Cambridge and Glasgow, UK. 23rd January 2020 – RNAssist. (www.RNAssist.com) a UK company that has developed a universal biological sample stabilization, fixation and inactivation reagent for clinical diagnostic and research applications, and QCMD (www.qcmd.org) specialised in molecular infectious disease proficiency testing, announced today an agreement under which RNAssist will license its vivoPHIX™ technology to QCMD.
QCMD will utilize the technology in order to facilitate a range of new reagents for use within its molecular infectious disease proficiency testing schemes which are used worldwide by clinical laboratories and the in vitro diagnostics (IVD) industry in support of their quality assurance and quality control.
The licensed intellectual property is based, in part, on the discovery by RNAssist that certain massively hydrogen-bonded organic liquids protect RNA, DNA, proteins and phosphoproteins from damage at elevated temperatures, even in complex liquid biopsies and solid clinical samples, permitting effortless integration with existing downstream multi-analyte sample preparation workflows.
RNAssist will shortly be commercialising vivoPHIX™ as a research use only reagent and is exploring the grant of exclusive licenses for a broad range of commercial applicationsincluding scRNA-seq, scDNA-seq, metagenomics, multi-omics, diagnosis of human, animal and plant diseasevaccine development, food safety monitoring, virus and bacterial inactivation and tissue fixation and staining (IHC, IF and ISH).
“This license agreement strengthens the existing relationship between RNAssist and QCMD in the area of sample stabilisation technologies,”Malcolm Bates, the CFO of RNAssist stated. “It shows our focus on establishing partnerships to maximize the potential of our technologies for a wide array of applications.”
“The vivoPHIX technology provides the opportunity to enhance our proficiency material offering within the infectious disease sector as well as support the global distribution of the proficiency testing materials to clinical laboratories and the IVD industry”. Stated Paul Wallace, QCMD Executive.
About RNAssist
We are a Cambridge, UK based technology developer founded in 2013 and passionate about tissue fixation and biomolecule stabilization, including RNA. We have over 40 years of collective expertise in this field and the founders have previously developed, patented and licensed a series of advanced RNA technologies to market-leaders in the life sciences. We are proud to be in a position to now make available exclusive licenses of the breakthrough vivoPHIX™technology, a truly groundbreaking cell and tissue fixative and biomolecule stabilization reagent. (www.RNAssist.com).
About QCMD
Quality Control for Molecular Diagnostics (QCMD) specializes in the provision and management of External Quality Assessment (EQA) / Proficiency Testing (PT) schemes. QCMD’s primary focus is infectious diseases and the organization is responsible for the management and distribution of over 100 schemes in over 130 countries with more than 12,000 annual registrations. The EQA/PT schemes cover both regulatory and educational proficiency testing requirements and are designed to support laboratory accreditation to ISO15189 or equivalent. QCMD is accredited to ISO/IEC 17043:2010 and the materials used within the EQA/Proficiency schemes are manufactured to ISO13485 (www.qcmd.org).
Contact
Malcolm Bates, PhD
CFO
RNAssist Limited
M.Bates@RNAssist.com
+(44) 7835 562729
Dr Paul Wallace,
QCMD Executive
QCMD
paulwallace@qcmd.org
+(44) 141 945 6474