm if portable DNA probe technology, known as HyBeaconsTM, created at LGC comes to fruition
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 10 Mar 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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The development of this revolutionary technology into point-of-care diagnostic and forensic applications such as these is currently being supported by a ?230k collaboration between scientists at LGC, BJS Biotechnologies and the University of Manchester in a one-year DTI LINK project.
Entitled 'Probing DNA', the purpose of this LINK award is twofold.
Firstly, it is enabling Dr Richard Bryce's Computational Biophysics and Drug Design team at the University of Manchester to share their expertise in molecular modelling and DNA interaction with LGC.
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Mapping the targeting of specific genetic sequences will improve the overall accuracy, functionality and performance of HyBeacons, LGC's fluorophore-based DNA technology.
Secondly, through LINK, technology demonstrators are being constructed, which begin to integrate HyBeacons within BJS HySpeed, BJS Biotechnologies' portable thermal cycler.
Richard Lewis, Managing Director of BJS Biotechnologies Limited said: "BJS HySpeed, the high precision thermal cycler being developed at BJS, will enable ultra-rapid DNA amplification and detection of both patient and forensic samples.
Its ease of use, low test costs and quick reporting of results will allow its routine use by health practitioners and police forces initially within the UK, and then around the world.
The potential is obviously enormous and we are delighted to be partnering LGC in creating this vitally important test technology." Dr Paul Debenham, Director Life Sciences at LGC, said: "We regard this DTI LINK award as a vote of support in a pioneering technology.
Whilst still in its formative stage, LGC believes the additional progress facilitated through LINK will move the technology on from the research concept to pre-prototype stage.
What will set this technology apart in the context of point-of-care (POC) diagnostics is that it operates directly from the patient's saliva sample.
In a single step the GP will be able to access real time diagnostic information based on the rapid genotyping of the patient's sample and offer the most appropriate treatment.
It offers the potential to improve disease diagnosis, patient treatment, the ability to identify genetic susceptibility or to tailor drug regimes according to the genetic profile of individual patients." Explaining the conceivable benefits of this technology in forensic areas, Dr Debenham said: "HyBeacon technology could be used wherever DNA sequences can be detected and identified so it would be ideally suited to crime scenes and at point-of-arrest.
The identification of key forensically informative STRs (Short Tandem Repeats) on-site, in minutes rather than days, could dramatically reduce police time in an investigation at an early stage.
A significant number of potential suspects could be eliminated from an investigation, allowing rapid prioritisation of the remaining suspects, revolutionising crime detection in the process.".
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