NEW YORK, Feb. 26 - Nanogen has installed one of its NanoChip workstations at the Associated Regional and University Pathologists, a reference laboratory owned by the University of Utah.
The delivery was made in connection to Nanogen's development site program launched in December between the two groups to evaluate the NanoChip line to see if it can simplify gene-based assay development. Terms of their agreement call for Nanogen to give one of its NanoChip tools to ARUP in exchange for certain rights to assays developed by the reference lab.
Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
According to Nanogen, the partnership was set up to develop molecular diagnostic protocols that might be performed on the NanoChip cartridge and workstation.
According to Randy White, CEO of Nanogen, ARUP's "commitment to developing novel gene-based assays under ... [the agreement] may provide an important source of new content for our cartridges and may play a vital role in expanding our menu of customer applications."
Ronald L. Weiss, senior vice president of ARUP, said the collaboration supports his group's reckoning that molecular diagnostics "is an emerging, untapped market within esoteric testing."
Nanogen established its development site program to collaborate with selected customers in certain market segments, which the company said includes clinical research, the research divisions of reference diagnostic laboratories like ARUP, and genomics, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and agrochemical companies.
Through the program, Nanogen said it hopes its customers might help develop assays for its platform in exchange for "preferential access" to its technology.