NEW YORK — Biological Dynamics said on Thursday that it has received roughly $1 million in new funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support the continued development of a tuberculosis (TB) detection assay.
The test is based on the same alternating current electrokinetic technology underlying the firm's Verita lab-on-a-chip platform, using an alternating current to create a non-uniform electric field that can capture particles within particular size ranges while repelling those that are smaller or larger.
With an earlier $500,000 grant from the Gates Foundation, Biological Dynamics established the feasibility of on-chip detection of serum exosomal biomarkers associated with TB. The San Diego-based firm said that the new funding will be used to optimize the assay and will establish its performance in a case-controlled study testing clinical samples collected in resource-poor settings.
"Working with the foundation connected us to a global ecosystem of scientists and [low- and middle-income country]-based medical practitioners, whose insights are invaluable for advancing our work," Biological Dynamics Founder and CEO Raj Krishnan said in a statement. "The sensitivity, scalability, and affordability of our Verita-powered workflow makes it ideal for developing tests intended for resource-poor settings."
In addition to TB, Biological Dynamics is developing the Verita system for the detection of biomarkers linked to pancreatic cancer, glioblastoma, and Alzheimer's disease.