PathoGenetix, Inc., a commercial-stage developer of an automated system for rapid bacterial identification, has been invited to present new research at the 2014 American Physical Society (APS) March Meeting next week in Denver, Colorado, demonstrating the integration of multiple mechanisms in its proprietary microfluidic funnels which enables optimal stretching and scanning of large DNA molecules for rapid analysis and identification of bacteria. Entitled “High-throughput DNA Stretching in Continuous Elongational Flow for Genome Sequence Scanning,” the presentation adds to the growing body of research demonstrating and detailing the company’s Genome Sequence Scanning™ (GSS™) technology, which enables rapid and reliable identification and strain typing of bacterial pathogens. The APS Physics March Meeting is expected to draw close to 10,000 physicists, scientists and students this year, with more than 600 sessions describing research from industry, universities and major laboratories from around the world.
PathoGenetix’s Genome Sequence Scanning (GSS) is a bacterial identification technology that detects sequence-specific fluorescent tags on long DNA molecules that have been extracted and purified directly from biological samples. Key to the efficacy and sensitivity of the GSS technology is the microfluidic funnel used for high-throughput stretching and scanning of long strands of single DNA molecules. In the proprietary GSS detection funnels, purified and tagged DNA molecules flow in a linear conformation at high speed past a series of lasers and optical sensors, which record the length and pattern of the labels on each DNA fragment. The labels create a barcode of the DNA in the sample, which is compared to an onboard database of barcodes to identify the serotype/strain type for the organism.
