The global scientific community, seeking simpler, faster, cheaper diagnostics, is turning to nanoscience to overcome current limitations and empower a revolutionary new era in science and technology
We are in the dawn of a nanobiotechnology revolution that is profoundly transforming the world as a whole, says Acrongenomics.
Through the evolution of nanobiotechnology, techniques that require minute amounts of sample and deliver more complete and accurate results from a single measurement are now emerging.
Furthermore, fast and reliable results can now be obtained without requiring special skills.
These trends led Acrongenomics's expert multi-disciplinary team to the development of the robust, ultra-fast, Nano-Jeta platform.
The Nobel Prize-winning technology of Karen Mullis for nucleic acid amplification, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), is the workhorse technique to date.
Field applications of PCR remain limited because of its inherent complexity, inaccuracy, slow processing time and the need for highly trained personnel for operation and interpretation of the results.
The novel functions and performance characteristics, arising from the nanostructures pioneered by Acrongenomics, have successfully overcome the existing problems, says the company.
The Nano-Jeta platform was made possible by combining the cutting edge technologies of nanoscience and molecular biology.
The core of this platform is an ultra fast reaction that amplifies, detects, and quantifies DNA/RNA in less than two minutes, a 70-fold cost and time reduction compared to current technologies.
The validity of results has been derived so far from extensive testing in cancers and viral DNA/RNA targets using genetic markers for Ep-CAM and EBV.
There is great global demand for the commercialisation of nanobiosensors in several markets.
The company says its current success will be the driving force for the creation of new nanobiosensors, serving a broad spectrum of novel applications.
Such applications, used by both professionals and, potentially, the general public, will offer fast, sensitive and reliable results at low cost.
Furthermore, Acrongenomics is confident that Nano-Jeta technology will overcome the limited applicability of current technologies by advancing the state-of-the-art technology, and through its diversity, will apply in fields beyond point-of-care medical diagnostics such as forensics, biological warfare agent detection, agro-food testing and environmental testing.
Nano-Jeta technology benefits can be increasingly vital to ensuring accuracy and fairness in the criminal justice system.
Since DNA can be used to identify criminals with incredible accuracy when biological evidence exists, bioforensics is a market that Nano-Jeta platform reaches and affects directly.
If the presence of a biological agent is suspected, sensitive and specific assays for rapid detection and identification are necessary.
At the same time, the threat posed by the global proliferation of biological weapon (BW) technologies and the numerous emerging infectious disease (ID) agents (with significant public health consequences) challenge existing technologies.
Further complicating this already complex situation, an estimated 600 million international tourists annually carry the potential to spread disease globally in a matter of hours.
The socio-economic impact of such threats is immense.
Clinical laboratories have key roles in the detection of potential BW/ID agents; however, most personnel are unfamiliar with these agents because they are rare and the methodologies needed for their identification are laborious.
Nano-Jeta has been developed for use in such diagnostics in order to meet the challenges posed by these agents, permitting detection and identification in a few seconds.
Therefore, the rapidly rising demand for new emerging sensor technologies to speed up testing can be fulfilled.
In clinical diagnosis, the speed at which reliable diagnosis is performed is a top priority.
This is the main reason why Acrongenomics focused on creating an ultra-fast nanoreaction mechanism that amplifies, detects and quantifies DNA/RNA in less than two minutes, enabling a new generation of rapid diagnostic assays.
Common diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular and hereditary diseases, infectious diseases due to pathogenic microorganisms of viral origin (such as tuberculosis, hepatitis, etc) can now be identified by using a small blood sample, faster and easier than ever before.
The power to do bedside diagnostics and instantaneously determine a patient's treatment in real time unveils new possibilities for clinicians and physicians alike.
Human error possibility is kept to a minimum since the core of the technology is robust, says the company.
Considering the molecular diagnostics market size, which currently accounts for $5billion and keeps growing (estimated to reach $35billion by 2015), the technology paves the way to endless possibilities, the company beleives.
One of the biggest ideas that emerged since the completion of the Human Genome Project involves new biomarkers and tests used for tailoring new drugs that match an individual's genetic makeup.
Companies have responded by introducing new products.
For example anti-cancer drugs such as Herceptin, Gleevec, Erbitux and Iressa have been specifically designed for patients that pass each drug's genetic test.
These tests, used as pharmacogenomic assays, are measuring drug safety or effectiveness.
This new class of personalised drugs signals the era of personalised medicine, an era in which the company expects Nano-Jeta technology will play a pivotal role, being ultra-fast, reliable and cost-efficient.
This evolving market, which includes genomic, metabolomic and protein biomarkers, has already reached $7.8billion in 2004.
Molecular diagnostic companies are poised for continued strong growth.
Furthermore, food safety issues associated with new crops and foods have been an increasingly global issue.
Indicatively, in the USA there are over 60,000 food processing facilities, 250,000 food retailing facilities and 600,000 eating and drinking establishments.
All are potential customers for a quick, easy and reliable pathogen testing nano-assay.
Through its solid foundation, Nano-Jeta can address all of these market needs and empower the development of such a tool.
Nano-Jeta technology can easily be adapted to multiplexed biomolecule screening techniques offering simultaneous multi-functional, multi-purpose analysis, applicable to food-borne pathogenic microorganisms (salmonella, listeria, E coli, etc), viruses (avian flu, hepatitis A, E, etc), natural toxins (aspergillus/aflatoxins, shellfish toxins, etc), pathogenic agents (prions, BSE tests: mad cow disease, etc) and genetically modified organisms (GMO) detection.
EuropaBio, the political voice of the biotechnology industry in Europe, envisions that "doctors will some day be able to immediately profile the infection being treated and, based on the results, choose the most effective antibiotics."
