BusinessReport.com

There is no portable, compact device that can offer on-the-scene DNA testing for paternity and forensics but BioFluidica says it plans to have a working prototype capable of doing just those things by early next year.

“The market opportunities for this type of testing instrument are enormous because of rapid advances in the use of DNA testing for human identification, medical diagnostics and pathogen detection,” says David Claypool, interim CFO and vice president of marketing and sales for the start-up company. “Already a multi-billion dollar market, current test methods are still largely based on expensive large scale equipment in central laboratories with long turn-around times and high costs.”

Everyone with BioFluidica is—or has been—employed by the LSU Center for BioModular Multi-Scale Systems (CBM2) or Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD). In addition to Claypool, company management includes Yohannes Desta, interim CEO and vice president of technology; Steven Soper, chief technology office; Wieslaw Stryjewski, director of engineering; Mateuz Hupert, director of microtechnologies; and Donald Patterson, chief electrical engineer.

The research has been 10 years in the making with these two centers. CBM2 will develop the company’s prototypes, which BioFluidica will introduce to the market. Claypool says they hope to grow this technology over time while continuing their relationship with LSU, CBM2 and CAMD inventors. As soon as additional equity investment is secured in 2008, the company will begin searching for a CEO with commercial experience in the industry and then a CFO.

BioFluidica proposes to include a test-specific microfluidic plastic chip in a small sample of test fluid that will be inserted into the device. Thirty minutes later, easily readable test results are displayed.

Point-of-use paternity testing could further open the market where people are uncomfortable with this highly confidential information being generated in a central lab instead of a doctor’s office. He estimates their device in a doctor’s office could increase the market by 40% in the U.S., as well as considerably increase use in Asian countries such as Japan.

This portable unit in a mobile crime scene investigation unit or local law enforcement office would aid crime investigations by making DNA testing more timely than waiting on central lab results, Claypool says. On medical diagnostics, its convenient use and lower cost could promote earlier detection and more frequent monitoring of diseases that could translate into better survival rates.

Claypool says the company is poised to become a leading developer of point-of-use DNA testing.