Benoit and Quataert Partner with CatAssays through Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grant
Biomedical Engineering Professor Danielle Benoit and URMC colleague Professor Sally Quataert are collaborating with CatAssays on a research project titled, “Novel Ultrasensitive Cancer Biomarker Assay Platform Utilizing Palladium Catalyzed High-Gain Chemical Amplification.”
CatAssays, a Rochester start-up company formed by two former Kodak Research Laboratories scientists, Mark Lelental and Henry Gysling, is developing its patented high-sensitivity bioassay technology with support from a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Grant.
The NCI-SBIR, Phase 1 grant will support CatAssays’ development of its proprietary Generation-2 technology using a unique biomarker labeling reagent which incorporates a nanoparticle-metal catalyst complex for a subsequent high-gain chemical amplification reaction that generates a readable organic dye signal.
CatAssays’ technology modifies the chemistry used in the ELISA format bioassay protocol commonly used in medical test laboratories, without the need for any new equipment or capital expenditures. Its implementation, in combination with state-of-the-art highly specific biomarker detector molecules, offers the potential to provide significantly increased medical diagnostic test sensitivity resulting in earlier detection of a broad scope of diseases such as ovarian cancer.