AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, March 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Primagen Holding B.V. today announced that its virus discovery group has been selected to participate in the EU-funded GRACE project on combating antibiotic resistance. Primagen's expertise will be used to screen samples of patients with respiratory tract infections to identify novel viruses associated with respiratory tract infections.
The flagship European network GRACE (Genomics to combat Resistance to Antibiotics in Community-acquired lower respiratory tract infections in Europe) was launched on March 17th, 2006 in Brussels (www.grace-lrti.org/home.html). This Network, supported with a budget of 11.5 million EURO from the EU's Research Framework Program, will tackle the increasing problem of resistance to antibiotics in lower respiratory tract infections. In its twelve work packages, the GRACE Network pools European expertise and excellence from 17 academic groups and 5 companies from 9 EU member states.
Primagen's virus discovery group will be working together with the Virology Department of the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) to screen for novel viruses in samples of patients with respiratory tract infections in which no disease-causing agent can be identified. The GRACE research projects aim to acquire new insights in community-acquired lower respiratory tract infections, ensure its practical application, develop new diagnostic tests and improve education. The Primagen virus discovery group has been involved in the discovery of HCoV-NL63, a new human Coronavirus, EV90 a new human Enterovirus and HPEV-4 a new serotype human Parechovirus.
"Working within the GRACE network will help Primagen achieve its goals to discover new viruses that can help in solving the unmet diagnostic challenges seen in the infectious disease field," said Peter van den Broek, project manager virus discovery at Primagen. "Through this European initiative, our proven capabilities for identifying new viruses can be leveraged across a broader population, leading to improved diagnosis and treatment of patients worldwide".
About Primagen Holding B.V.
Primagen is a privately held company headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Primagen designs, develops and commercializes molecular tests that have high, individualized predictive value and improve the quality of life for patients suffering from life-threatening diseases, such as infections, AIDS and cancer. Primagen has two proprietary molecular product lines on the market. The Mitox(TM) products measure mitochondrial DNA and RNA in clinical samples with unmatched accuracy. The Dry Fluid Spot (DFS) Rainbow product brings HIV-1 viral load measurement to resource-poor environments. For additional information about Primagen, visit www.primagen.com.
Primagen Holding B.V.CONTACT: Primagen Holding B.V. Jos Rijntjes, +31-20-566-8575,p.j.rijntjes@primagen.com
