| FOR RELEASE: Immediately
CONTACT: Peter Sigurdson 842-1522 ext 3006
Public/Private Partnership Bringing Cryptosporidium
Test Kit to Market Reduced Testing Time/Cost Will Help Keep Water
Supplies Safe
NYSERDA investing $340,000 in new technology
Innovative Biotechnologies International (IBI) of Grand Island, the
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
and BAE SYSTEMS Integrated Defense Solutions, Inc. are working to
revolutionize the way water supplies are tested for the presence of
cryptosporidium, making the process quicker and less expensive for
municipal water treatment facilities. NYSERDA contributed $304,000
toward the $736,000 project.
Cryptosporidium, a single-celled parasite that if present in drinking
water can lead to illness, is also listed by the Center for Disease
Control as a "Category B" terrorism agent, meaning it is
moderately easy to disseminate, but would cause only moderate morbidity
and low mortality rates.
The cryptosporidium test kit was developed by Innovative Biotechnologies
International along with scientists at Cornell University. BAE SYSTEMS,
a global systems company, will produce these kits at its Binghamton
facility for use by water treatment facilities throughout the world.
IBI will manufacture some of the test kit components as will Polymer
Conversions, Inc. in Erie County. The kit is designed to replace time
consuming and costly procedures with cheaper and faster procedures
that rely on chemical amplification and detection using optical or
electro Cryptosporidium chemical processes to identify contaminants
in water supplies.
"This is truly a made-in-New-York product that has the potential
to revolutionize the testing protocols for cryptosporidium and other
biological agents throughout the world," said NYSERDA President
William M. Flynn. "It can save our municipalities time and money
by providing near-immediate results and will provide a greater sense
of security in this era when any threat to public safety must be addressed
swiftly and comprehensively."
NYSERDA provided funding to IBI through its Environmental Product
Development Program in 1997. The cryptosporidium test kit allows for
a rapid detection procedure rather than the current practice, which
can take up to two weeks at a cost of $300 to $500 per sample to determine
the presence of cryptosporidium in water. The new kits will be useful
to municipal entities, particularly the New York City Department of
Environmental Protection, for use in watershed management. The test
kit helps to provide an alternative to investing billions of dollars
and consuming large amounts of energy with a filtration system for
its drinking water supply.
"Cryptosporidium test kits will not only keep our water safe,
but they will save local municipalities money. I am pleased that NYSERDA,
Innovative Biotechnologies International and BAE Systems Integrated
Defense Solutions have partnered to make this project a reality,"
Said Erie County Joel Giambra.
"We recognized the power of the sensor technology developed
by Dr. Richard Durst at Cornell University and acquired a worldwide
exclusive license to the technology. We were pleased that NYSERDA
shared our enthusiasm and vision for the technology. The co-funding
provided by NYSERDA was instrumental in our efforts to develop a rapid
test for this important environmental pathogen." said Dr. Richard
Montagna, President and CEO of Innovative Biotechnologies International,
Inc.
"Thanks to the joint efforts we can now detect cryptosporidium
in a fraction of the time with considerably more accuracy than previously
available. The ability for us to team with a multinational like BAE
SYSTEMS adds further credibility to our technology and value to the
efforts supported by NYSERDA," he added.
Ronda Foster, Vice President of the BAE SYSTEMS' Integrated Defense
Solutions, Inc. the product unit responsible for chemical and biological
detection, noted that BAE SYSTEMS original motivation for sublicensing
IBI and Cornell's technology was its inherent suitability to assist
with the detection of airborne biological warfare agents.
"The same qualities, extreme sensitivity and selectivity, that
make this technology suitable for airborne pathogen detection are
highly applicable here. Working with IBI to provide a product that
will protect the users of municipal water supplies gives BAE SYSTEMS
an excellent opportunity to expand our detection portfolio. The assistance
of NYSERDA has been crucial in enabling the development of the cryptosporidium
test kit," Ms. Foster said.
IBI also worked with NYSERDA, Cornell University, and the Erie County
Department of Health to develop a similar testing kit for E-coli.
The test reduces the detection period from several days to a matter
of hours and has been found to be 100% accurate in initial tests.
In addition to rapid testing for the presence of E-coli, the potential
to expand the test procedure to other organisms, which might be associated
with bio-terrorism, holds promise according to the developers. The
initial results from field tests of this kit in Erie County are expected
to be available by the end of October/early November.
###
|
