A poster presented by Dave Alburty, at the Emerging Technologies for Diagnostics & Liquid Biopsies - New Orleans 2024.
The poster highlights recent method development by InnovaPrep for using the Concentrating Pipette to concentrate Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) from urine and serum.
The ability to collect and concentrate EV particles from biofluids into small, highly concentrated samples has the potential to significantly improve specific particle or biomarker detection and downstream analytical procedures.
The present work demonstrates the ability of the Concentrating Pipette (CP Select) when paired with proper sample pretreatment methods, to effectively concentrate EVs from urine and plasma. Moreover, the CP Select is demonstrated as a rapid and easy-to-use sample preparation technique that has demonstrated compatibility with a range of EV analytical methods including particle nanotracking, protein assays, nucleic acid assays, and microscopic techniques. Anticipated future work includes continued optimization of CP Select workflows for EV isolation from urine, plasma, and other biofluids, as well as collaboration with developers of detection and identification techniques, particularly disease-related biomarker analysis, and development of clinical diagnostics workflows leveraging the CP Select’s demonstrated ease-of-use, speed, and concentration efficiency advantages.
This unique magazine, Viral Vigilance – Viral Pathogens and Methods of Detection in Recycled Wastewater for Reuse, summarizes two years of original virology research using the Concentrating Pipette™ for a variety of interdisciplinary projects focused on testing for waterborne enteric viruses in recycled waters, specifically emphasizing the improvement of laboratory virus detection methods at the University of Arizona's Water & Energy Sustainable Technology (WEST) Center.
In one article, the author compares the concentration ability of the Concentrating Pipette to Centricon -
“InnovaPrep’s Concentrating Pipette (CP) can efficiently filter up to 1 liter in just one run, nearly 15 times the amount of a standard Centricon. Time also favors the CP. Centricon requires a pre-wash with water and a 30-minute filtering cycle for the wastewater sample, making the entire ordeal nearly an hour. The CP can filter their samples in just 5 to 10 minutes, allowing scientists to capture the same viruses in a much shorter time span”.
The articles included in the publication highlight collaborative research between InnovaPrep and WEST Center scientists aimed at optimizing the testing of recycled wastewater for viral pathogens while addressing many complexities involved in the process.
The PATH-SAFE Program, led by the Food Standards Agency, is utilizing InnovaPrep’s FluidPrep and AirPrep technologies in a multi-year program focused on improving detection and monitoring of foodborne pathogens and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) from farm to fork across Great Britain.
Using advanced environmental sampling and DNA sequencing ,the program aims to address public health concerns linked to foodborne bacteria and AMR, which cause severe illness and create resistant "superbugs."
PATH-SAFE is establishing a national surveillance network to track these issues throughout the agri-food supply chain, leveraging new technologies, such as InnovaPrep to strengthen public health protection.
One of the goals of this project is to Utilize the infrastructure developed for Northern Ireland’s SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance program and undertake building level wastewater monitoring using the Concentrating Pipette to investigate prevalence of a foodborne disease, norovirus, and antimicrobial resistance within nursing care homes. Concurrently, the InnovaPrep AirPrep™ Cub Samplers are set up to monitor airborne disease pathogens in these facilities.
Partners on this project include Northern Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Queen’s University Belfast, Department of Health, Public Health Agency, Environment Agency, Department for Infrastructure, and Northern Ireland Water.
Read more about the larger PATH-SAFE program
A recent article from BBC News highlights a project by the Earlham Institute to help farmers grow crops more cheaply and efficiently with less chemical use by using AirPrep samplers to collect eDNA from the air to detect the presence of organisms that are a threat to plant, animal, and human health.
Read the Article: Testing DNA in the air may make food cheaper. or
Whether for targeted or shotgun sequencing applications, InnovaPrep's FluidPrep™ and AirPrep™ concentration tools empower scientists worldwide in diverse fields of research. Our tools enable longer and more abundant sequencing reads for identifying mutants, variants, subspecies, and strains using air, surface, and liquid samples.
Andy Page, Chief Technology Officer at InnovaPrep will be presenting at the upcoming ASM Microbe Meeting this month in Atlanta, GA. His talk is titled, Combined Aerosol Collection and Liquid Concentration for Improved Viral Surveillance, will focus on using the AirPrep Samplers for virus collection and then concentrating the collected samples using The Concentrating Pipette allowing for improved assay sensitivity. Recent work showed a combined concentration factor of 1,060X.
Microbiology International, a distributor of InnovaPrep products, will be exhibiting the AirPrep Cub and Concentrating Pipette. Stop by their booth (#819) for a demonstration.
Dave Alburty, presented a Mini Meta Study on Surface, Air, Water and Food Metagenomics workflows highlighting some interesting and important publications by our users at UC Berkeley, JPL NASA, USDA, and Notre Dame at the recent APHL meeting. These diverse studies showcase the Concentrating Pipette and AirPrep samplers and their utility for culture, molecular, and sequencing applications from a variety of matrices.
