Strategic Diagnostics Receives US Patent

Strategic Diagnostics (SDI) has bagged US Patent No. 7521201 B2 for using bacteriophages in microbiological assay tests and processes.

The invention is a rapid bacterial detection method that reduces or eliminates the growth of undesirable bacteria, resulting in improved test performance.

The company claims that the invention addresses the problem of how to detect a harmful pathogen among billions of other bacteria present in a test sample. Reducing the growth of competing bacteria in the sample reduces false negative results, while preventing the growth of cross reactive bacteria in the sample reduces false positive results.

James Stave, vice president of R&D at SDI, said: “We continue to explore and develop technology solutions that address real issues and result in better decision-making tools for our customers. We are particularly excited about this technology because we believe that it should be generally applicable to all microbiology tests that employ an enrichment step, even those in markets outside of food and water pathogen testing, such as pharmaceutical research and medical diagnostics.”