Akonni Biosystems, a molecular diagnostics company that develops rapid, low-cost and highly scalable solutions for infectious disease testing has signed a license agreement with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. USAMRIID is the lead medical research laboratory for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Biological Defense Research Program, and plays a key role in national defense and in infectious disease research.
The license agreement provides Akonni full access to the nucleic acid sequences, primers and probes for many of the most important biological threat agents. Having access to this content will allow Akonni Biosystems to more rapidly commercialize a family of highly multiplexed tests for research and in vitro diagnostics uses in global bio-security applications.
The company recently launched its TruSentry System for rapid, low-cost genetic screening on a microarray. This automated solution provides ability to analyze over 3,000 samples a day for tens to hundreds of genetic markers and is designed for government institutions seeking to increase their capacity for rapid identification of infectious microorganisms and drug resistant variants at a significantly lower overall cost.
Akonni Biosystems was founded in 2003 and has over 20 patents issued with 13 others pending. The company’s core technology is based on work developed at Argonne National Laboratory and the Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology and utilizes gel-drop array technologies optimized for medical applications.