Quanterix has entered into a collaboration agreement with the Botulinum Research Center to develop and validate an assay to measure low levels of the botulinum toxin within complex environmental samples.
Quanterix vice-president David Duffy said that the increased sensitivity enabled by Single Molecule Array will allow the direct detection of the toxins produced by active bacteria at much lower levels.
"As a result, the detection of botulinum toxin protein will provide important functional information on the presence of bacteria that complements nucleic acid identification," Duffy said.
Botulinum Research Center director Bal Ram Singh said the ability to identify low levels of toxin could improve the diagnosis of botulism and better protect people during biomedical and bio-defense scenarios.