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Tue August 21, 2007

Grant to DNA Solutions will help develop test

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Technology update
DNA Solutions Inc. has received a $700,000 Phase II SBIR grant from the Defense Department in collaboration with Oklahoma State University to develop a live test for chronic wasting disease, officials said.

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Chronic wasting disease is an infectious disease that affects mule deer, white-tailed deer, Rocky Mountain elk and moose, said Dr. Brandt Cassidy, director of laboratory operations for the Oklahoma City-based company.

The research will help develop a sensitive detection system that will be able to detect chronic wasting disease before death. Currently, the disease is only detected after the animal's death.

The detection system also will reduce the need for animal experimentation and provide a model for scientific research into the components of the disease, Cassidy said.

Early detection of the disease also relates to early detection of Creutzfeldt-Jakob's disease and Alzheimer's in humans, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, in cattle. These diseases are similar to chronic wasting disease because they cause deterioration in the brain and brain functions.

DNA Solutions Inc. research is important because it uses cell structure instead of animal bioassays to detect the disease, Cassidy said. The use of animal bioassays involves dozens of laboratory animals over a period of months for a single sample, Cassidy said. Using cell structure allows researchers and scientists to detect chronic wasting disease rapidly.

DNA Solutions also recently received a $300,000 grant from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology to develop an assay for hemochromatosis, which is a condition in which the blood has too much iron.

DNA Solutions is partnering with the Oklahoma Blood Institute and the University of Oklahoma to develop the assay.

The company provides paternity and forensic testing in humans and sire confirmation, genotype registry, DNA banking and forensic identification in animals. It also maintains research and development expertise in the area of single nucleotide polymorphism detection, microarray technology, custom chips, functional genomics, bioinformatics and DNA sequencing for forensics and human and animal genotyping.

Business Writer Jim Stafford

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