SEATTLE, March 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Quansys Biosciences and global health nonprofit PATH have collaborated to build a new multiplex diagnostic tool that will help to improve the health of women and children around the world.
Over the last decade, better nutrition has improved millions of lives. Yet more than 2 billion people are still affected by micronutrient deficiencies, which contribute to impaired development, disease, and death, especially among young children and expectant mothers.
Population surveillance is necessary to close the gap. It identifies nutritional status, vaccine immunity, and infectious disease levels in communities so that leaders and health workers can respond. To succeed, there is a need for tools that can accurately and rapidly assess nutritional deficiencies at a large scale.
The Q-PlexTM Micronutrient Array responds. Developed through a collaboration between the global health nonprofit PATH and bioscience developer and manufacturer Quansys, the test can simultaneously measure up to seven nutrition-related biomarkers in a single sample of human serum. Using the test, countries and researchers can gather national data on micronutrient deficiency status and use it to implement and assess targeted interventions. Results also help leaders accurately establish the magnitude of the deficiency, identify subpopulations at greatest risk, and monitor the efficacy and progress of nutrition programs.
“The test gives researchers the ability to quantify key biomarkers for micronutrient deficiency and inflammation in a simple, single assay format,” explains David Boyle, a senior research scientist at PATH. “That will allow nutrition researchers and country health program leaders to gather population data at the necessary scalesomething that was highly challenging or impossible before.”
The panel array detects biomarkers that indicate iron and vitamin A deficiencies, inflammatory status, and malaria infection. The seven panels in the array detect ferritin, retinol binding protein 4, soluble transferrin receptor, C-reactive protein, thyroglobulin, alpha-acid glycoprotein, and histidine-rich protein II. The array is currently packaged in a 6-plex or 7-plex configuration and can be customized to meet customer needs.
“We are proud to be a part of an exciting product that will make an impact in the world,” said Matt Groll, CEO of Quansys Biosciences. “The Q-Plex Micronutrient Array provides another great example of how public-private collaboration and the custom development and manufacture of quality products can improve health for women and children worldwide.”
This project was supported by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Q-Plex is a trademark of Quansys Biosciences Inc.
About Quansys Biosciences Inc.
Quansys Biosciences is dedicated to the development and manufacture of multiplexed assays for protein quantification. Quansys Biosciences Q-Plex Array Technology aids researchers in better understanding of disease. The Q-Plex Technology includes multiplex and singleplex assays built to maximize the quantity and quality of data from biological samples. To support its multiplex assays, Quansys also provides the Q-View Imager system consisting of: Q-View Software, a user-friendly software package that enables the acquisition and analysis of large amounts of multiplex data, and the Q-View Imager, a high-resolution imaging system used to capture chemiluminescent assays. Quansys Biosciences was founded in 2005 as a Spendlove Research Foundation company.
About PATH
PATH is the leader in global health innovation. An international nonprofit organization, we save lives and improve health, especially among women and children. We accelerate innovation across five platformsvaccines, drugs, diagnostics, devices, and system and service innovationsthat harness our entrepreneurial insight, scientific and public health expertise, and passion for health equity. By mobilizing partners around the world, we take innovation to scale, working alongside countries primarily in Africa and Asia to tackle their greatest health needs. Together, we deliver measurable results that disrupt the cycle of poor health. Learn more at www.path.org.
Contacts
To learn more about Quansys and Q-Plex:
Matt Groll
mgroll@quansysbio.com
(888) 213-9812
To learn more about PATH:
Kate Davidson
kdavidson@path.org
(206) 302-4637
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SOURCE Quansys Biosciences
