Specific Diagnostics Announces That Dr. Ellen Jo Baron Has Joined Its Scientific Advisory Board
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 25, 2018 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Specific Diagnostics is very pleased to announce that Ellen Jo Baron, Ph.D., D(ABMM), who for the last 8 years has been the Executive Director of Medical Affairs at Cepheid, has joined Specific's Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Baron, among many other accomplishments, is also a Professor Emerita at Stanford, and a past Medical Director of the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory at Stanford. Having spent much of the last decade communicating the impact of rapid molecular diagnostic assays to hospitals on Cepheid's behalf, she brings to Specific unique understanding of and perspective regarding the practical needs of customers as antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection poses an increasingly urgent challenge.
"I am very gratified that a research and clinical leader of Ellen Jo's worldwide stature has chosen to contribute her insight to Specific at this time," said Paul A. Rhodes, Ph.D., Specific's CEO. "There are few who have the same breadth of experience that she brings, from pioneering research to development of clinical practice at a leading microbiology lab, to helping to guide Cepheid's remarkable product development trajectory. And to all this she adds her wonderful relationships amongst the myriad customers whom she has helped to educate and assist as they brought novel microbiology diagnostics into their labs."
"It is my pleasure to contribute to advising Specific regarding product roadmap as well as customer education at this time, both functions I have greatly enjoyed during my years at Cepheid. I have followed Specific's technology for years, and have believed that its new paradigm, the use of volatile emissions to detect infection, characterize it, and to rapidly (and relatively inexpensively) determine susceptibility directly from positive blood culture, is urgently needed and could make a major impact. Of special interest to me is the promise of this technology to function as well in many resource-poor parts of the world as it may in the Global North. Specific's solution combines rapid results with simplicity and as a result reasonable cost. I am glad to participate at this important time as this new capability is introduced to labs, and in addition to help shape Specific's product road map which include both "smart" blood culture and TB/mycobacterial culture systems."
About Specific's Product Family
During growth in culture, bacteria produce small molecule volatile metabolite mixtures unique to their species. Specific's products utilize inexpensive printed chemical sensor arrays to obtain a profile of such volatile mixtures that combine detection of growth, antibiotic efficacy and microorganism ID into simple, automated, low cost instruments and disposables. Accuracies of MIC determination meet those of gold standard broth microdilution methods, but with results obtained within 4 hours of a positive blood culture, directly from a diluted positive blood sample. The system will streamline lab work flow, reduce costs, and substantially shorten the time from sample arrival to selection of effective therapy, saving patients faced with fast moving and deadly drug resistant blood infections.
About Specific Diagnostics
Specific has developed in vitro diagnostic systems for the detection and identification of microorganisms while they grow in culture. The company's unique, patented metabolomic signature technology leverages a low-cost printed chemical sensor array, enabling diagnostic products that simplify workflow and speed time-to-answer at low cost. Specific Diagnostics is located in two buildings in Mountain View, CA, one a new instrument and sensor manufacturing center, and also has an office in Cambridge, UK.
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