NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Next-generation sequencing systems developer Intelligent Bio-Systems will receive $750,000 in funding through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center's Accelerator Program, the Center said this week.
Waltham, Mass.-based Intelligent Bio-Systems is developing a next-generation DNA sequencing system and is preparing to launch a smaller, low-cost version of its platform. According to the Center, which is a quasi-public agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts aimed at creating growth in the state's life sciences industry, Intelligent Bio-Systems is currently focused on completing small-scale prototypes and moving its system into beat testing at customer labs.
The funding is through the Accelerator Program, which provides loans of up to $750,000 to early-stage firms to support research and proof-of-concept studies. Intelligent Bio-Systems was one of three firms to receive approval from the Center's Board of Directors for this round of loans — the other two firms were medical device firms Allurion Technologies and Paragonix Technologies.
Last year, Intelligent Bio-Systems was one of several firms to receive a grant through the National Human Genome Research Institute's Revolutionary Genome Sequencing Technologies grants program. The firm received a $2.6 million grant to continue work focused on the generation a low-cost, high-speed sequencing system that combines novel chip-making techniques with synthetic chemistry technology licensed from Columbia University.
As reported in August by GenomeWeb Daily News sister publication In Sequence, Intelligent Bio-Systems has partnered with Danaher Motion's Dover and Azco BioTech to launch the Max-Seq Genome Sequencer, a short-read DNA sequencing platform that promises high throughput at low cost.