1.Air metagenomics collected from openwastewater canals in Bolivia, in a 2021 publication titled, Detection and Quantification ofEnteric Pathogens in Aerosols Near Open Wastewater Canals in Cities with PoorSanitation, Ginn,et al, Notre Dame
2.Human virus metagenomics from wastewaterinfluent, in a 2024 publication titled, “Evaluationof the impact of concentration and extraction methods on the targetedsequencing of human viruses from wastewater, Minxi Jiang, et al. UC Berkeley
3.Surface metagenomics collected from aspacecraft manufacturing cleanroom in a 2021paper entitled- Microbial Tracking-2, ametagenomics analysis of bacteria and fungi onboard the International SpaceStation, Urbaniak, etal. NASA Jet Propulsion Lab.
4.Foodborne pathogens from food matrices in a 2022 publication titled, Rapid Detection of Salmonella Enterica in leafy greens by a novel DNA microarray-based PathogenDX system, Patel et. al., USDA
De Watergroep, Belgium'sleading water utility serving a majority of the Flemish region, hassuccessfully validated a novel water monitoring method for concentratingsomatic coliphages, a key indicator of fecal contamination. The validation wasconducted at their central laboratory under the supervision of Bea Timmermans,Advisor for Research and Quality in Water Microbiology at De Watergroep.
The method employsInnovaPrep's Concentrating Pipette (CP Select™), a rapid benchtop microorganismconcentration device designed to significantly enhance sensitivity for analysispurposes.
In response to Directive(EU) 2020/2184 of the European Parliament and Council, which mandates stringent water safety testing requirements for drinking water companies, the council imposed a new required measurement for somatic coliphage virus load in water for human consumption. Compliance with this directive necessitates testing raw water both before treatment, and if detected above specified levels, posttreatment as well.
The comprehensive validation project encompassed three primary matrices: ground water, surface water, and post treatment drinking water, adhering to ISO 13843 (2017), ISO19036 (2019), ISO 29201 (2012) and ISO 10705-3 (2003) standards specific to the concentration step. Key parameters assessed during validation included reproducibility, repeatability, limit of quantitation, linearity, robustness, measurement uncertainty, bias, and recovery through efficiency of the concentration step.
In March 2024, the validation work underwent rigorous auditing by BELAC, resulting in the accreditation of analysis of somatic coliphages including concentration by the CP Select method under ISO 17025 standards. Furthermore, the newly draft version of the WAC/V/A/010 has been included in VITO's Compendium for the Sampling, Measurement and Analysis of Water.
About InnovaPrep
InnovaPrep specializes in the development and manufacture of preanalytical solutions designed for rapid collection and concentration of nano and microorganisms, as well as biological and synthetic particles from various sources such as air, liquids, and surfaces. Central to InnovaPrep's innovation are over 60 patents awarded and pending, centered on a novel Wet Foam Elution™ process, enabling robust and rapid particle concentration, thereby significantly enhancing detection capabilities, simplifying workflows, and reducing time to result.
To improve detection methods for hepatitis A and Norovirus on fresh and frozen produce, Scientists at the Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods, Université Laval, Quebec, and BioMérieux, Grenoble, France, employed the Concentrating Pipette (CP) method and compared it with the ISO 15216-1:2017 reference method for food safety testing.
Strawberry, raspberry ,blackberry, lettuce, and green onion (25 g) were contaminated with HAV, HuNoV GI.7 and HuNoV GII.4 and methods were compared.
The CP Method requires only benchtop equipment and fewer steps per sample, enabled detection as few as102 genomes, and gave equivalent results on most food matrices tested, namely strawberry, blackberry, lettuce, and green onion with a 35% time savings. These results show that a [Concentrating Pipette] UF concentration method to be suitable for routine analysis of enteric viruses in food matrices throughout the food production and surveillance chain.
The study entitled, Concentration of foodborne viruses eluted from fresh and frozen produce: Applicability of ultrafiltration was published in the International Journal of Food Microbiology
Drexel, MO – INNOVAPREP LLC today announced that it has been awarded a contract to supply chemical aerosol system design and testing expertise to Leidos. Leidos is supporting IARPA’s Pursuing Intelligent Complex Aerosols for Rapid Detection (“PICARD”) program. PICARD’s aim is “…to develop in situ and standoff sensing platforms to identify complex aerosols of non-uniform sizes, chemical composition, and structure in the presence of pollutants, wind, dust, pollen and even volcanic ash.”1 Helping to develop the PICARD program is a critical step forward in harmful chemical aerosol detection technology and protecting government personnel and US citizens.
“This contract is a testament to the crucial need for advanced chemical detection technology. Chemical aerosols represent a very real human danger in environments with complex ambient background,” said Darren Radke, Chief Product Officer. “InnovaPrep continues to leverage its aerosol science and engineering capabilities in support of mission critical detection and environmental air sampling. Teaming with Leidos will help the US Government ensure rapid threat detection is available where it is needed most.”
InnovaPrep Technology was featured in the latest NASA Spin-off Magazine (Jan 2024) highlighting their use-cases for the technology along with other public health and commercial applications.
