$1 Million DoD Award
Significant Rise in Global Fungal Infections Affecting Civilian and Military Health
May 30, 2023
HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA – GeneCapture, an emerging Point-of-Care infection diagnostics company, has been awarded a contract funded by the U.S. Army and managed by the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC) to address a capability gap in soldier health and readiness. The $1 million contract adds invasive fungal pathogen probes to the current bacterial and viral panel, enhancing its platform capabilities in identifying and treating complex infections. Wound infections are often caused by multiple pathogens, with invasive fungal infections generally being the hardest to diagnose and treat.
GeneCapture scientists are developing several dozen probes to target fourteen of the most common fungal pathogens, including Aspergillus, Mucor, and Fusarium. The new probes will be added to their pathogen identification panel, part of the CAPTURETM Platform for portable rapid diagnostics. The work under this contract will be performed at the GeneCapture lab on the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology campus. The technology concept originated at The University of Alabama in Huntsville and was licensed to commercialize at GeneCapture.
Prolonged field care conditions on the battlefield make the requirement for invasive fungal detection more urgent. The same urgency in civilian health is being driven by the increased number of fungal infections, many of which are drug-resistant and where any delay in diagnosis and effective treatment can be life-threatening.
“Invasive fungal infections are on the rise. Access to a system that can rapidly identify fungal pathogens is invaluable for positive patient outcomes. This is a growing challenge for hospitals and clinics,” said Louise C. O’Keefe, PhD, Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, UAH College of Nursing and Family Nurse Practitioner.
Fungal infections develop when soil or environmental debris comes in contact with exposed tissue in a wound. Once in the damaged tissue, the fungal organisms grow invasively and are challenging to isolate and identify by conventional means. GeneCapture’s proprietary technology identifies the specific pathogen causing the infection by quickly finding an RNA signature match without first isolating the fungus.
The platform technology is being developed for FDA clearance for several applications to address unmet diagnostic needs in civilian and warfighter healthcare, including wounds, urinary tract infections, animal and plant diseases, and DoD-identified biothreats. The GeneCapture platform is intended to be developed for point-of-care capabilities that enable rapid detection, diagnosis, and Antibiotic Susceptibility testing. This latest contract follows other recent contract awards the company has received from the Defense Health Agency, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the State of Alabama.
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GeneCapture Inc., a Huntsville, Alabama company, has developed a portable rapid diagnostic platform for the identification and antimicrobial susceptibility of infection-causing pathogens. The Company's mission is to bring infection detection out of the lab and directly to the patient at the point of care, even in austere environments. GeneCapture's proprietary technology has the potential to transform the identification and treatment of infectious diseases in various settings, including the battlefield, border control, rural communities, and hospital settings. This versatility underscores the broad impact of GeneCapture's solutions. Learn more about GeneCapture at www.genecapture.com or contact the company through their website.
The Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC) is a 501(c)(3) biomedical technology consortium that is internationally dispersed, collaborating with multiple government agencies under a 10-year renewable Other Transaction Agreement with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command. The consortium focuses on developing medical solutions that protect, treat, and optimize the health and performance of U.S. military personnel and civilians. www.mtec-sc.org
See the full press release here.