NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Molecular diagnostics company InDevR will use a $3 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop microarray tools based on technology it licensed from the University of Colorado, Boulder, the firm said today.
The three-year Phase II Small Business Innovation Research Grant will fund development of the FluChip integrated molecular diagnostic platform that the firm first plans to use to develop an influenza screening test.
The grant, titled "Simultaneous Screening for A/H3N2, A/H1N1, A/H5N1 and B Influenza Viruses," follows a two-year $600,000 Phase I award that InDevr used to refine a low-density microarray assay for detecting influenza virus.
This round of funding will go to combine the FluChip microarray with the ampliPHOX detection method, also developed using CU-licensed technology, into a cartridge-based diagnostic platform.
CU Associate VP of Technology Transfer David Allen said in a statement that combining the two technologies "represents a promising and innovative approach" for diagnosing influenza.