Edgewood Chemical Biological Center licenses pathogen identification technology

The U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) announced the signing of a series of licensing agreements on Thursday with Biodetech, LLC, allowing the company to utilize the Agents of Biological Origin Identifier (ABOid).

ABOid is a pathogen identification platform developed by scientists at ECBC’s Detection Spectrometry Branch. It uses biological detection software that manages bioinformatics algorithms capable of quickly and effectively identifying microbes in food samples.

“ABOid can rapidly identify a multitude of other pathogens in our food, as well as any act of food terrorism,” ECBC Director Joseph Corriveau said. “This agreement will commence another successful partnership between ECBC and industry in providing products and solutions for the warfighter and the nation. It’s a wonderful partnership with amazing possibilities.”

Biodetech is a biotechnology firm based in Fallston, Maryland. It now possesses a partially-exclusive license of ABOid patents to further develop the technology for use by the commercial food industry. ECBC previously received two U.S. patents for methods of detection and identification of cell type that were issued for ABOid in 2012 and 2013.

“We are excited to present the ABOid system to the food industry,” Biodetech, LLC, CEO Robert Webb said. “I was absolutely intrigued. This can be applied to the entire food system. Given the rapidity and the comprehensive nature of this test, there’s nothing like this out there in the food industry.”