New Portable, Cost-effective Agile R100 Detects Zika Viral Protein with High Sensitivity and Specificity
San Diego, CA (PRWEB) September 12, 2017 -- Nanomedical Diagnostics, a cutting-edge life science company pioneering graphene biosensors that accelerate pharmaceutical and biotherapeutics development, announces a new publication in Biosensors and Bioelectronics demonstrating detection of Zika viral antigen using the label-free Agile R100 biosensor. Antibodies developed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) were used to directly detect the viral protein Zika NS1 at clinically relevant levels of sensitivity. Specificity to Zika NS1 was demonstrated with no sensor response to Japanese Encephalitis NS1, a closely-related infection that potentially produces false positives.
The Zika virus, a mosquito-borne infection, has been shown to be a cause of microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects. For pregnant women, it is especially important to reliably identify Zika virus infection in a timely manner, but current methods show high false positive rates and can take weeks to return test results. The compact and portable Agile R100 represents a potential methodology to identify Zika infection promptly.
“Diagnosing Zika infection early and accurately is a high priority,” says Nanomedical Diagnostics CEO, Ross Bundy. “Families need to make decisions about pregnancy, additional testing, and healthcare based on the test results they receive, and the current IgM serology test used to diagnose the disease has a false positive rate of over 50%. The test to confirm the IgM serology result, the plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT), can only be run by the CDC and can take up to six weeks to return, causing enormous anxiety during what should be a happy time. Agile R100 demonstrated detection of Zika virus at a level that potentially allows the disease to be identified within three days of infection. Because Agile R100 is cost-effective, easy to use, and portable, it can be run by the healthcare provider, and results can be returned immediately. And the peer-reviewed study showed no cross-reactivity with Japanese Encephalitis, a potentially confounding disease that could cause false positives. The Agile R100 biosensor is a promising platform for Zika clinical application development, with the potential for improving diagnostic testing in the early-infection stage.”
Agile R100 is a portable label-free graphene biosensor designed to provide information-rich data for drug discovery. The proprietary Field Effect Biosensing (FEB) technology on which it is based is an electrical technique that enables cost-effective, robust, portable form factors that can be applied in life science research, drug discovery applications, and diagnostic and health monitoring platforms.
About Nanomedical Diagnostics
Nanomedical Diagnostics (“Nanomed”) is a life science company based in San Diego, CA. Nanomed has developed a breakthrough electrical assay based on proprietary Field Effect Biosensing (FEB) technology that delivers sensitive real-time direct detection of biomolecules. As the world’s only mass-manufacturer of graphene biosensors, Nanomed’s mission is to transform the healthcare industry with innovative new products that enable cutting-edge life science research, drug discovery applications, and portable diagnostic and health monitoring platforms.
Angela Shue, Nanomedical Diagnostics, Inc., http://www.nanomedicaldiagnostics.com, +1 (858) 255-4330, [email protected]
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