Takara Bio USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Takara Bio, has entered into a partnership with BioExcel Diagnostics to develop and validate wide-coverage panels for the detection of syndromic-based infectious diseases.
The new method is said to use Takara’s reagents and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) automation technology to find bacteria, viruses, fungi, and antibiotic-resistance genes specific to the pathogen in the sample.
Takara Bio said that the findings can enable clinicians to determine the best course of treatment for their patients.
BioExcel, which is a US-based molecular diagnostics lab, has already created and verified the infectious disease panels for a distinctive combination of targets for common diseases. These conditions include urinary system infections, respiratory tract, sexually transmitted diseases, nail fungus, and wound care.
Takara Bio added that the panels have been modified by both partners for use with its SmartChip Real-Time PCR System.
By combining the multiplexed nanoscale qPCR technology with the infectious disease panels, BioExcel will be able to provide findings from laboratory tests within 24 to 48 hours.
Takara Bio USA president and CEO Carol Lou said: “High-throughput qPCR is a powerful tool for data analysis related to a wide range of human health issues, including pathogen detection, clinical biomarkers, and antibiotic resistance.
“We are pleased to see how the flexibility and scale of the SmartChip system is supporting the development of large panels for multiple types of infectious diseases—ultimately enabling advancements in these areas of global concern.”
The life science company said that the automated technique runs 5,184 reactions per chip using the SmartChip real-time PCR instrument, chips, and reagents under 30 minutes of direct hands-on time.
Each nanoliter-scale reaction is said to lower costs due to smaller reagent amounts and cuts down variability by omitting the preamplification phase.
The SmartChip System is already being used to identify antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance globally and is perfectly adapted to handle the difficulties associated with studying infectious diseases, said Takara.
