Ibis will also leverage funding to improve its assays in varirous settings.
Ibis Biosciences received grants and contracts from the USDA, National Institute of Justice (NIJ), and other agencies totaling up to $8.4 million. Ibis will perform services in various fields like human forensics as well as detection of influenza viruses and other pathogens. The money will also support further development of its assay technology.
Ibis will use its current assays to characterize samples provided by the government sponsor. The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service agency awarded Ibis up to $4.2 million to identify and differentiate avian influenza strains, to distinguish high pathogenicity from low pathogenicity strains, and to aid in the tracking of avian influenza transmissions. Ibis will also use this money to develop assays to detect a range of agricultural pathogens that are considered important to animal health.
NIJ’s two-year project involves the development and implementation of next-generation human forensics markers, which are measured on the Ibis T5000™ Biosensor System. The contracts from other government agencies will fund expansion of pathogen detection and identification assays and use Ibis’ assay services laboratory.
“To date we have earned approximately $73 million in revenue to fund development of our biosensor system and our diverse commercial assays in many different areas including biodefense and infectious disease surveillance,” points out Michael Treble, president of Ibis. “We are now in the position to continue to fulfill our government contracts while focusing on clinical applications with Abbott and quickly moving into larger commercial markets.”
