MDxPol – Marine DNA polymerases as tools for next generation Molecular Diagnostic solutions

Globally, there is a high demand to monitor and diagnose critical infectious diseases. Current molecular diagnostic tests require long “sample in - answer out” time and expensive equipment. The consequence is an overuse of the small inventory of existing effective antimicrobials. New and rapid on-site molecular diagnostic tests, recently referred to as Point of Care (POC) tests, are needed to identify a specific pathogen and provide information on susceptibility to antimicrobial agents directing appropriate treatment. Isothermal Nucleic Acid Amplification Technology (INAAT) is emerging as an enabling technology possibly offering rapid, sensitive and specific molecular diagnosis of infectious diseases. However, the implementation of INAAT into POC diagnostic platforms are halted due to a very limited selection of suitable enzymes performing at ambient temperatures.

The background for this project was achieved through knowledge-based and innovative efforts during a Proof-of-Principle Biotek2021 project (OptiZyme, 2013-2016), leading to characterization of several marine DNA polymerases performing optimal at ambient temperatures, thus highly suitable for implementation in new INAATs.

The overall goal with the proposed project is to bring a panel of new and improved polymerase enzymes to market for use in next generation INAAT molecular diagnostic platforms. This project will emphasize on early market feedback to confirm relevance and applicability in INAAT and to ensure that enzymes are developed according to customer needs. This project will enhance the existing competence and relationship between various players in the marine biotechnological research and innovation community and industry in the north, i.e. University of Tromsø, Norinnova Technology Transfer and ArcticZymes.

The project period is 01.07.2016 - 31.12.2018.