University of California, San Diego (UCSD)

In support of the company's infectious disease R&D activities, MBio has developed a longstanding collaboration with a world class clinical team at UCSD. Dr. Robert Schooley is a globally recognized AIDS and viral disease expert and is Head of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Executive Vice Chairman of the UCSD Department of Medicine. He has been a member of the IAS-USA Panel on HIV Therapeutics since its inception in 1996 and actively advises MBio on test approaches. He is a member of the PEPFAR Scientific Advisory Board and of the Drug Discovery and Resistance Study Section of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Constance Benson is Professor of Medicine and Director of the UCSD Antiviral Research Center (AVRC) and served as Chair of the Executive Committee of the NIH/NIAID AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) from 2002-2010, Dr. Benson provides guidance to MBio on clinical testing protocols and trial design. Dr. Sharon Reed is Professor of Pathology and Medicine and is Director of the Microbiology Laboratory at the UCSD Medical Center. Dr. Reed advises the company on clinical laboratory testing and provides clinical samples for reference testing.

PATH (Seattle, WA)

PATH (www.path.org) is an international nonprofit organization that creates sustainable, culturally relevant solutions, enabling communities worldwide to break longstanding cycles of poor health. MBio has entered into collaboration with PATH's Center for Point-of-Care Diagnostics for Global Health. In 2009-2010 PATH conducted a laboratory evaluation of MBio's HIV/Syphilis serology system. A PATH-led field evaluation in Kenya is planned for summer 2011.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

Financial support from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been fundamental in the development of MBio's technology. MBio has two major ongoing projects funded through NIAID's SBIR program. A first program is titled "Low Cost Multi-Pathogen Laser Diagnostic for HIV and AIDS Co-Infections." Project aims are to develop an investigational device for simultaneously reporting diagnostic results for HIV, hepatitis B and C, and tuberculosis. This program has been the genesis of MBio's MQ multiplexed immunoassay system. A second major program is aimed at development of MBio's point-of-care CD4 cell counting system.

In 2010, MBio received a Phase I award for development of a non-treponemal syphilis assay to complement the T. pallidum antibody assay on the MBio platform.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

MBio Diagnostics (while a division of Precision Photonics Corp) was the recipient of a $2 million award through the US Department of Commerce NIST Advanced Technology Program (ATP). The ATP award resulted in the development of new technologies that are now the basis of MBio's CD4 cell counting system. In particular, waveguide and imaging system innovations developed under the ATP award have broad applicability across the company's technology platform. The ATP program significantly enhanced the MBio's commercial potential by providing critical partnership funding for high risk / high reward development activities.

USA - Ireland Partnership Program (NSF)

MBio is proud to be supporting a joint development project that is part of a United States - Ireland Partnership Program sponsored by the US National Science Foundation. The project, called BEACONS (Biosafety for EnvironmentAL Contaminants using Novel Sensors) focuses development of prototype sensor instruments for selected toxins in the food supply chain. The consortium includes researchers at Queen's University Belfast and Dublin City University in Ireland as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Maine in the United States. MBio provides instrumentation and assay development support.

The photo at right shows the BEACONS team at the project annual meeting on the Maine coast in September 2010.

University of Utah

MBio has a longstanding relationship with Dr. James Herron at the University of Utah Departments of Bioengineering and Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Dr. Herron is a pioneer in planar waveguide sensor technology, surface chemistry, and bioconjugation techniques.

Naval Research Laboratory

Dr. Frances S. Ligler has been a colleague of the MBio team since CEO's Chris Myatt's initial decision to explore medical diagnostics opportunities while running Precision Photonics Corporation. Dr. Ligler has made major contributions to the fields of waveguide sensors and microfluidics.