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DotScan™ is positioned for routine use in haematology laboratories for the diagnosis of leukaemia and lymphoma where the demand for immunophenotyping is not met by flow cytometry due to resource constraints.
Alternatively, DotScan™ can be integrated into an existing flow cytometry laboratory as a triaging device and back-up device.
DotScan™ can be used for a variety of applications. These include, for example, monitoring the effect of a chemical or biological treatment, either in vivo or in vitro on cells, target verification and discovery, monitoring cell line stability, characterising stem cells or general profiling of an immune response.
This technology is also being directed towards unmet clinical needs in the areas of metastatic disease, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases and cardiovascular disorders, where there is potential for several “first-in-class” diagnostic applications. In addition, Medsaic is currently enhancing its imaging technology for the quantification of intracellular and serum based proteins using fluorescent detection, which will assist in the development of these new applications. Importantly, the provision of dual detection capabilities (optical and fluorescence), can be achieved without increasing the cost of the existing imaging technology and will provide substantial benefits.
In addition to these diagnostic applications, DotScan™ provides clinicians with a prelude for personalised medicine. Given the ability to provide an extensive profile of cell surface antigen expression, this technology provides the opportunity to select a therapeutic intervention matched to this expression and to monitor disease progression. There are currently ten or so therapeutic monoclonal antibodies approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for targeting disease entities, and as more biological treatment options become commercially available, the value in providing diagnostic and therapeutic information concurrently, will be become highly valuable.
Medsaic is seeking strategic alliances to complement our existing technology and to support in market distribution.
The DotScan™ technology has 3 components, each of which is patent protected. These are:
- A single use Chip comprising a nitrocellulose coated glass slide carrying an array of dots corresponding to a range of discriminatory antibodies, and is packaged with or without reagents needed to perform the test;
- A peripheral slide reader, DotReader™, for capturing an optical image of the Chip; and
- A software package to handle the information generated by the slide reader and to produce a comprehensive report of the result, including a diagnostic assessment if required.
Cell Capture: Most, if not all, other microarray platforms capture DNA, proteins or other small biological molecules, while DotScan™ captures whole cells.
Non Fluorescent Detection: All other microarray platforms require secondary detection methods (eg fluorescence) for detecting the presence of a binding entity. DotScan™ does not rely on fluorescence but rather uses an optical means to determine the density of cell binding.
Low Cost: As our imaging technology is optical, the cost of this platform is approximately an order of magnitude lower than that for platforms requiring fluorescence detection, and is arguably the lowest cost scanner in the market.
Sample Retention: The DotScan™ platform preserves bound whole cells for repeat analysis, providing a permanent archive. It also supports secondary fluorescence analysis and the extraction of DNA from bound cells.
Ease of Use: Compared to flow cytometry, our method requires less expertise to run an assay.
More Data: DotScan™ can support the concurrent characterisation of up to approximately 400 cell surface antigens from the one sample and provides quantification on each binding event, whereas only 10-20 antigens are normally characterised by flow cytometry due to reagent costs.
Flexibility: DotScan™ can provide for application specific and custom specific Chips.
eHealth: DotScanTM images and reports can be readily transmitted over the internet and immediately interpreted by a clinician. This provides operational flexibility, as both a decentralised or centralised model for sample collection and processing can be fully supported. This is particularly beneficial in addressing disparity in healthcare, which tends to be concentrated in urban cities as opposed to regional locations where large populations reside.
www.medsaic.com
 
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