mBio Diagnostics

Click to visit the mBio Diagnostics website.

mBio is working on rapid, inexpensive medical tests that will help diagnose multiple infectious diseases at once. This is a critical unmet need in HIV infection management, where disease progression and medical outcomes are largely determined by co-infections. This image is from mBio’s multiple disease marker test which simultaneously determines both HIV and Hepatitis C virus exposure.

mBio Diagnostics is a division of Precision Photonics Corporation (PPC) developing low-cost medical diagnostic solutions, with a major emphasis on technologies to move critical testing from centralized laboratories to clinics, bedside, or even the home. mBio currently has a strong focus on diagnostics for global health applications, particularly related to HIV/AIDS and its co-infections. A goal is to address a major unmet need for low-cost tools in countries lacking a centralized medical infrastructure. Beyond low-resource settings, however, mBio also sees significant business opportunity for new medical technologies in rapidly emerging economies such as Brazil, India, and China. In the United States, mBio is targeting companion diagnostic tools for personalized medicine applications, as well technologies for decentralized testing sites such as pharmacy and retail-store based clinics.

mBio is developing very low cost instrumentation for point-of-care medical diagnostics. First “research use” instruments and disposable test pieces for HIV, hepatitis C, and syphilis have been shipped to clinical collaborators in San Diego, CA and Maputo, Mozambique.

mBio’s team of scientists and engineers includes experts in biological assay development, disposable cartridge manufacture, and instrumentation product development.

Team

mBio has assembled a world-class technology team of scientists, engineers, and clinical collaborators. The Boulder team includes assay development scientists, optical physicists, engineers, and disposable fluidic device experts. The mBio group also builds on PPC’s well established laser instrumentation and optical component manufacturing expertise. In addition to the technology team at the Boulder site, mBio has key collaborations with a global network of infectious disease physicians and clinics.

Technology

The mBio technology is a novel fluorescence-based assay system consisting of a low-cost instrument built around high-volume consumer electronics, combined with single use, disease-specific disposable cartridges. At its core, the technology comprises an integrated planar waveguide/flowcell system that enables high sensitivity fluorescence measurements in a robust, low-cost package. This multiplexed (microarray) technology, allows measurement of multiple disease markers in a single sample. The company has built a worldwide intellectual property position around the technology through an exclusive license to key patents from the University of Utah as well as additional licenses to technology from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. In addition, mBio team continues to develop intellectual property around the planar waveguide-based detection system and fluidic cartridge.

"mbio" is the Swahili word for fast...and rapid diagnostics for improved global health is our mission.

mBio’s state-of-the-art facilities include fully equipped assay development, cell cultur