Adnavance Technologies Inc. Appoints Christian P. Valcke, Ph.D., to Its Scientific Advisory Board
VANCOUVER, British Columbia and SAN DIEGO, May 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Adnavance Technologies Inc., a developer of direct detection molecular diagnostic tests for medical applications, announced today that it has appointed Christian P. Valcke, Ph.D., to its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Valcke has more than 20 years of experience in all aspects of product development, including design, validation, manufacturing and clinical development for medical and diagnostic devices.
Dr. Valcke currently serves as the Senior Director of Instrument Systems at Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics (NVS), a new division formed as a result of its acquisition of Chiron Corporation. He was previously Vice President of Research and Development at Nanomix, a nanotechnology startup company. Prior to that, Dr. Valcke held several leadership positions at Nanogen, a molecular diagnostics and point-of-care testing company. He has also authored dozens of published research articles and patents.
"Chris is a creative and innovative medical device engineer whom I had the pleasure of working with at Nanogen, and I look forward to working with him again. His contributions, together with Marcelo Baru, our Director of Engineering, will help optimize our direct detection M-DNA platform," said Randy White, Adnavance CEO.
Adnavance Technologies' proprietary ultra-sensitive M-DNA(TM) direct detection technology may eliminate the need for target amplification for a large number of molecular diagnostic tests. Only about 10% of all hospital laboratories and only 35% of all independent laboratories in the U.S. perform molecular diagnostic testing. Adnavance's platform technology has the potential to de-centralize molecular testing and open the market to approximately 30,000 new customers who are currently not licensed to perform medical tests.
"The Company's ultra-sensitive M-DNA technology is new and doesn't rely on light detection, which is an exciting development for a medical device. For the first time, we don't need to consider optical systems for detection, which will significantly lower cost and complexity of the system. I look forward to working with the Adnavance team to bring this exciting technology to market," said Dr. Valcke.
About Adnavance Technologies Inc.
Adnavance is a molecular diagnostic company focused on development of DNA-based tests using the Company's patented metalized DNA (M-DNA) platform. The Company is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia and also maintains a DNA development laboratory in San Diego, CA. M-DNA is based on the conducting properties of hybridized DNA. Under strict reaction conditions, certain metal ions can enter the central core of hybridized DNA and displace the hydrogen bonds forming the equivalent of a metal wire in the center of the DNA and making the DNA highly conductive. The Company uses a microarray of 10-micron electrodes to detect the M-DNA and the inherent ultra-sensitivity arises from the differential change in conductivity between hybridized DNA and metalized DNA. This change in conductivity is so large that it obviates the need for target amplification used in current molecular-based tests. Adnavance scientists were the first to discover the M-DNA phenomenon, and the Company believes its technology platform will open new molecular testing markets. For additional information please see the Company website at http://www.adnavance.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements made in this press release are forward-looking. Such statements are indicated by words such as "expect," "should," "anticipate," and similar words indicating uncertainty in facts and figures. Although Adnavance believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements will prove correct. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of the following factors, among others: uncertainties associated with the technology development process, the risk that Adnavance technology will not gain market acceptance, the risks associated with dependence upon key personnel and the need for additional financing to commercialize the technology platform.
CONTACT: Kim Richards of Porter Novelli Life Sciences, +1-619-849-5377,
krichards@pnlifesciences.com, for Adnavance
Web site: http://www.adnavance.com/