NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – OpGen announced today that it has partnered with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) on a verification study for OpGen's Acuitas AMR Gene Panel u5.47 Assay and the Acuitas Lighthouse Knowledgebase. The study will be among the first to examine potential diagnostic and antibiotic decision-making improvements that may be possible using rapid molecular testing and bioinformatics.
Led by Stefan Riedel, the principal investigator and associate medical director of the clinical microbiology laboratories at BIDMC, the study will include testing urine specimens from patients who have an increased risk for complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI). Genetic results from the test will then be analyzed by OpGen's Acuitas Lighthouse Knowledgebase bioinformatics system.
OpGen's Acuitas AMR Gene Panel Gene Test is designed to detect the five most common bacterial causes of cUTIs semi-quantitatively as well as 47 antibiotic-resistant gene targets in less than three hours. The test is currently available for research use only.
"This collaboration is an important step in verifying our technology's performance in clinical research laboratory settings," OpGen Chairman and CEO Evan Jones said in a statement.
In February, OpGen said it would use Thermo Fisher Scientific's real-time PCR technology in its line of Acuitas tests. This comes after OpGen announced that it closed its previously announced public offering, raising $12 million in gross proceeds.