Fluidigm said today that the Saskatchewan Disease Control Laboratory operated by the province's Ministry of Health will use the Fluidigm BioMark HD system as a "cornerstone" technology in its laboratory in Regina.
The SDCL provides a variety of services to the public health institutions in the province, including testing and monitoring of environmental specimens, food-borne illnesses, communicable diseases, and influenza, as well as a neonatal screening program.
The laboratory has developed a unique set of real-time PCR based tests to detect a wide range of respiratory and enteric diseases such as influenza, norovirus, and salmonella, and will use the tests in conjunction with the BioMark HD system to rapidly identify pathogens, Fluidigm said.
The BioMark HD system uses Fluidigm's microfluidic-based integrated fluidic circuits to quickly perform up to 9,216 tests in parallel within hours of receiving the sample from the clinic.