MELBOURNE, Australia,
Aug. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ --
Key points:
- Bluechiip signs strategic partnership with Gentris
Corporation
- Gentris joins Bluechiip's Early Adopter Program
- Gentris purchases bluechiip® trial
system
Bluechiip Limited [ASX: BCT] – which has developed a unique
temperature sensing and tracking solution initially for cryogenic
sample management in the healthcare and life science industry –
today announced that it has signed a strategic partnership
agreement with Gentris Corporation.
The strategic partnership will be focused on expanding Gentris'
service model to include temperature tracking services.
Gentris, located in North
Carolina, provides pharmacogenomics and biorepository
support for all phases of clinical studies and genomic biomarker
programs. Gentris collaborates with academic and industry leaders
to translate innovations in pharmacogenomics into safer, more
effective medicines, aimed at accelerated drug discovery and
improvement in clinical treatment outcomes.
In addition to signing a strategic partnership agreement,
Gentris has also signed up for Bluechiip's Early Adopter Program
(EAP). This includes purchasing the trial bluechiip® solution,
thereby assisting with the ongoing validation of the bluechiip®
system.
Eric Hall, Vice President of
Gentris' Biorepository Operations, said: "We believe the bluechiip
technology offers bioreposititories and bioresource laboratories
significant value via its ability to sense sample level
temperature. This capability will allow Gentris to track the
temperature of individual samples from time of collection to
analysis, which improves our ability to evaluate and control the
integrity of client samples. We are excited about the opportunity
to collaborate with Bluechiip in the Early Adopter Program as we
expand our biorepository service options."
L. Scott Clark, Gentris' Chief
Scientific Officer, said: "The ability to understand sample-level
temperature changes and trends in temperature across sample
collections throughout the process chain and specimen lifecycle
over time will be extremely valuable. This will lead to enhanced
annotation of pre-analytical variables and improved identification
of analytical artifacts that may occur due to changes in sample
integrity. Prospectively measuring sample temperature will increase
our confidence in the quality of samples analysed and improve our
understanding of research findings and interpretation of downstream
testing, i.e. gene expression and biomarker validation studies.
Utilizing the bluechiip technology has the potential to positively
impact research and clinical outcomes, not only in biobanking but
also in pharmacogenomic trials."
Lisa Miranda, Bluechiip's Vice
President Strategy and Business Development, said: "Bluechiip
welcomes and looks forward to working with Gentris as a key
strategic business partner. Gentris' technical and scientific
expertise, vision, commitment to driving innovation and support of
real-time, evidence-based biobanking practice was a key driver in
its selection both as a strategic partner and as an early adopter
to further test and validate our technology. As a former
Bioresource Core Director, historical biobanker and advocate of
evidence-based biobanking practice, I am confident of the value
that the bluechiip® technology offers to bioresources across all
sectors. Previous pilot trials have been positive, comprehensive,
robust and extremely promising."
About Bluechiip Limited:
Bluechiip has developed a wireless tracking solution with
temperature sensing capabilities for the healthcare and life
science, security, defence and manufacturing industries which
represents a generational change from current methods such as
labels (hand-written and pre-printed), barcodes (linear and 2D) and
microelectronic integrated circuit (IC)-based RFID (Radio Frequency
Identification).
The unique tag is based on MEMS technology and contains no
electronics. The tag can either be embedded or manufactured into a
storage product, such as vials or bags. Easy identification, along
with any associated information from the tag such as temperature
can be detected by a reader, which can also sense the temperature
of the tagged items. The traditional identification technologies
have significant limitations. Whereas a barcode requires a visible
tag or line-of-sight optical scan, bluechiip® technology does not.
Unlike labels, barcodes and RFID, the bluechiip® technology can
sense the temperature of each item a tag is attached to, or
embedded in.
The bluechiip® temperature tracking technology has initial
applications in the healthcare industry particularly those
businesses which require cryogenic storage facilities (biobanks and
biorepositories). bluechiip® offers the only technology that
enables accurate and reliable temperature evaluation of
biospecimens. In addition to autoclaving, gamma irradiation
sterilization, humidification, centrifuging, cryogenic storage and
frosting.
The bluechiip® technology has other healthcare applications in
pathology, clinical trials and forensics. Several other key markets
outside of healthcare include coldchain logistics/supply chain,
security/defence, industrial/manufacturing and
aerospace/aviation.
For more information, please visit www.bluechiip.com.
About Gentris:
Founded in 2001, Gentris is located in Research Triangle Park, NC, where it provides
pharmacogenomics and biorepository support for all phases of
clinical studies and genomic biomarker programs. The Company works
with academic and industry leaders to translate innovations in
pharmacogenomics into safer, more effective medicines, which can
lead to accelerated drug development and improvement in patient
care globally. In the past year, Gentris significantly expanded its
facility and onsite biorepository to meet the increased needs of
biopharma clients, while maintaining a preeminent quality
system.
For more information, please visit www.gentris.org.
For more information, please contact:
Brett Schwarz
Managing Director, Bluechiip Limited
Phone: +61-419-367-590
brett.schwarz@bluechiip.com
Richard Allen
Oxygen Financial Public Relations
Phone: +61(0)3-9915-6341
richard@oxygenpr.com.au
Neil Mason
Senior Director, Marketing
Phone: +1-919-653-4757
neil.mason@gentris.com
SOURCE Bluechiip Limited
