UCI Receives $5M from NIAID to Advance New Blood Biotech

According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, more than 2 million people a year in the U.S. acquire antibiotic-resistant blood infections which result in nearly 23,000 deaths. This is precisely why researchers at University of California, Irvine are going to receive a five-year, $5 million award from the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases (NIAID), for the development of a new biotechnology that detects infections in the bloodstream.

According to a university press release, the system can detect bacteria in milliliters of blood with single-cell sensitivity in less than 90 minutes, which is much quicker and more accurate than using cell cultures. It works by separating the blood into billions of fine droplets and analyzing them with fluorescent signals that identify potentially harmful bacteria.

“Rapid, precise diagnostics is vitally important to limit the spread of infections in the healthcare environment and to provide patients the prompt and exact treatments they need,” Zhao said. “In addition, this is an important part of meeting the president’s goal of personalized medicine. At the heart of this goal is giving the right patient the right drug at the right time. With rapid detection technology like IC 3D, this can be achieved.”

Dr. Susan Huang, who is the medical director of epidemiology and infection prevention at UCI, will lead the clinical component of the systems’ use, and said, “The mortality rate for blood infections is due, in part, to the inability to rapidly diagnose and treat patients in the early stages,”

“This new technology will help advance early therapy,” she said. “It will have the potential to increase the survival of patients who are ill due to antibiotic-resistant pathogens.”

In addition to this grant from the NIAID, the University of California, Irvine is highly subsidized by several departments of the National Institutes of Health for their life science research and clinical studies.

For example, in 2014 the University of California, Irvine received 289 grants from the NIH for a total of $105,345,111 in R&D funding. Some of the most highly funded include:

UC Irvine is home to well funded and active researchers in the fields of science and medicine – and many will be attending the 15^th Annual BioResearch Product Faire™ Event at UC Irvine on Tuesday, November 3, 2015.

This popular event hosts hundreds of researchers from UC Irvine and surrounding facilities to purchase new biotechnology and lab supplies while networking in a relaxed, academic atmosphere.

Laboratory equipment and lab supply vendors can access the UC Irvine market, with nearly $200 million in annual R&D expenditures, by exhibiting at this popular biotechnology event. 

For more information about promoting lab equipment at this event, click below:

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