Ancon Medical Unveils Versatile, Portable NBT Disease Screening Device
Bloomington, MN (PRWEB) April 14, 2015 -- Ancon Medical is unveiling a revolutionary new piece of medical instrumentation that, despite its compact size, can perform many of the same screening and detection functions as advanced, large-scale laboratory equipment.
Ancon Medical’s Nanoparticle Biomarker Tagging (NBT) GC device is an advanced disease-screening technology that can detect “biomarker” chemicals in a subject’s exhaled breath that indicate the presence of disease. By programming the NBT- GC to detect the biomarker, the device can screen for a wide-range of diseases, including lung cancer, tuberculosis, COPD and, with more research, even Ebola.
Currently powerful, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS) laboratory equipment has very limited sensitivity, requiring large sample sizes and preparation period. Ancon Medical’s NBT-GC device has the sensitivity to detect trace amounts elements down to a single molecule. The NBT GC device also has the selectivity to recognize the distinct molecules for which it searches.
But unlike other laboratory equipment, Ancon Medical’s NBT-GC device is transportable, affordable for both healthcare centers, universities and laboratory environments and easily reprogrammable, giving it a versatility that all current laboratory equipment can’t match. With cloud connectivity, an Ancon Medical NBT-GC device could be reprogrammed on-the-fly to screen for a range of diseases of known bio-markers.
With a cube dimension that measures approximately 8 inches on each side, the Ancon Medical NBT-GC brings the precision and sensitivity of its laboratory counterpart down to a size that is useful in clinics, fieldwork, or other point-of-care treatment facilities where space and mobility are needed. Whereas the Ancon Medical NBT-GC can be placed on a tabletop, GC/MS equipment usually requires at least 8 to 9 feet of dimension to be properly positioned, requiring a whole room in some cases which has kept the technology out of reach for many.
Additionally, the GC/MS size and cost are prohibitive to many facilities that would use the technology, like neighborhood clinics and mobile disease-screening units. GC/MS laboratory equipment can range from $500,000 to $700,000 in costs, and this complicated machinery requires expert technicians, sample preparation time and an hour-and-a-half or more to produce a single result.
By utilizing breakthrough nanoparticle technology, the Ancon Medical NBT-GC device can produce far superior screening results, at just a fraction of the time and cost. An NBT-GC device is projected to cost only $29,950 and can deliver results in just 15 minutes per patient. Plus, unlike a laboratory GC/MS machine, an NBT-GC device can be operated with minimal training and technological experience, making it ideal for mass screenings and point-of-care medical facilities.
“The Ancon Medical NBT-GC is a medical device that is barely bigger than a breadbox, but can accomplish far superior functions than large, complicated and expensive laboratory equipment,” said Ancon Medical Ceo Wesley Baker. “And with further research and development ongoing, Ancon Medical are designing an even smaller NBT-XT that will produce results in just one to three minutes and be compact enough for use at local pharmacy locations.”
Ancon Medical is an active member of LifeScience Alley, a biomedical trade association based in Minnesota.
Wesley Baker, Ancon Medical Inc, http://www.anconmedical.com, +1 (612) 284-5354, [email protected]
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