Guanine Inc. is seeking partners whose customers have an immediate need to significantly improve the sensitivity of their pathogen tests without using PCR. Guanine’s universal amplification and quantification platform improves the sensitivity of optical immunoassays by several orders of magnitude with results available in about 1 hour. The platform can also quantify, multiplex and determine viability.

Guanine’s platform uses proprietary microbeads that amplify detection signals of proteins and microbes without cultures or PCR. Instead of using a single optical label, each microbead contains millions of electrochemical tags. The electrochemical tags are measured with a low cost biosensor, similar to a glucose meter.

“The system is a natural extension of sandwich immunoassays where matched antibody pairs can be conjugated to amplification microbeads and magnetic beads”, according to Neil Gordon, President of Guanine Inc. “The amplification microbead is used to create a sandwich structure with a target analyte and a magnetic bead, then tags are released and an electrical signal is produced in proportion to the analyte concentration.”

Magnetic bead purification is used to remove non-specific materials before amplification. The purification step has the added benefit of allowing the amplification microbeads to work with many sample types. An overview of the technology can be found at: www.guanineinc.com/technology.html

Guanine’s platform has been used to quantify 3 cfu/mL of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in untreated wastewater samples in a project undertaken for the US DOD, according to a study recently published in the Journal Sensors (Highly Sensitive Bacteria Quantification Using Immunomagnetic Separation and Electrochemical Detection of Guanine-Labeled Secondary Beads).

Guanine Inc, in partnership with the University of Utah, can adapt existing immunoassays to the platform. “We work with our partners to define test objectives, develop and validate assays, and deliver kits that can be evaluated at our partners’ sites,” according to Tom Samek, VP of Business Development at Guanine Inc and President of Voligo Inc, an affiliated company for licensing and distribution. “We are actively seeking strategic partners to create ultra-sensitive assays in key vertical markets and fields of use for development and commercialization.”