It’s unusual for a company, after eight years of existence, to have the same vision as when founded, but that is the case for Ikonisys (New Haven, Connecticut), according to President/CFO Paul White.

“We saw the potential for developing a technology platform that is completely different than how manual microscopy is done,” White told Diagnostics & Imaging Week. “We developed what is now an extremely robust, sophisticated technology platform. Now we want to harness that platform and put more tests on it.”

And that is exactly what Ikonisys plans to do with the $30 million it has raised in a Series E round of financing, which the company reported last week. Prior to this most recent financing, the company had raised a total of $37.5 million.

New investor Goldman, Sachs joined existing investors Trevi Health Ventures, Palisade Capital, Everfin, Lakeview Capital Management, New Science Ventures, Promark Holdings SA, Saint Simeon - e Investimentos and WHI Group.

“Ultimately we all see the promise — all of our stakeholders — of the platform we have,” White said.

Ikonisys has developed two product lines — oncoFISH for cancer diagnostics and monitoring and fastFISH for the prenatal detection of genetic disorders — that are designed to run on the company’s Ikoniscope robotic digital microscopy platform.

The financing follows FDA clearance and market launch of two diagnostic applications developed for use in conjunction with the company’s Ikoniscope digital microscopy platform, the company said.

In January, Ikonisys reported FDA clearance of its oncoFISH bladder cancer test, which is designed to enable automated testing of cells found in urine specimens to aid in the detection of bladder cancer. With oncoFISH, technicians only have to prepare slides in the way that they normally do, but they are not required to review them manually. Instead, technicians load the slides into the Ikoniscope, which scans the slides, digitizes the images and performs analysis on the images using the application. The lab technician then reviews the results and issues the report.

The company received its first test application clearance in September 2006 when the FDA cleared the fastFISH auto-amniocyte application, providing automated identification and enumeration of chromosomes 13, 18, 21 X and Y in amniotic fluid in pregnant women, to detect any aberrations associated with common birth defects, such as Down syndrome.

According to the company, the Ikoniscope is the only fully automated microscopy platform that provides true walk-away functionality, allowing scanning and preliminary analysis of slide samples to take place in real-time. This platform supports the automation of existing tests as well as the company’s advanced rare cell detection tests, which are designed to provide non-invasive yet highly accurate alternatives to both existing invasive, high-accuracy diagnostic tests and less-accurate, non-invasive tests.

White said Ikonisys plans to release the first two of its rare cell-detection tests in 2008. These tests are designed to provide a non-invasive method for the prenatal detection of chromosome abnormalities in the fetus and early detection of cancer.

In other financing activity:

• SensiGen (Ann Arbor, Michigan), a biotech developing gene-based molecular diagnostics, reported closing a $300,000 investment from Delaware Crossing Investor Group.

The company said it would use the money to accelerate development and commercialization of its AttoSense molecular diagnostic technology.

To date SensiGen has raised nearly $3.5 million in investments from the Michigan Economic Development, the management team, and various angel investors, in addition to the investment from Delaware Crossing.

The company’s products, in development, include tests for early detection of human papillomavirus (HPV), the primary cause of cervical cancer, chronic kidney disease, Crohn’s disease, Lupus and other diseases.

• Aspect Medical Systems (Norwood, Massachusetts) reported that on Oct. 5 the Securities and Exchange Commission declared effective the shelf registration statement filed with the SEC on Aug. 29 in connection with the registration for re-sale of an aggregate principal amount of $125 million of 2.5% convertible senior notes due 2014, which Aspect issued in a private placement in June and shares of Aspect common stock, $0.01 par value, which are issuable upon conversion of the notes.

Holders of the notes and the common stock may sell these securities in one or more separate offerings with the size, price and terms to be determined at the time of sale.

Aspect makes brain monitoring technology.