NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – PositiveID said today that it will collaborate with NASA's Ames Research Center to test the Firefly Dx detection system as a platform for biological research and commercial development.
Under the new Space Act Agreement, NASA will assess the potential ground and space applications of Firefly Dx, while PositiveID will improve the hardware for extreme environments, such as Department of Defense field applications, PositiveID said.
Based in Delray Beach, Fla., PositiveID develops biological detection systems for homeland defense and rapid biological testing. The company is focused on microfluidic systems for automated preparation and assay performance to detect biological threats and analyze samples.
Firefly Dx is a handheld, point-of-need system that employs TaqMan PCR. It is designed to achieve diagnostic results from samples in less than 20 minutes.
PositiveID, in partnership with Leidos, was also recently awarded a contract from the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency to develop detection technologies to combat potential weapons of mass destruction. This contract will develop Firefly Dx, as well as PositiveID's Microfluidics-based Bioagent Networked Detector, M-BAND, which continuously and autonomously analyzes air samples to detect airborne threats in the form of bacteria, viruses, and toxins.