A Medical Device Daily

A team of scientists is expanding efforts to develop a detailed picture of immune system function with a new $51 million, five-year contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. The research builds on a project originally funded by NIAID in 2003, and will continue to be led by Richard Ulevitch, PhD, of The Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, California).

The contract also will involve scientists from the Institute for Systems Biology (Seattle); Stanford University (Palo Alto, California); and the Australian National University, Canberra.

“The collaborators on this project have previously made significant contributions to our understanding of innate immunity, the body’s first line of defense against infection,” says NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, MD. “They are well-positioned to generate knowledge that will advance the development of new treatments, diagnostics and vaccines for infectious diseases that occur naturally or are deliberately introduced into a population.”

According to Ulevitch, the researchers will use a systems biology approach to build a comprehensive model of the immune system’s response to several disease-causing agents. Systems biology melds established life sciences with informatics, computer modeling and new techniques of gene and protein analysis to generate a wide-angle view of entire biological systems. To date, the team focused on developing an encyclopedic account of innate immunity. Now, the project’s scope will broaden to encompass components of adaptive immunity, which includes antibodies and a diverse class of immune system cells called T cells.

Ulevitch and his collaborators will create mutant mice and then screen them to find defects in the animals’ innate and adaptive immune reactions to viruses, including influenza, mousepox and mouse cytomegalovirus, and to several bacteria, including Salmonella and Listeria. Next, the group will conduct a systems-level analysis of the multiple immune system signaling pathways triggered by infection. The expanded project also will include studies aimed at determining the relevance to humans of genes and pathways discovered in mouse models.

In other contract news:

• Sysmex America (Mundelein, Illinois) said that the company has been awarded a hematology contract extension by group purchasing organization MedAssets Supply Chain Systems (Atlanta).The extension agreement provides MedAssets’ customers access to Sysmex hematology analyzers, reagents, consumables and services that became effective Oct. 1. Training and technical support for the organization’s members will be provided through the company’s U.S. headquarters in Mundelein. This contract extends the original contract between the companies that originated in April 2004.

Sysmex hematology products included in the MedAssets contract agreement range from the pocH-100i and the KX-21N for small laboratories to the fully automated XE-Alpha N and HST-N Integrated Hematology Systems with automated slide preparation capabilities. Also included are the Sysmex XE-Series Automated Hematology Analyzers, the Sysmex XT-Series Automated Hematology Analyzers and the Sysmex XS-Series Automated Hematology Analyzers, all of which use the same fluorescent flow technology platform, user interface, and reagents and controls, leading to improved laboratory standardization.

• SheerVision (Rolling Hills Estates, California), a provider of surgical loupes and light systems, reported that it has recently completed sales to the U.S. government and has also unveiled the development and launch of its new U.S. Federal Government Supply Program.

The U.S. Federal Government Supply Program will allow users immediate access to SheerVision products and services at special pricing levels.

The SheerVision surgical loupes, dental loupes, and FireFly Infinity head light products have generated strong interest and opportunities from potential customers in the public sector which was instrumental in the company developing this new program, SheerVision said.

“We are continuing to execute our growth strategy by providing the most sophisticated light systems available. This new program will allow us to continue to maximize and further our strategic efforts in reaching a worldwide customer base,” said SheerVision CFO, Suzanne Puente.