Biomatrica, Inc., the leader in room temperature sample storage and stabilization, and the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), announced the signing of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to develop room temperature solutions for managing clinical and biological samples.

The two organizations will collaborate on the development, testing, validation and eventual commercialization of new formulations designed to stabilize clinical samples and biological agents at ambient conditions. Current cold chain-based systems are costly, and can have significant logistical challenges on the battlefield, hence a need to store and preserve these materials at ambient conditions without frozen sample shipping and storage.

The CRADA collaboration was initiated after preliminary investigation of stabilization reagents developed at Biomatrica identified very promising stabilizers of biological samples with potential for improving diagnostic capabilities. This collaboration is now extended to cover new and novel formulations being developed at Biomatrica that will support scientific research of benefit to the US military.  

Extensive research has been conducted in USAMRIID‘s laboratories to test several formulations developed by Biomatrica. Results have been encouraging, and the CRADA project continues this collaborative research effort in developing new formulations targeting the stabilization and clinical use of biological samples of importance to USAMRIID’s mission.

“We are very excited to see the application and use of our technologies within the US military and are looking forward to getting some of these new technologies commercialized for broader use in clinical and diagnostic research that also has an immediate benefit to molecular diagnostics and the field of personalized medicine,” says Dr. Rolf Muller, president and chief scientific officer of Biomatrica, who is a co-PI on the CRADA project.

Biomatrica  is a San Diego-based biostability company that provides innovative technologies for stabilizing, processing, storing, shipping and assaying biological samples at room temperature. The core technology is designed for use in preserving complex biological samples and assays and is based on the principles of anhydrobiosis ("life without water"), a natural mechanism that allows multicellular organisms to survive extreme environments.

USAMRIID, located at Fort Detrick, Maryland, is the lead medical research laboratory for the US Department of Defense's Biological Defense Research Program, and plays a key role in national defense and in infectious disease research. The Institute conducts basic and applied research on biological threats resulting in medical solutions (such as vaccines, drugs and diagnostics) to protect the warfighter.