Freedom4 a "top pick" from Tri-Con 2015

We are very happy to be named as one of the top three picks of Tri-Con 2015 by Dr Gerald Zon of TriLink Biotechnologies, and is a regular blogger on their site. Here is what he had to say:

According to Kiwis, Size Does Matter

My pick for the top presentation, which was actually also a poster and exhibit all-in-one, features the amazing achievement of a group of New Zealanders—that’s right, Kiwis!—at the University of Otago. The team, led by Dr. Jo-Ann Stanton (shown right), recently introduced a first-of-a-kind handheld device for performing real-time or quantitative PCR (qPCR) in the field. This remarkable palm-size instrument—which makes me immediately think “Honey, I shrunk the qPCR machine!”—manages to squeeze a plastic four-well sample (10uL-40uL) strip into a thermal cycling block along with an optical system and still only measure a mere 4 x 8 inches. Not only is it’s size impressive, but the instrument will reportedly perform conventional 40-cycle qPCR with SYBR green or FAM in about 50 minutes. To top it off, results are said to be comparable to “gold standard” laboratory systems. The device is being commercialized as the Freedom4 device by a New Zealand-based start-up company named Ubiquitome, which values this little cutie at $25,000 according to a Feb 25, 2015 press release.

In her talk entitled, A Handheld qPCR Device for Use in the Field, Dr. Stanton said the Freedom4 was tested using World Health Organization and International Accreditation New Zealand assays for E. coli O157, influenza, adenovirus, enterovirus, norovirus, and astrovirus. She added that, in side-by-side “benchmarking” tests with clinical samples using much larger laboratory-based instruments—namely the Roche LightCycler® and Stratagene (now Agilent) Mx3000P systems—the Freedom4 was comparable to, and in one case better than, in-laboratory technology. These tests included measures for sensitivity, precision, and inter-assay variability.

What’s really cool with this thermal cycler—pun intended—is that the user interacts with the device via either a tethered connection to a laptop computer or wirelessly to a smart phone. It also runs on batteries!

Dr. Stanton concluded by saying that, with the correct assay panel, this new technology can be easily carried in a backpack, together with portable sample prep kits, to determine the disease-causing species or reveal antibiotic resistance, all in real time either “cow-side” or in the remote clinic. She also envisages forensic applications.


To see who the other top three picks were, read his post.

---