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BioMérieux, Ultimate Labs Partner on Mass Spec-based Microbial ID Platform Application

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – BioMérieux said on Thursday it is partnering with Ultimate Labs to bring BioMérieux's mass spectrometry-based microbial identification system to the food, drug, and cosmetic manufacturing industries.

BioMérieux's Vitek MS technology is a MALDI-TOF mass spec system for the identification of bacteria, yeast, and mold. Paired with a comprehensive microbial database, the system can identify a microorganism's genus and species in minutes, BioMérieux said.

The system is available for industrial use and BioMérieux has filed a submission to the US Food and Drug Administration for the instrument for the clinical market, it added.

"Our clients adhere to strict safety and quality control regulations issued by governmental agencies such as the [US Department of Agriculture and the US Food and Drug Administration], and have to be compliant with industry standards," Ultimate Labs' CEO Kim Lim said in a statement. "Also, they are eager to identify potential contaminants faster and to increase the sensitivity of their testing. The quantitative protein profiling provided by VITEK MS allows a greatly improved accuracy and time-to-results for our customers. "

The San Diego-based company provides services, including microbial, water, and food testing to the pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, and food industries, as well as environmental monitoring.

"Reference laboratories today are striving to improve productivity and shorten their time-to-results," Pierre-Louis Thiney, Executive Director US Industry for BioMérieux, added. "Providing a fully integrated, rapid solution for microbial identification is a significant step in providing timely and accurate results to the customer"

Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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