AUSTIN, Texas - At a ceremony held at the Westin La Canterra Resort in San Antonio on December 15, Nano Science Diagnostics (NSD) was honored by Frost & Sullivan, a leading market research and consulting firm, with the 2009 North American Product Innovation of the Year Award for food pathogen testing systems. The citation for the Award stated: "The ease of use of [NSD's] technology along with its speed, sensitivity, and specificity, endows it with immense potential for use in the food industry, and in a way which could potentially be disruptive to many currently existing laboratory-based techniques."
NSD is an Austin, Texas-based company which has developed a non-invasive, highly-sensitive testing technology to detect within 15 minutes a wide range of bacteria and viruses as well proteins and enzymes which serve as markers for many serious medical problems. NSD first developed this technology for the U.S. Army to detect anthrax. The same base technology has been modified to develop test kits for food pathogens such as E.coli, Salmonella and Listeria. Commonly used techniques like culturing take a day or two to get results. In general, these tests are labor intensive, and expensive. Alternatives like DNA tests are more costly and take at least 6-8 hours. NSD's highly-accurate test procedure, which relies on nanosensors, is far less expensive and delivers results within 15 minutes.
Numerous deadly outbreaks of food contamination during the last three years have brought to light the urgency of detecting pathogens before food reaches the market. The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta have estimated that food borne illnesses result in 5,000 deaths and over $80 billion in medical costs and lost productivity per year. The food industry recognizes that tainted food has cost the industry billions of dollars in recalls, lost sales and goodwill, and legal expenses. However, the food industry is also faced with a practical problem in terms of not having an adequate testing technology which satisfies its criteria of speed, accuracy, cost, and ease of use. NSD provides an overwhelmingly satisfactory answer on all four counts.
NSD has been working with select customers to fine tune and commercialize the technology.