Originally Published IVD Technology
June 2004
INDUSTRY NEWS
NotablesChemists at Northwestern University’s (Evanston, IL) Institute for Nanotechnology have developed a method of using oligonucleotides as “bar codes” for various recognition events and as tools to amplify signals associated with such events. This technique, called bio–bar code amplification (BCA), can amplify recognition events for DNA, RNA, proteins, and small molecules.
According to Chad Mirkin, PhD, the head of the team investigating BCA, the technique involves a combination of magnetic particle probes and nanoparticles to create “the highest-sensitivity protein detection system ever used, with about one million times more sensitivity than the next best thing, which is commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-based [tests].”
Scientists at Oxford Biosensors (Oxford, UK) have developed an IVD detection technique that uses a test strip embedded with micron-sized electrodes to analyze one drop of blood. The technique has been used in a successful diagnostic test for heart disease that can be performed on fingerstick blood and generates results within 60 seconds.
The National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry (NACB; Washington, DC) Committee on Laboratory Medicine Practice has requested industry feedback on NACB’s draft guidelines on cardiac biomarkers for acute coronary syndromes (i.e., heart attack and unstable angina) and heart failure. NACB intends the guidelines to be used both for everyday practice and for improving patient outcomes. The draft guidelines can be accessed on-line at www.nacb.org/lmpg/card_biomarkers_lmpg_draft.stm.
A new rule proposed by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA; Rockville, MD) may give a boost to the drugs-of-abuse (DoA) testing market if passed into law. The rule would allow federal agencies to choose between using sweat, saliva, hair, and urine in federal DoA testing programs that currently use only urine-based tests. The average price of a standard urine-based DoA panel is $12, whereas similar saliva- and sweat-based tests run from $15 to $20 and similar hair-based tests cost approximately $40.
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