Franek Technologies has developed a course that directly contributes to bioterrorism preparedness and the US government's Project BioShield programme
This course will be presented at the University of California, Irvine Extension (UC Irvine Extension).
The new laboratory and medical device power protection course provides continuing education units as a supplement to the university's medical product development certificate programme.
The course was developed to meet guidelines of the new government BioShield programme; as well as to provide practical technological guidance to reduce adverse events and to minimise risk to critical medical devices and research instrumentation used in these programmes.
Power interruptions and perturbations are one of the greatest causes of losses in medical and research laboratories - upwards of $5 billion per year and over $119 billion nationally.
This impacts key medical equipment, information systems, and laboratory automation systems, affecting both the quality and timeliness of results, a situation that is not acceptable in the new era of bioterrorism preparedness.
In his state of the union address, President Bush outlined the Project BioShield programme to aid the USA in further preparing for bioterrorism and response.
The goals of this programme are to develop effective drugs, diagnostic tests and vaccines in a timely manner to protect US citizens against dangerous disease pathogens, as well as chemical and biologic weapons.
As part of bioterrorism preparedness, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology community, including university research programs are now working in conjunction with the NIH, CDC, FDA and the Department of Homeland Security to bring new drugs and vaccines into the market in an accelerated timetable.
State departments of health, research and clinical laboratories have stepped up their preparedness programmes, in conjunction with the CDC to acquire new instrumentation systems that will meet the objectives of the president's programmes and increase homeland security.
Both Franek Technologies and the University of California, Irvine extension programme have been watchful of the requirements necessary to meet the needs of the healthcare and medical device community.
The UC Irvine Extension course is timely; as it provides medical device professionals and laboratory operators with key knowledge tools they require to protect valuable research, reportable results and instrumentation, as well as effectively using bioterrorism and BioShield approved funds.
"Working with the University of California System is important for us," explained Ray Hecker, vice president of business development, Franek Technologies.
"We have a long history of supporting the government and university research/teaching community as well as the clinical and drug discovery markets.
"We typically save our healthcare customers about $25,000 per year, per instrument protected and were pleased to have assisted in developing this new course".
Franek Technologies's LPS solutions currently protect over $3 billion in instrumentation globally, including installed genetic, immunoassay and DNA analysis systems used in bioterrorism defense and mitigation at the NIH, CDC, FDA, USDA and US Army's Edgewood chemical biologic centre.
