Ginkgo Bioworks and the Public Health Center of the Ukraine Ministry of Health announced the launch of a pilot program for wastewater-based pathogen monitoring in partnership with Biomeme.
PHILADELPHIA, March 20, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Ginkgo Bioworks and the Public Health Center of the Ukraine Ministry of Health announced the launch of a pilot program for wastewater-based pathogen monitoring, in partnership with Biomeme. The goal of this program is to provide continuous data on infectious pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2 and influenza, to minimize the impact of infectious diseases on the people of Ukraine. This program complements Biomeme's expanding range of biosecurity testing solutions, including the identification of biowarfare agents, infectious diseases, industrial hygiene, and environmental health CONOPs.
The pandemic, along with the effects of war, has left Ukraine vulnerable to a greater risk of infectious diseases, making the implementation of an on-the-ground biosecurity program crucial. Concentric by Ginkgo, Ginkgo Bioworks' biosecurity and public health unit, has partnered with the Ukraine Ministry of Health to design a practical solution for monitoring biological threats found in critical wastewater systems, including sewage systems and natural waterways.
For this pilot program, Biomeme's real-time RT-PCR platform, known for its portability and sensitivity, has been chosen. The platform simplifies shipping logistics and allows for GPS-tagged data to be wirelessly synced to the Biomeme Cloud, enabling data analysis on the go. Biomeme's system employs pre-aliquoted, pre-mixed, and shelf-stable consumables, making it an ideal solution for low-resource areas that require accessible and accurate testing options. The system is capable of detecting, differentiating, and quantifying up to 27 molecular targets, making it a good fit for syndromic PCR panels that can differentiate between multiple pathogens. Over the years, Biomeme and Ginkgo Bioworks have collaborated on several successful biosurveillance initiatives, and the use of Biomeme's sample-to-answer system in this pilot program will make epidemiological surveillance and biological threat monitoring in complex settings and hard-to-reach environments easier.
Mike Smith, Senior Director, Commercial stated, "Our partnership with Concentric by Ginkgo continues to strengthen because of our alignment and focus on Biosecurity. We share in their belief that a "biosecurity in a box" model could be a way to manage biosecurity concerns in crisis zones, hard-to-reach environments, and low-resource areas."
Biomeme's product line is designed to address biosecurity limitations in public health infrastructure during moments of emergency, conflict, and disaster. The company's technology has been optimized to provide practical, easy-to-use solutions for monitoring pathogens in wastewater systems, regardless of location.
For more information on this collaboration, please visit biomeme.com.
ABOUT BIOMEME
Biomeme revolutionized molecular detection in 2012 when it created the first smartphone add-on capable of performing real-time PCR. Since its inception, Biomeme has used advanced biology and chemistry, along with world-class hardware and software engineering, to create elegant solutions to complex problems. Headquartered in Philadelphia, USA, Biomeme offers a full suite of end-to-end mobile molecular solutions that perform to the gold standard used by the world's most advanced central labs yet require no lab equipment or special experience to use. To find out more about Biomeme, visit biomeme.com or follow us on Twitter (@BiomemeInc) or LinkedIn.
ABOUT GINKGO BIOWORKS
Ginkgo Bioworks is the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, providing flexible, end-to-end services that solve challenges for organizations across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to pharmaceuticals to industrial and specialty chemicals. Ginkgo's biosecurity and public health unit, Concentric by Ginkgo, is building global infrastructure for biosecurity to empower governments, communities, and public health leaders to prevent, detect and respond to a wide variety of biological threats. For more information, visit ginkgobioworks.com and concentricbyginkgo.com, read our blog, or follow us on social media channels such as Twitter (@Ginkgo and @ConcentricByGBW), Instagram (@GinkgoBioworks and @ConcentricByGinkgo), or LinkedIn.
ABOUT THE PUBLIC HEALTH CENTER OF THE UKRAINE MINISTRY OF HEALTH
State Institution "Public Health Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine" (UPHC) is a healthcare institution responsible for maintaining and strengthening public health, social and hygienic monitoring of diseases, epidemiological surveillance and biological safety, group and population prevention of morbidity, epidemic control and strategic management in the field of public health. It was formed in pursuance of the order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine by Order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine dated September 18, 2015 No. 604. The main task of the UPHC is activities in the field of public health. The UPHC performs treatment and prevention, scientific, practical, organizational and methodological functions in the field of healthcare in order to ensure the quality of treatment of patients with socially dangerous diseases, in particular HIV / AIDS, tuberculosis, drug addiction, viral hepatitis, etc., disease prevention in the context of development public health systems. UPHC participates in the formation of regulatory policy and interacts with other ministries, research institutions, international, public organizations working in the field of public health and combating socially dangerous diseases.
Media Contact
Tom Cook, Biomeme, Inc., 1 (267) 930-7707, [email protected]
SOURCE Biomeme, Inc.
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