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| The Pocared P-1000 |
Israel's Pocared Diagnostics announced that it has raised $15 million in milestone-based funding as it attempts to commercialize its culture-free, computer-based diagnostic platform for bacterial identification and another for analysis of biological particles.
The Pocared P-1000 uses data analysis and artificial intelligence to analyze the optical characteristics of specimens, and compares them to a predefined database of those characteristics to detect, identify and enumerate bacteria in less than an hour, the company says on its website.
In addition, the Pocared Sample Processor concentrates biological particles to purify and maintain the viability of low concentration bacterial samples. The release says that cells of interest are detached from the concentrated particles using an "innovative wet foam formulation." Its applications will include cytology, nucleic acid and viral extraction, and genomics research, according to the product website.
"These are exciting times for Pocared as we are closer to commercializing our first two platforms to make the Pocared revolution a reality," said CEO Jonathan Gurfinkel in a statement. "The funding allows us to quickly build capacity in manufacturing and to begin development of further applications for the system."
The company has one trial on ClinicalTrials.Gov from 2011 to study urinary tract infections using the P-1000 for uropathogen quantification and identification.
- read the release