The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) and bioMérieux said today they will work to develop precision diagnostics for pathogens and their antimicrobial resistance in infectious diseases, through a sponsored research agreement whose value was not disclosed.
The partners said they will seek better methods to identify individuals at risk for infection, the pathogens that cause an individual’s infection, and the antibiotics that offer the most effective treatment for the patient.
bioMérieux will work with the laboratory of JAX professor, George Weinstock, Ph.D., Evnin Family Chair and director of microbial genomics
The collaboration, Dr. Weinstock said, will bring together BioMérieux’s expertise in clinical microbiology and the biology and detection of microbial resistance with his lab’s expertise in next-generation DNA sequencing and metagenomic analysis.
According to its webpage, the Weinstock laboratory applies advanced technologies to investigate infectious diseases and human and other mammalian microbiomes and their clinical impact.
William Michael Dunne, Ph.D., bioMérieux Science Office VP, added that the collaboration will also draw on his long informal working relationship with Dr. Weinstock, starting while he was at Washington University School of Medicine: “I look forward to working with him under this new formalized framework, where I believe some very novel and exciting approaches toward diagnostic microbiology will emerge.”
