Ibis T5000 is a breakthrough universal biosensor that supports the rapid identification, characterisation and quantification of a broad range of bacteria, viruses and fungi in virtually any sample
Isis Pharmaceuticals reports that scientists from its Ibis Biosciences (Ibis) division and collaborators presented the results of five diverse studies emphasizing the importance and breadth of applications of the Ibis biosensor technology and the Ibis T5000 biosensor system in identifying and characterising infectious organisms.
The studies were presented at the 46th Annual International Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) held this week in San Francisco, CA, which hosted more than 10,000 attendees comprising physicians, clinicians and researchers working in the fields of clinical diagnostics, drug discovery and microbiology.
The Ibis T5000 is a breakthrough universal biosensor system that supports the rapid and efficient identification, characterisation and quantification of a broad range of bacteria, viruses and fungi in virtually any sample without prior knowledge of what organisms may be present.
The system does not require time- and labour-intensive steps such as sequencing or culture, and it can be used to obtain high-resolution genotypes of organisms in a rapid, high- throughput manner.
The Ibis T5000 biosensor system has been extensively validated for a number of assays and is being commercialized by Ibis and its partner, Bruker Daltonics.
Commenting on the ICAAC presentations, David Ecker, chief scientific officer of Ibis Biosciences and vice president of Isis, said, "We are very pleased with the breadth of data presentations included at this meeting.
"The studies highlighted exemplify the substantial contribution the Ibis T5000 biosensor system can make in the identification and characterisation of infectious organisms in broad applications, from epidemiologic surveillance to identifying and preventing hospital-acquired infections, and eventually to disease diagnostics.
"As we begin to commercialize our Ibis biosensor technology, the opportunity to display its capabilities, with the strong support of our collaborators, to the broader infectious disease community is invaluable".
A summary of the presentations follows: An MLST Schema and Rapid MLST Analysis Strategy for Molecular Genotyping of Acinetobacter baumannii for Infection Control.
Acinetobacter infections are frequent complications of wound infections and have been particularly problematic in military personnel injured in Iraq.
The Ibis T5000 biosensor system rapidly identified and characterised with regard to virulence and drug resistance factors, Acinetobacter organisms in more than 267 samples from infected soldiers.
The method required less than four hours to provide genotypic identification of the Acinetobacter strain types that caused the infections.
Such information was used to determine that the source of the infection was hospital-based, disproving the initial hypothesis that the infections were soil-based, and allowed appropriate steps to be taken to reduce the incidence of future infections.
