Amnis Awarded $140,000 Contract from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; Phase I Contract Seeks to Develop Automated System to Detect Abnormal Sperm.Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 16, 2003 Amnis Corporation, an emerging biotechnology company focused on innovative advancements in the imaging of biological cells, has received a $140,000 federal contract to develop a system that detects sperm likely to cause birth defects birth defects, abnormalities in physical or mental structure or function that are present at birth. They range from minor to seriously deforming or life-threatening. A major defect of some type occurs in approximately 3% of all births. . The six-month Phase I contract, from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) is one of 27 Institutes and Centers of the National Institutes of Health (NIH),which is a component of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The Director of the NIEHS is Dr. David A. Schwartz. (NIEHS NIEHS National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH, DHHS) ), will be used to develop instrumentation, software and cell analysis methods for the rapid evaluation and enumeration 1. (mathematics) enumeration - A bijection with the natural numbers; a counted set. Compare well-ordered. 2. (programming) enumeration - enumerated type. of chromosomal abnormalities in mammalian sperm cells. "Our goal is to detect sperm with abnormal numbers of chromosomes as a result of exposure to environmental chemicals or other causes," said David Basiji, chief technology officer. An elevated proportion of sperm with abnormal numbers of chromosomes is linked to infertility and an increased risk of birth defects. The NIEHS has an active research program to identify chemicals and environmental factors that lead to an increased proportion of chromosomally abnormal sperm. The rapid detection system for abnormal sperm cells being developed by Amnis will greatly accelerate the identification of these risk factors, Basiji said. The automated scoring of sperm with abnormal chromosome numbers will draw upon two proprietary Amnis technologies: -- ImageStream(TM) technology for rapidly acquiring digital images of tens of thousands of cells with high sensitivity and in multiple simultaneous imaging modes. -- FISHIS(TM) technology which can reveal changes in the number of chromosomes in cells in conjunction with analysis by ImageStream(TM) technology. The NIEH is one of 27 institutes and centers in the National Institutes of Health, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Noun 1. Department of Health and Human Services - the United States federal department that administers all federal programs dealing with health and welfare; created in 1979 Health and Human Services, HHS . Successful completion of the Phase I contract by Amnis is expected to lead to a larger Phase II contract to commercialize the sperm analysis sperm analysis See Semen analysis. platform. About Amnis Headquartered in Seattle, Washington  This page is protected from moves until disputes have been resolved on the .The reason for its protection is listed on the protection policy page. , Amnis is developing ImageStream(TM), the next generation instrumentation platform, reagents, software and services for high throughput imaging and analysis of cells to advance research in drug discovery, basic biomedical research Biomedical research (or experimental medicine), in general simply known as medical research, is the basic research or applied research conducted to aid the body of knowledge in the field of medicine. and clinical diagnostics. Amnis is located at 2505 Third Avenue, Suite 210 Seattle, WA 98121 and can be reached by phone at 206/374-7000. |
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