NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Mediomics has reeled in a $997,251 grant from the National Cancer Institute to continue developing technologies for monitoring the titer and quality of recombinant biologics, the company said today.
The phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant will fund efforts to develop an automated in-process analyzer using the company's Pincer platform, including development of quantitative antigen-specific assays for antibody titer, affinity, glycosylation, and aggregation. The firm expects that the analyzer will be beta-tested by Gallus Pharmaceuticals, a biologics manufacturer.
The St. Louis-based firm is focused on developing assay kits, biosensors, and microarrays for academic and corporate research, point-of-care testing, and food and pharmaceutical production control. These kits will quantify a range of macromolecules including ligands, proteins, protein complexes, and pathogens, such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses.
"The grant will be extremely helpful to move this cheaper, faster screening technology into mainstream applications," Mediomics President Yie-Hwa Chang said in a statement.
Chang said that the PINCER-based analyzer "will displace cumbersome benchtop instruments and gain acceptance for use in biologics production and food pathogen detection."
Mediomics has licensed its core technologies exclusively from Saint Louis University, including the molecular Pincer-based homogeneous biosensor and bioassay platforms and devices, the Bridge-It DNA-binding protein-based bioassay, and methods for screening and developing new high-affinity capture reagents for research, diagnostic, and therapeutic use.
The company also said it will continue to collaborate with Daren Chen, a professor of engineering at Washington University, on the design of an automated stand-alone detection tool.