ANDalyze Awarded Grants Totaling Over $1.1M To Develop DNA-zyme Water Quality Analytics Sensors For Pesticides And To Commercialize Its Automated Water Quality Monitoring System

ANDalyze now has the capability to accurately measure harmful trace metals in water with an automated on-line monitoring system meant for the drinking water, mining, food safety and environmental water quality industries. The system will automatically monitor water sources for trace metals and pesticides continuously, on-site at low cost in a few minutes per test avoiding the time delay and need for sample collection and preservation associated with laboratory testing.

ANDalyze has received two grant awards to further develop and commercialize its DNA-zyme water sensor technology. In March of this year, the US Department of the Energy awarded ANDalyze an SBIR grant for the commercialization of an on-site, real-time continuous monitor for the quantification of hazardous metals at concentrations below US EPA limits in water sources such as drinking, ground, surface and industrial waters. The automated monitoring instrument will enable unattended operations for up to 30-days, while measuring water samples as frequently as every 2 minutes and at concentrations as low as 2 parts per billion. The design utilizes ANDalyze’s patented catalytic DNA (DNAzyme) based fluorescent biosensors for measuring hazardous metals such as lead, copper, zinc, cadmium and uranium in addition to pesticides and other contaminants. The product consists of on-site instrumentation hardware and a consumable DNA-zyme kit. The product will offer standard reporting, alarm, and control outputs for integration with water facility operations.”

Automated Measurement of Pesticides in Water
In June ANDalyze was also awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the development of a sensor for the measurement of hazardous pesticide concentrations in water. This development will also take advantage of the previously mentioned automated monitoring system enabling pesticides to be measured on-site and unattended. This technology will provide the environmental water industry a tool to quantify the levels of pesticides in water sources without the need for samples to be sent to laboratories where pesticides are often one of the most expensive water parameters to measure with turn-around times that can reach 2 - 3 weeks. ANDalyze sensors will cost a few dollars per test and produce results on-site in minutes, saving valuable time.

“ANDalyze has brought an entirely new and proven water analytics technology to market. Our team of scientists and product designers continue to innovate and commercialize real-world solutions that are helping to protect our water resources. The addition of automated instrumentation and the creation of sensors for pesticides through these grants are yet another opportunity for growth for the company. Our product road-map is full, and there is much more to come,” said Bill Thalheimer, CEO, ANDalyze.

No Impact to the Environment
A major advantage of using DNA based sensors is that all the sensing reagents are environmentally friendly. Unlike laboratory GC methods which require organic solvents to extract the herbicide, DNA based sensing is done without harmful solvents. DNA-zymes as a biosensor component are non-hazardous to the environment.

About ANDalyze Inc.
ANDalyze offers products for testing water contamination using catalytic DNA sensor technologies. The company developed methodology for detecting and quantifying chemical levels based on the recent discovery of the catalytic properties of DNA. This technology and products, which have been validated by industry and through the US EPA, is a universal platform that offers simple, fast, cost effective and reliable detection of trace metals and other target chemicals. For more information, visit www.andalyze.com.