NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The US Department of Homeland Security has awarded US Genomics a contract for $9.1 million to continue to develop its DNA mapping technology for use in detecting airborne pathogens, the company said today.
The contract was delivered through the Bioagent Autonomous Networked Detectors Program under the DHS Science and Technology Directorate.
"The resources provided under the contract will allow us to perform extensive operational testing and to advance the capabilities of our prototype systems,” said US Genomics CEO John Canepa.
The company said its single molecule approach can be used to rapidly detect multiple bacterial pathogens, toxins, and viruses simultaneously in an environmental sample using a single reagent set.
This technology potentially could be used to detect genetically modified species as well, including “those that may have been deliberately engineered to elude traditional detection methods,” the company said.
DHS awarded US Genomics an $8.6 million contract in May of last year to develop the same technology.