Microarray-Based Diagnostic Will Detect Sepsis-Triggering Pathogens

A comprehensive DNA microarray-based diagnostic test will be able to detect both bacterial and fungal sepsis-triggering pathogens.

Approximately 18 million cases of sepsis occur worldwide per year. The mortality rate for sepsis is 28-50%, and the associated costs are estimated at US$20 billion. Quick and precise diagnosis of sepsis is crucial to the success of a course of a therapy.

Current diagnostic processes rely on time-consuming cultivation of pathogenic microbes. The DNA microarray-based diagnostic under development will enable the immediate detection of organism-specific nucleic acid sequences, reduce the time between sample collection and diagnosis, and thus lead to a reduction in mortality rates.

GATC Biotech (Constance, Germany), a DNA sequencing service provider, has entered into a collaboration agreement with the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, and the National University of Pusan (Pusan, Republic of Korea) and biotech company Gene In Corp., Ltd, (South Korea). GATC Biotech is the coordinating partner of the collaboration, which aims to develop the diagnostic test.

Peter Pohl, CEO of GATC Biotech, commented, "We are delighted to be taking part in this collaboration. With nearly two decades of experience in genetic analysis, GATC Biotech is ideally positioned to contribute to research projects relating to human health. The clinical diagnostics field is still dominated by classic microbial procedures, involving the time-consuming cultivation of pathogenic germs. The successful development of a DNA-based diagnostic will reduce the time between sample collection and diagnosis, and will represent a huge step towards increasing survival rates for patients.”

The project is one of several that connect GATC Biotech's DNA analysis expertise with demanding medical conditions. Additional projects that GATC Biotech is contributing to include CONSERT (Concerted Safety and Efficiency Evaluation of Retroviral Transgenesis for Gene Therapy of Inherited Diseases), XENOME (detection of retroviral elements in the porcine genome), and EURESFUN (integrated post-genomic approaches for the understanding, detection, and prevention of antifungal drug resistance in fungal pathogens).

GATC Biotech is a provider of DNA sequencing services and bioinformatics software for industry and academia worldwide. GATC Biotech offers complete sequencing systems, from sample prep to high-throughput genome sequencing and bioinformatics.


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National University of Pusan