Technology

In the diagnostics area, Biosome is developing a point of care system that addresses the critical issue of selecting fast and appropriate treatment following exposure to an unknown bacterial pathogen. The system consists of a sealed microtiter plate, a bacterial detection material, and a handheld detector. Sets of plate wells contain different antibiotics and Biosomes® nanoparticles, which become fluorescent in the presence of bacterial growth. A sample is introduced into the sealed plates. Wells containing ineffective antibiotics become fluorescent and exhibit a blue to red color change. If an antibiotic is effective against the bacteria in the sample, then the well remains non-fluorescent and blue. After only a few hours, the sample is read using a portable fluorescence reader. The system requires minimal user intervention or

training to use. After the selection of appropriate treatment, the plates can be used for the identification of the pathogen by PCR or other methods.

This work was funded in part by several SBIR grants (NIH, NSF, DOD) and funds from the parent company of Biosome (ABS Inc.) from which it is being spun out to commercialize this technology.

Biosomes are stable water soluble nanoparticles that can be incorporated into bacterial growth media. In the presence of bacterial secretions, these nanoparticles convert from a non-fluorescent blue state to a highly fluorescent red state. The fluorescent changes of Biosome nanoparticles are highly sensitive to the presence of live bacteria and less than 100 bacteria can be detected with this system. The basis of this detection system is described in Silbert et al. (2006) Appl. Eniviron. Microbiol. 72 (11) 7339-7344.

Biosome, Inc.

Technology