NEW YORK, Sept. 3 - Cepheid today said a pair of medial centers in Texas has picked it to help develop rapid nucleic-acid diagnostics for the virus that causes meningitis and the bacteria responsible for whooping cough.
Under the terms of the deal, the Children's Medical Center of Dallas and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center will use Cepheid's Smart Cycler and GeneXpert platforms to devise diagnostic protocols, procedures, and reagents for enterovirus and herpes simplex and Bordetella Pertussis.
The medical centers will also use part of a $435,000 grant from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to buy an undisclosed number GeneXpert systems and cartridges, Cepheid said.