Partnership Developed to Create Tools to Speed Contaminant Detection

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 05 Oct 2009

Millipore (Billerica, MA, USA) and the newly created Roka Bioscience reported they are jointly developing molecular assays and portable instruments for biopharmaceutical production. Roka is a spinoff of Gen-Probe (San Diego, CA, USA).

The joint effort is focused on accelerating the detection of microbial contamination so biopharma manufacturers can take corrective actions earlier in the production process, limiting contamination impact. The earlier intervention is expected to reduce downstream processing risks and optimize product yields.

The work is based on a Millipore and Gen-Probe partnership dating to 2005. It led to the MilliProbe system, which combines Millipore sample prep methodologies with Gen-Probe nucleic acid technologies for speed and sensitivity in one microbial screening application. MilliProbe utilizes real-time transcription-mediated amplification technology to detect contaminants.

The partners have one assay on the market for Pseudomonas aeruginosa and are developing a second assay for Mycoplasma.

Related Links:
Millipore
Gen-Probe