Circulomics Awarded Phase I SBIR to Develop Nanobind DNA Extraction Technology

BALTIMORE, MD--(Marketwired - April 30, 2014) - Circulomics Inc has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop its new Nanobind DNA/RNA extraction technology. 

Nanobind is an inexpensive thermoplastic nanomaterial developed for high integrity DNA and RNA extraction. Its hierarchical structure of microscale folds topped by nanoscale wrinkles creates a high binding area silica surface capable of capturing large amounts of high molecular weight (MW) DNA and RNA.

Unlike gel membranes, silica columns, or beads, which can fragment DNA through high shear forces, DNA simply binds and releases from the Nanobind surface without being subject to any shear. Thus, Nanobind can extract high MW DNA (>48 kb) without requiring phenol-chloroform. Nanobind also features a binding capacity that is 10X greater than typical column and bead based extraction methods; over 150 micrograms of DNA can be isolated from 25 million cells using a single 1.5 mL Nanobind tube. Each Nanobind substrate is incorporated into the cap of a 1.5 mL microcentrifuge tube. Extraction occurs through standard lysis, binding, wash, and elution steps except that no high speed centrifugation or tube transfers are necessary.

According to Circulomics CEO Dr. Kelvin Liu, "By minimizing DNA fragmenting shear forces, Nanobind can extract large amounts of genomic DNA with purity and integrity that matches phenol-chloroform and a process that's even simpler than spin column."

This technology is expected to complement Circulomics' existing Ligo-miR multiplexed microRNA assay technology and PicoSep single molecule DNA sizing instrument to create a vertically integrated workflow for microRNA analysis. However, Nanobind can also be used as a standalone method for generic DNA/RNA extraction applications and is fully PCR/qPCR compatible. Kits for DNA/RNA extraction from cultured cells, tissues, and body fluids are expected to be released beginning in 2015.

About Circulomics

Circulomics Inc is a biotechnology start-up company, located within Johns Hopkins' FastForward Technology Accelerator, developing tools for biomarker analysis. Circulomics has previously been awarded nearly $1M by NIH and Maryland TEDCO to develop its Ligo-miR and PicoSep technology platforms. Circulomics' first commercial product, Ligo-miR EZ, is expected to launch in late 2014. Ligo-miR EZ is an assay kit containing all probes, reagents, and buffers necessary to perform 24-plex microRNA profiling on 50 samples.