BioTrove Announces New OpenArray Nanofluidic PCR Platform Application to Identify Pediatric Respiratory Infectious Disease Agents

BioTrove, Inc. today announced its collaboration with Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) researchers in the evaluation of BioTrove’s OpenArray® technology as a system to detect and monitor respiratory infectious disease pathogens in children. The study combines BioTrove’s OpenArray nanofluidic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology platform with CHEO’s clinical and molecular biology expertise for rapid, simultaneous identification and quantification of multiple viral and bacterial respiratory pathogens in a clinical specimen.

“Early diagnosis of infectious disease agents may help protect young patient lives, and ensure that other children and adults do not become infected. Using BioTrove’s novel research technology, we intend to design an “all-inclusive” assay to rapidly identify and quantify over thirty infectious respiratory viral and bacterial disease targets, potentially enabling physicians to prescribe the right therapies for their patients almost immediately.” said Robert Slinger, M.D., Program Director for Medical Microbiology at the University of Ottawa and Medical Microbiologist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, Canada. “CHEO is committed to improving pediatric patient care by developing rapid and comprehensive infectious disease diagnostic panels with this innovative technology.”

Dr. Slinger and his colleagues will develop an assay panel simultaneously targeting multiple respiratory bacterial and viral infectious targets for the OpenArray platform. This will include key viral agents such as Influenza virus and emerging bacterial pathogens such as the “Superbug” MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). As a result, CHEO researchers will be able to quickly identify a large number of infectious respiratory diseases in a specimen and simultaneously quantify the number of microorganisms at a higher speed and greater efficiency than possible with traditional diagnostic technology.

“Applying this technology to improve life is a key BioTrove goal, and Dr. Slinger and his team are staying true to that possibility by accelerating standards of care for infectious diseases,” said Colin J.H. Brenan, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer, BioTrove. “Their research may lead to additional applications for the OpenArray platform, and speaks to the viability and potential of this research system as an applied tool in the clinical laboratory setting.”