NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Arcxis Biotechnologies said today that it has inked a partnership with In-Q-Tel to accelerate development and commercialization of the firm's nucleic acid sample preparation platform and diagnostic consumable product line.
Arcxis said the investment from In-Q-Tel is linked to the firm's recent round of private financing led by Claremont Creek Ventures, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, and Alafi Capital. The firm has not disclosed how much money it raised in that series B round, and it is not disclosing the amount of funding it has received from In-Q-Tel.
In-Q-Tel is an independent strategic investment firm that partners with companies making technologies that could be used to support the mission of the CIA and broader US intelligence community. Among the firms in the life sciences research space it has invested in are Febit, Fluidigm, Nanosys, and OpGen.
Pleasanton, Calif.-based Arcxis plans to launch a fully automated RNA and DNA sample preparation device into the clinical diagnostics market later this year. The firm said that it also is developing a complementary probe technology for creating highly sensitive and specific assays.
Ties to the investment, Arcxis also is developing technology for In-Q-Tel, Arcxis President and CEO Christine Meda said.
"The automated extraction of microbial DNA from clinical or environmental samples poses challenges that are unique compared to instances where the target is abundant," Troy Pearsall, EVP of architecture and engineering at In-Q-Tel, said in a statement. "Arcxis' technology promises to mitigate these difficulties, and increase the sensitivity of assays performed in-theater."