Biomatrica®
Biomatrica® is a biotechnology company based in San Diego that develops and sells products for preserving and stabilizing biological samples. Once stabilized, the sensitive samples can be shipped or stored for later use. The inspiration for the product was found in tardigrades and brine shrimp through their natural process of anhydrobiosis, which essentially involves the drying of the organism while preserving its cellular structure.
Specifically, the company focuses on improving the stability of biological materials, such as DNA, RNA, proteins, and cells, across the diagnostic workflow, from patient samples to diagnostic test reagents. Biomatrica® scientists have developed alternatives to existing preservation technologies, such as cold storage and lyophilization (freeze-drying), to prevent degradation of perishable biological materials. Biomatrica’s technologies are used in applications such as pre-analytic sample collection, diagnostic assays, biobanking, forensics, and basic research.
Products and Services
The company’s first product was a dry, synthetic polymer, “DNAstable” (originally “SampleMatrix”), a chemical formulation that stabilized purified DNA at ambient temperature. In 2006, it was awarded the Most Innovative Product of the Year award from the San Diego non-profit technology/business organization CONNECT.
The following year, the company released RNAstable and CloneStable, dry chemical reagents optimized for stabilizing purified RNA and bacterial plasmid DNA, respectively.
In 2007, the German biotechnology company, Qiagen, licensed DNAstable for sale under the trade name QIAsafe. Biomatrica and Qiagen subsequently co-developed QIAsafe Blood, an ambient temperature stabilization reagent for unpurified DNA in whole blood.
Also in 2007, Biomatrica released a line of molecular and forensic assay enhancement products. The first, PCRboost, was developed for enhancement of PCR performed on degraded and trace DNA samples.[5] The second, STRboost, allowed improved results in forensic DNA analysis of degraded and low quantity genetic evidence using multiplex STR testing.
Biomatrica began commercialization of preanalytical products in 2009 with the launch of its “gard” product line. These products include RNAgard Blood, DNAgard Blood, and DNAgard Tissue and Cells, products designed to stabilize biological samples from collection to analytical testing. In 2013, the company launched a device, DNAgard Saliva, for the collection of salivary DNA samples to be used in a variety of research studies. In 2015, a completely redesigned and improved version of this device was launched under the name DNAgard Saliva HT. This new version is designed and optimized for use by high-throughput laboratory automation instruments.
Liquid versions of DNAstable and RNAstable were launched as DNAstable LD and RNAstable LD in 2011 and 2012, respectively. These liquid products provide more flexibility for diverse experimental formats, including those utilizing automated instrumentation.
In 2012, the company began offering custom stabilization services to diagnostic assay manufacturers under the trade name, AssayStable. This service allowed improved manufacturing and stability of diagnostic test kits. After completing several successful contracts with large diagnostic manufacturers, the company launched a related service, PCRstable, that focused specifically on improving stability of PCR-based, molecular diagnostic assays, including those using microfluidic chips and specialized cartridges and cassettes.
Partnerships and Agreements
- HMO giant, Kaiser Permanente adopted DNAstable for a large biobanking project in 2010.
- Also in 2010, Biomatrica signed a collaborative research and development agreement (CRADA) with United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) to develop and test new technologies for ambient temperature stabilization of clinical and biological samples.
- The same year, Biomatrica began a partnership agreement with the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) for biomarker stabilization and SAIC-Frederick to improve molecular analysis of tumors.
- In 2011, the company announced a strategic partnership agreement with In-Q-Tel, an independent, strategic investment firm that identifies technologies to support the mission of the U.S. intelligence community.
- Other prominent government agencies testing Biomatrica’s technology included NASA and the U.S. Navy.
- In 2013, Biomatrica’s DNAstable was featured in video created by Harvard University’s Sabeti Laboratory on collecting and transporting biological samples from Lassa Fever survivors from Africa to USA.
- In 2014, Biomatrica and American Type Tissue Culture (ATCC) signed a licensing agreement for Biomatrica to supply its DNA & RNA stabilization reagents to ATCC for use in the latter company’s DNA and RNA standards.
- Also in 2014, Biomatrica and the prominent chemical and biochemical supply company, Sigma-Aldrich, signed an agreement for the worldwide distribution of Biomatrica’s stabilization reagents.
The Biomiomicry Story
The founders of Biomatrica®, Rolf Muller and Judy Muller-Cohn, got their inspiration when visiting a toy store. They noticed sea monkeys, which are really brine shrimp that are in a dried state but come back to life when rehydrated. After research into the strategy used by brine shrimp, resurrection fern (spikemoss family), tardigrades, and other organisms, they created a thermostable, dissolvable glass that packages every single molecule in a sample. Rather than using the molecule trehalose, they created a molecule that performs the same function.
Tardigrades
The tardigrade, also known as a waterbear, is a microscopic invertebrate found all over the world in ecosystems ranging from freshwater to terrestrial. Tardigrades often inhabit places that experience extreme conditions–such as deserts, high mountains, and polar regions–where many other life forms find it impossible to survive. Terrestrial waterbears are typically active only when surrounded by a small film of water. So how is it that this tiny creature can survive in extreme conditions, even in places that lack a steady supply of water?
Under stressed conditions such as extreme dryness or temperature, the waterbear practices several forms of cryptobiosis, a state in which metabolic activity is slowed or halted. The most studied of these is anhydrobiosis. The waterbear enters anhydrobiosis by contracting its body into something called a tun, whereby it loses more than 95% of its free and stored water; essentially, it dehydrates itself. In this state, the waterbear creates different proteins and sugars that help protect its cells. Once these cell protectants are synthesized, the waterbear reduces, and at times suspends, its metabolism. When conditions improve within the environment, the waterbear activates its metabolism once again, aided by hydration from water intake.
Ingemar Jönsson of the University of Kristiangard in collaboration with ESA, has launched the Tardis (tardigrades in space) to test the resistance of tardigrades. September 14, 2007 embedded in a Soyuz rocket, two species of tardigrades (see nota), among 1150 existing species were exposed to conditions in space. In the words of the article published in Current Biology, ultraviolet radiation, 1000 times higher than on Earth, would have destroyed its chromosomes. But after ten days, the tardigrades for the most part survived. We already knew tardigrades can withstand a huge temperature range of -270 ° C to +150 ° C, vacuum or pressure of a huge ocean hypothetical 60,000 meters or 600 mega Pascal (6 000 bar). Swedish researchers believe that tardigrades in space does not emerge unscathed from their trip because the UV damaged DNA. However, some animals have managed to “repair” to survive. On land, they are also present in the sand, foam roofs wetlands, sediment saline or freshwater. Their life is not really known, however, tardigrades are able to stop their metabolism and become immortal (state cryptobiosis). These qualities make it an amazing super champion resistance animal. In the laboratory, scientists have managed to maintain eight years in a state of cryptobiosis and tardigrades have returned to life. To enter cryptobiosis, tardigrades retract their eight legs and is almost completely dehydrated. They lose more than 99% of their water, replacing it with a sugar they synthesize.
This kind of antifreeze protects its cells. During this period he protects himself in a small ball of wax called microscopic barrel that limits water loss. When favorable conditions return, water covers the Pooh to life. Some insects, frogs and crustaceans are as capable of entering into cryptobiosis tardigrade, but the tardigrade can hold this for thousands of years and wait for warmer conditions for life miraculously recovered. Tardigrades were found in an ice sheet 2,000 years and came back to life. This form of resistance allows it to suspend time, but also to survive extreme temperatures.
But whence comes this exceptional resistance?
Nature does not create living over equipped, compared to their environment, for nothing. How natural selection has done to test these features aliens?