Mediomics has received an additional $460,000, in a renewal of its 2nd year Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II grant (R42GM079891), from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to further increase the sensitivity of the biosensor.

Reportedly, since 2007, Mediomics has received over one million dollars of STTR funding to develop its quick and sensitive homogenous PINCER protein assay.

Mediomics is currently focused on developing a sustainable, profitable biotechnology business that provides assay kits, biosensors and microarrays for academic and corporate research, point of care testing, food and pharmaceutical production process control, as well as the medical and environmental research markets.

Mediomics’ assay kits are expected to be used to quantify biologically and therapeutically important macromolecules, including ligands, proteins, protein complexes and pathogens. By 2012, it has been estimated that the global market for biosensors will reach approximately $6.1bn dollars.

Mediomics’ rapid, mix-and-measure homogeneous assays have already been adapted for the detection of a range of biologically and therapeutically important macromolecules, including cAMP, tryptophan, S-adenosyl methionine, PDE assay, biotin, human insulin, C-peptide, human albumin, human C-reactive protein (hCRP), IgG, IgM, E. Coli and others.

Yie-Hwa Chang, president of Mediomics, said: “The grant will be enormously helpful as we continue to develop fast (5-30 min), simple (mix and measure), robust (CV<10%) and cost effective biosensors for detecting biomarkers, toxins and pathogens.

“We expect in particular to achieve breakthroughs in sensitivity levels, making this a very attractive alternative to many products on the market, such as ELISA-based detecting technologies.”