NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Biomatrica has received a $1 million grant to develop a blueprint and functional prototype of an ambient temperature biobank for the US Army.
The San Diego-based biostabilization technology developer said yesterday it will use the Small Business Innovation Research award to create a biobank that will be able to store biological samples from 1 million service members. The biobank, which Biomatrica said will be the largest of its type in the world, will contain DNA and RNA samples extracted from blood, and it will be structured in modular units to facilitate global deployment of samples.
Biomatrica said the biobank will be built upon its ambient temperature biostabilization technologies, including the RNAgard Blood, DNAgard Saliva, RNAstable, and DNAstable Plus reagents.
"Full automation, from DNA and RNA extraction, to storage, archiving and retrieval, will enable a highly efficient workflow capable of processing hundreds of samples per day," Biomatrica CEO Judy Muller-Cohn said in a statement.
The company will store the samples in its ambient temperature dry storage cabinets, and it will use its SampleWare lab information system to manage data related to the samples.