This article was originally published Aug. 1.
PathoGenetix has raised $4 million in the first closing of a Series B financing round and has received $9.5 million in commitments for the round from investors, the Woburn, Mass.-based company said this week.
Excel Venture Management led the financing, which also included CB Health Ventures, HealthCare Ventures, and other investors who participated in the firm's 2010 Series A financing round, during which it raised $1.3 million.
The company, formerly called US Genomics, will use the latest funding to complete development of its system for identifying pathogens in complex biological samples. The system will use the firm's proprietary Genome Sequence Scanning technology.
According to PathoGenetix, the GSS method labels large fragments of genomic DNA with a fluorescent tag that recognizes a frequently occurring six- to eight-base sequence and stretches the DNA out in a microfluidic device. The DNA fragments, ranging in size from 100 to 300 kilobases, then flow past a detector at a speed of 150 megabases per second, which records the fragment length and spatial pattern of the tags.
Comparing the pattern of each fragment to those in a database allows the company to identify which type of bacterium the DNA came from.
The company said the technology allows it to detect and identify thousands of strains from hundreds of species, and to analyze a sample in three to four hours.
PathoGenetix is developing the platform for use in genomics research, food and product safety testing, and clinical infectious disease diagnostics. It plans to launch the platform commercially for research applications in 2012.