College Collaborates with Duke

A partnership between Duke University and the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix has led to a new procurement contract and development of REDI-Dx, a test system designed to determine individualized levels of absorbed radiation from a blood sample.

DxTerity Diagnostics partnered with the UA College of Medicine – Phoenix's Center for Applied NanoBioscience and Medicine and Duke University Cancer Institute with funding from Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to produce the REDI-Dx test, which measures the relative expression of a panel of multiple genes, and then uses a proprietary algorithm to estimate absorbed dose.

DxTerity recently announced that the company has been awarded up to $150 million for advanced development and delivery of the test system. Although UA is not directly involved in the new contract, the contributions that UA made in genomic-based biodosimetry for medical countermeasures were instrumental in the development of multiple projects that will lead to FDA filings and future commercial products.

“Our ex-vivo irradiated human blood and radiotherapy patient samples combined with our integrated workflow processing and the partnership with Duke’s discovery work for biodosimetric signatures and DxTerity assay chemistry kits have been instrumental to reaching this major milestone,” said Frederic Zenhausern, PhD, MBA, director of the Center and professor in the Basic Medical Sciences Department at the UA College of Medicine.

Dr. Zenhausern directs a dozen researchers to create platforms that can translate molecular analysis into medical uses for better diagnoses and treatments of diseases. The heart of the Center’s work in rapid DNA forensics integrating of biomarkers panel assay kits into microfluidic cartridges and capillary electrophoresis has been an enabling technology for point-of-care diagnostics of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats.

At the Center’s state-of-the-art facilities, scientists build devices on micro- and nano- scales for academic, clinical and industrial users. Electrical and processing engineers on staff create circuit board prototypes, electronic assembly and plastic devices. The team of biologists provide molecular biology research and assay chemistries kit development.

Media Contact:

Teresa Joseph
Phone: 602-827-2657