Tasso, GenTegra win DARPA grant for blood-draw tech

April 8, 2015 By Val Kennedy Leave a Comment

Tasso said it won a $2.9 million grant from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to continue work on an integrated blood-sampling device that can be used in war zones.

The grant to Tasso and development partner GenTegra was awarded based on progress the companies have made under a previously issued Phase II SBIR contract, Madison, Wis.-based Tasso said.

Under the new award, Tasso will receive approximately $1.6 million to further develop its HemoLink device, which is used to collect blood samples from the surface of the skin. GenTegra will receive $1.3 million for its Matrix Chaperone technology, which dries blood samples so they can be shipped and stored without refrigeration.

“This is a disruptive technology that will enable connecting anyone in the world – from home, rural areas, low resource locations, or war zones – to a centralized blood analysis laboratory, providing affordable cutting edge diagnostics to everyone,” Tasso vice president Erwin Berthier said in prepared remarks.

“GenTegra is pleased to be working with the innovative HemoLink device that Tasso is developing as an alternative to venipuncture blood collection,” said GenTegra CEO Bruce Jamieson. “The combination of a simple blood collection device and stabilization of the specimen at ambient temperatures will open many possibilities for new innovative ‘in home’ and ‘point-of-care’ sample collection scenarios.”

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