NEW YORK, May 19 - Bedford, Mass.-based diagnostic firm Genomic Profiling Systems has received a $119,820 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research Grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop its MultiPath test for the rapid detection of biological warfare agents, the company said today.
The grant, awarded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, will support commercializaton of the company's technology, which uses high-intensity, target-specific microbead labels in combination with instant film imaging. According to the company, individual microbial cells labeled with the beads are easily visible on instant film.
The company said that a commercial version of the quantitative test would be able to scan for agents such as anthrax, smallpox, and botulinum toxin at levels below what other rapid test methods detect.