Prince William based company Ceres Nanosciences has received $980,000 from the United States Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
According to a release from the Prince William County Department of Economic Development, Ceres will use the funding for a development project that will use “Ceres’ Nanotrap® particle technology to assess methods of detecting panels of immune function markers in non-invasive sample types.”
The program will take place over the course of several months, and will include collaboration with Tufts University and George Mason University, according to a release.
“We are excited to apply the Nanotrap’s universal sample preservation and enrichment features to the industry leading performance of the Quanterix Simoa Analyzer. The ability to use non-invasive sample types, like urine or saliva, to routinely detect the fluctuations of immune status biomarkers opens up new opportunities for critical health and wellness monitoring applications,” stated Ceres’ Chief Operating Officer and Director of R&D Ben Lepene.
More on Ceres’ technology, from a release:
Ceres’ novel nanoparticle technology, the “Nanotrap®”, provides powerful bio-fluid sample processing capabilities for a wide array of diagnostic applications and sample handling needs. The Nanotrap technology was invented at George Mason University Science & Technology Campus in Innovation Park, Prince William, Va., under funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for biomarker discovery applications, and currently is being developed into commercial products by Ceres with support from NIH, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
