NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Biosearch Technologies today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration has awarded the firm a $3.4 million contract to develop rapid, multiplexed fluorescent assays for identifying bioterror and food safety pathogens.
The Novato, Calif.-based firm said that it will work with Pejman Naraghi-Arani at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories and Luminex to develop rapid, highly specific assays for agents listed as "Select Agents" by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Department of Agriculture. The assays will run on the Luminex xMAP platform.
Initial target analytes for the project include Bacillus anthracis, Yersinia pestis, and Francisells tularensis.