Bruker Daltonics and Isis Pharmaceuticals Announce the European Introduction of the Ibis T5000 Biosensor System

At the 9th International Conference in Genomics and Proteomics of Human Pathogens in London, UK, Bruker Daltonics Inc. and Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the European introduction of the Ibis T5000™ biosensor system for the identification and characterization of microorganisms.

The Ibis T5000 system is an automated biosensor for healthcare research applications, which enables the analysis of viruses, bacteria, and fungi without any microbial culturing or genome sequencing steps. The Ibis T5000 relies on technology and applications developed by Ibis Biosciences™, a division of Isis Pharmaceuticals, incorporating Bruker Daltonics´ proven micrOTOF™ ESI TOF mass spectrometer.

Following the announcement of a manufacturing and distribution agreement between Isis Pharmaceuticals and Bruker Daltonics earlier this year, the companies have taken the next important step towards commercialization of the Ibis T5000 biosensor system by entering the large European markets. Ready-to-use consumable assay kits will be available for applications such as pan-influenza surveillance (human and avian) and detection of sources of hospital-associated infections, including methicillin-resistant Staph. aureus (MRSA) strains. Applications will also enable in depth characterization of bacterial strain types, antibiotic resistance profiles and virulence markers. The Ibis T5000 is currently designated for Research Use Only (RUO).

Michael Treble, President of the Ibis Biosciences division and Vice President of Isis Pharmaceuticals, commented, “We’re excited about the European introduction of the Ibis T5000 biosensor system, which has the potential to revolutionize infectious microorganism detection. And we’re especially pleased that our partner, Bruker Daltonics, will be manufacturing, installing and servicing the Ibis T5000 instruments. Bruker has an extensive global infrastructure to support customers at the point of use, enabling Ibis to focus on the development, manufacture and supply of reagent kits.”

Wolfgang Pusch, Assistant Vice President for Clinical Research Solutions of Bruker Daltonics, stated: “The Ibis T5000 biosensor system analyzes the DNA of infectious disease microorganisms, and is an ideal complement to Bruker Daltonics’ existing MALDI BioTyper™ platform for microorganism identification based on protein signatures. With the Ibis T5000 we further expand the scope of our products in microbiology and can now even address applications as important as hospital-associated infections and influenza surveillance. This is a further milestone in establishing Bruker Daltonics as the leading supplier for mass spectrometry-based systems for clinical research, including infectious disease research and epidemiology.”