In the image above shows a NASA Scientist wiping down the hardware of the Perseverance rover. It is one step in NASA’s Planetary Protection strategy to limit the number of Earth microbes hitchhiking into space.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory cleanroom, one of the cleanest places on the planet, developed procedures using InnovaPrep technology to check for any microbes left on the surface before flight. See the highly efficient, fast, and easy protocol for large-area and object surface sampling using the InnovaPrep concentration technology for trace detection of microorganisms of concern.
Credit: NASA
Researchers a University of California Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore National Lab studied the impact of concentration and extraction methods on the targeted sequencing of human viruses from wastewater. They compared the most commonly used methods in the National Wastewater Surveillance Network (NWWS)- Nanotrap, InnovaPrep concentration, Promega, and solids Extraction.
"Seven near-complete human virus genomes were assembled from InnovaPrep samples, the most from any concentration/extraction method. This aligned with the high numbers of total virus and human virus reads in these samples (59,965 ± 28,180 and 20,242 ± 9,294, respectively".
The paper shows the value of the Concentrating Pipette especially for Sequencing applications.
The publication is titled, Evaluation of the impact of concentration and extraction methods on the targeted sequencing of human viruses from wastewater
Following successful system development programs and a Production Readiness Review, the Milestone C acquisition decision for the Joint Biological Tactical Detection System (“JBTDS”) program was approved. The JBTDS is a critical system for detection of aerosolized biological warfare agents at the operational point-of-need.
Drexel, MO – INNOVAPREP LLC today announces the contract award from Chemring Systems and Electronic Systems (Prime) to supply hardware and consumables in support of the Low-Rate Initial Production (“LRIP”) phase of the Department of Defense’s Joint Biological Tactical Detection System (“JBTDS”) program.
“This contract is a testament to the crucial role of air sampling for safe and rapid detection of biological threats,” said Dave Alburty, CEO InnovaPrep. “InnovaPrep continues to expand its capabilities to improve its air sampling systems that provide rapid and efficient target capture and recovery solutions ensuring accurate threat detection where it is needed most.”
InnovaPrep CTO, Andy Page was invited to Saudi Arabia to take part in a Red Sea microbiome study by scientists from King Abdula University of Science and Technology along with a team of international researchers specializing in the study of extremophiles. The team collected multiple 1.5 liter samples and concentrated them in the field using the Concentrating Pipette prior to PCR and sequencing.
The study and results are expected to be part of a forthcoming publication.
Researchers from the College of Public Health, at Ohio State University, published a study in Environmental Advances (Oct 2023), called Advanced preparedness for drinking water emergency: Ensuring safe microbial quality with rapid microbial source tracking and E. coli methods. In the study, they compared the current microbial quality study that relies on a 24 hour culture time for e. Coli detection, against a new method using the Concentrating Pipette paired with rapid molecular methods (ddPCR) for detection of multiple target organisms. The new method proved to be more comprehensive for a variety of drinking water quality threats as well as shortening the time to detection from 24 hours to 6 hours!
A recent article in Cleanroom Technology Magazine, NASA scientists working in the astromaterials curation cleanroom were quoted in a report about their experience using the Bobcat Air Sampler which uses electret filters to collect airborne biological particles. The NASA Administration began routinely collecting air samples in seven of the nine curation cleanrooms at Johnson Space Center, which included the OSIRIS-REx ISO 5 equivalent and the Meteorite ISO 7 equivalent. The report noted the Bobcat Sampler's electret collection media meets their criteria better than conventional samplers that use liquid media or petri dish agar media.
"This dry sample collection method allows us to meet materials requirements for all the curation labs and reduces the risk of inadvertently introducing contamination as part of our monitoring effort," the report stated.
Yeon Ji Kim and fellow researchers at Duke University presented a poster on using the AirPrep Bobcat and Cub Samplers to study the effects of outdoor air pollution on the gut microbiome. InnovaPrep provided a modified elution buffer for recovering samples from their filters via InnovaPrep's patented Wet Foam Elution. The modified formulation allowed compatibility for zebra fish assays. Zebra fish are commonly used in experimental models for toxicology testing and their method proved successful. The presentation was titled, Validating an affordable and reproducible outdoor air sampling method for in vivo and molecular biology experiments" and was presented at the 2023 ASM Microbe meeting.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Delaware Public Health Lab, along with many state labs, began surveilling community wastewater using the Concentrating Pipette to track the outbreak, The method proved to be an excellent method for tracking the rise and fall of the disease in near real time. The method is now being used for tracking a variety of pathogens. Delaware was one of the first labs to publish data tracking Candida Auris (an emerging global threat pathogen) using the InnovaPrep method. They presented a poster at the 2023 APHL meeting titled, Wastewater Surveillance for Candida Auris Utilizing Digital PCR. The Concentrating Pipette is acknowledged by dozens of health labs worldwide for its ease, speed, and efficiency for tracking many pathogenic threats in wastewater.