Point of Care (POC) Testing
In addition to microbiology lab services and probiotics analysis, Helix Biological Laboratory has developed a robust, rapid method to design molecular based diagnostic point of care (POC) tests that provide accurate (akin to that of PCR) positive/negative visual (colorimetric) results in 35 minutes or less. The molecular based technology has the capability to detect a variety of target DNA markers with the purpose of detecting and identifying specific species of bacteria, fungi and protozoan microorganisms, specific genes of interest including antibiotic resistant genes and identifying insect strains that are capable of insecticide resistance.
Our point-of-care testing technology is designed to circumvent the challenges normally posed by targeting specific microorganisms and gene sequences in nucleic acid amplification assays. The end results are molecular based assays with greater specificity and sensitivity for their target DNA markers, along with the creation of a greater selection of DNA markers that allow for significantly increased accuracy in the amplification of target DNA markers, which can exceed that of PCR.
Additional advantages of these molecular based diagnostic POC assays include their application in the medical, food and beverage and agricultural industries, their ability to be performed in a laboratory, outside a laboratory or in a resource-limited setting, and having the potential to be incorporated into POC testing kits.
