NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Pressure BioSciences will work with the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in developing medical countermeasures for use against pathogens that could be used in warfare, the company said today.
The company said USAMRIID has shown that using the company’s pressure cycling technology and chemical reagents has resulted in decontamination and extraction of DNA, RNA, proteins, and lipids, and of small molecules from infected samples. The cooperative research and development agreement will allow PBI and the Army to combine resources, experiences, and knowledge to develop these countermeasures, the company said.
"The decontamination and extraction of biomolecules from samples containing dangerous infectious pathogens for subsequent analysis is essential to the development of improved therapies, vaccines, and diagnostics needed to protect soldiers, emergency responders, and others against possible exposure to biological threat agents," PBI Applications Scientist Chunquin Li said in a statement.
Financial terms of the agreement were not released.