[Courtesy of Seegene]
SEOUL -- Seegene, a leading producer of reliable in vitro diagnostic devices in South Korea, has unveiled a new molecular diagnostic system that is smaller and lighter than an "all-in-one" device and can be used at medium-sized hospitals and clinics to make the detection of COVID-19 and other viruses into a routine.
Seegene said its new assay called "STARlet-AIOS" was shown at the annual meeting of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry in Atlanta on September 26~30. Seegene was the first mover to jump into the development of diagnostic kits and receive quick emergency approval in South Korea when the World Health Organization released information on COVID-19 test reagents.
Seegene described AIOS as a new concept that automates the entire molecular diagnostic process from nucleic acid extraction to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing and analysis. Unlike conventional all-in-one type equipment, the company said its system can be assembled and implement a "syndromic-based" automation system using Seegene's unique multiplex diagnostic reagent technology.
AIOS is a combination system that connects existing molecular diagnostic devices with Seegene's hardware and software combination method without changing them. Seegene said that hospitals can use existing devices, or purchase a new AIOS system. Maintenance, repair and system upgrade is easy, and only necessary functions such as nucleic acid extraction or PCR can be used separately.
"AIOS is a syndrome-based molecular diagnostic test automation system developed by combining the technologies accumulated over the past 20 years and will be a new opportunity to accelerate the routinization of molecular diagnosis," CEO Chun Jong-yoon said in a statement on September 27.
AIOS is much more efficient in terms of time and costs in finding the causes of the disease as it can test pathogens at once, Seegene said, adding that various reagents can be applied, making it a groundbreaking solution to find the causes of various symptoms in daily life.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
![[Coronavirus] Moon receives Trumps request for diagnostic reagents](https://image.ajunews.com/content/image/2020/03/25/20200325142129178702.jpg)
![[INTERVIEW] Seegenes quantum leap is far from over as producer of reliable diagnostic kits](https://image.ajunews.com/content/image/2020/10/30/20201030113647931509.jpg)