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NewsRoom: Announcement
OpGen Technologies to Commercialize Optical Mapping Instruments and Disposables for Genome Analysis and Clinical Microbiology
Company Responds to Demand For In-House Systems
MADISON, Wisconsin (April 3, 2006) - OpGen Technologies, Inc., the leader in single molecule DNA analysis technology, today announced its plans to develop and commercialize Optical Mapping instruments and disposables for research and clinical microbiology applications. The company expects to launch the first system early in 2007.
"Demand for OpGen's Optical Mapping service has increased dramatically over the last 18 months, reflected in the number of references to Optical Mapping appearing in scientific papers, periodicals and presentations," said OpGen's CEO, Joseph Shaw. "Many of the commercial, academic and clinical organizations currently using the service now wish to establish Optical Mapping in-house. Therefore, we are expediting the development of Optical Mapping instruments and disposables to meet this growing demand."
The Optical Mapping system is designed to investigate changes in genome structure, such as insertions/deletions ("indels"), translocations, inversions and other events including lateral gene transfer. The system offers significant advantages over other technologies used in genome research today. Unlike microarray and SNP genotyping systems that generally require preexisting sequence information, Optical Mapping can be used to study the greater than 99.9 percent of organisms that have not yet been sequenced.
Senzo Tamiya, President and CEO of M&S Instruments said, "As we work with OpGen Technologies to market Optical Maps to genomics researchers in Japan, we become even more excited about the technology's potential to make significant improvements in the laboratory. Our clients are driving demand for Optical Mapping technology, and we look forward to working with the company as it develops and delivers its first Optical Mapping system next year." The company also has initiated the development of instruments tailored to the needs of the clinical microbiology market for rapid identification and characterization of pathogenic organisms. "Currently, clinical microbiology laboratories depend on isolating and growing microorganisms from clinical samples," said Mr. Shaw. "This is a lengthy process and provides only a simple taxonomic identification. The results are rarely timely enough to influence choice of therapy and can lead to excessive use of expensive broad-spectrum antibiotics. OpGen's new system will provide data capable of identifying bacteria down to the strain level, within a single six-hour shift."
Dr. Sanjay Shukla, Research Scientist at The Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation commented that, "OpGen's technology is an extremely powerful approach for identifying changes in genome architecture in evolving pathogens or genetically-engineered organisms. Comparative Optical Mapping allows one to quickly focus on areas of a genome where a significant insertion or deletion has taken place. Certainly, this technology will greatly aid in studying the changing population genetics of bacterial pathogens undergoing some selective pressure. I can only imagine the benefits of this technology to clinical microbiology laboratories if available via an automatically-run platform."
Building upon improvements incorporated during development of the first genome analysis instrument, the clinical microbiology Optical Mapping system compares DNA isolated directly from microbial cells in clinical samples to a comprehensive database of optical genome maps, providing unequivocal microbial identification within a single shift. The system will eliminate long incubation times for bacterial pathogens, offering improved diagnosis and selection of antibiotics. Other advantages include the ability to identify difficult-to-culture organisms such as obligate anaerobes that constitute a serious, and increasing, medical problem. It will also provide a powerful tool to combat the growing medical threat of hospital-acquired (nosocomial) infections. According to the Lewin Group, a premier national health care and human services consulting firm, there are now around two million hospital-acquired infections each year in the U.S., costing more than $28,000 on average to treat, per patient, and resulting in over 100,000 deaths annually.
In addition to genome research and clinical microbiology laboratories, OpGen Technologies expects to market its Optical Mapping systems through collaborations and partnerships in the molecular diagnostics, environmental, food and beverage handling and industrial sectors, collectively a multi-billion dollar market space.
About OpGen Technologies
OpGen Technologies, Inc. is commercializing a novel single molecule DNA analysis technology, "Optical Mapping", for rapid, cost-effective comparison of whole genomes. The system can be used to obtain detailed genetic information from any organism, with no requirement for prior sequence information, PCR, cloning, or probes. Optical Mapping has been used for comparative genomic analysis of a range of organisms that lack pre-existing DNA sequence information. Planned commercial applications include clinical microbial analysis, forensic microbiology and the development of novel molecular diagnostic products.For more information, please visit the Web site at www.opgen.com or call 608-441-8100.