NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — US Genomics today said it will work with aerospace and defense giant Northrop Grumman to develop and market US Genomics’ biodetection technology for the Department of Homeland Security.
US Genomics has already received around $23 million in funding from the Homeland Security to develop a prototype of the instrument, which uses the company’s single molecule-detection technology to find “a wide range of pathogens and toxins.”
US Genomics said its mapping technology uses a universal reagent set to produce a “genomic signature” for each DNA sample, allowing for identification of pathogens.
The company said the test is sensitive enough to present “extremely low” rates of false positives. The platform does not use pathogen-specific reagents and needs no amplification, the company said.
The test would also enable researchers to detect species that were modified or were designed to avoid detection, US Genomics said.
US Genomics CEO John Canepa said the Northrop Grumman partnership is “the next logical step in moving our technology from the laboratory toward providing real protection from biological attacks.”