India's start-up immunodiagnostic and molecular diagnostic major XCyton Diagnostic Pvt Limited is now on the look out for its next round of funds to market its novel DNA macro chips to detect virus, bacteria, fungal and parasite infections which are considered to be life threatening.

The diagnostic chip XCyto Screens is used for simultaneous identification of all pathogens causing any particular syndrome affecting patients in the Intensive Care Unit. In order to prove the efficacy of this Syndrome based Diagnostics, XCyton has started offering this service to ICU centres of large hospitals in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for simultaneous detection of all the causative agents in a single sample.

The conditions which can be tested are brain and eye infections among others. The sensitivity of this test is high to pick up to five to ten bacteria, a few viral particles and a few fungal or parasitic cells. "Our technology permits laboratory procedures to be completed in as less as six hours time. Essentially this permits the sample to be drawn from a patient at the time of admission into the hospital and a definitive diagnosis can be arrived at within 8-12 hours of admission. As these tests allow for simultaneous investigation of all probable organisms causing the disease, it eliminates the necessity for multiple, sequential tests for individual organisms," said BV Ravi Kumar, these managing director XCyton Diagnostics.

"We are now looking at the next phase of growth to take XCyto Screens to the market and we require the funds for expansion," Dr Ravi Kumar, told Pharmabiz at the sidelines of the EmTech 2010, the emerging technologies conference from MIT's Technology Review and CyberMedia held here in Bangalore.

"We are talking to a number of neurologists, neurosurgeons and transplants experts on the indispensability of Xyto Screen in diagnostics for critically ill cases. A number of continuing medical education programmes are also being organized to enable us to take this product to the medical experts," he added.

So far the company which is known for its advanced diagnostic kits received of seed capital of Rs 7 lakh from Amvar Investments is a sister-concern of Nadathur Holdings and thereafter a core fund of Rs 50 lakh from private investors. There has been ample support from New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative and other central government research grants.

The company which started operations in 1993 developed the first indigenous immunodiagnostic product the Elisa kit for detection of HIV infection called HIV CheX. This was followed by detection of hepatitis C, Neurocysticercosis and Japanese encephalitis. From immunodiagnostic range its current molecular diagnostic product XCyto Screen can screen multiple organisms in a single sample.