The Biomeme device is a real-time PCR thermocycler that attaches to your iPhone SE and enables you to perform gold-standard DNA analysis. Using our lab-free sample prep, you isolate DNA from your environment, add it to a specific test cartridge and put it into the thermocycler. In less than an hour, you can determine the presence or absence of that target in your sample.
It’s like a targeted copy machine for DNA or RNA. If there’s just one copy of your DNA target in your sample, the device turns it into billions of copies, which can then be detected. The iPhone is used to run the hardware and process the results.
Lots of things. Anywhere there is DNA or RNA, our device can be used to detect it. Since there’s DNA and RNA all throughout our world, the sky’s the limit.
For now, we’re working with partners in human health, biothreat surveillance, genetic testing, education and research. We see possibilities in forensics, food safety, environmental monitoring and more. Read more about use cases on our blog.
Contact us to discuss partnerships. How can we help you do what you do?
PCR stands for Polymerase Chain Reaction, a biochemical process used to amplify target DNA sequences. Since its invention in 1983, PCR has become a bedrock technology in molecular biology and biomedical science.
DNA consists of two strands of nucleic acid units bound together by pairs of matching bases. When DNA is heated to a certain temperature (usually 94-98°C), the two strands come apart, exposing the bases. Through ensuing cooling and heating cycles, the exposed bases on both strands can then be matched to new bases, creating two new double helices. Done over and over, this process can exponentially grow the number of DNA copies you have.
PCR uses primers to copy only the segment of DNA you’re looking for. Primers contain the complements of the first few “letters” of the “word” you’re looking for on your template strand (the first bases of your target sequence). They only bind to the template strand where they find those letters, and thus only those sequences are copied.
Real-time PCR is an updated PCR method that allows you to receive results as the reaction proceeds. Instead of waiting for the entire chain reaction to finish, you can watch the reaction proceed in “real time”.
Real-time PCR works by introducing fluorescent dyes and probes to the PCR process. Devices can then optically measure how much fluorescence there is in your reaction mix and use that to interpret how much target DNA was in your sample.
Our device takes approximately 40 minutes for a complete run. Contact us for the latest spec sheets.
Our sample prep system eliminates the need for common lab equipment such as pipettes, centrifuges and vortexers. Our proprietary sample prep column fits on the end of a syringe to bind and clean DNA as you pipette up and down from reagent to reagent. See it in action here.
It’s important to note that our sample prep system must be validated and adjusted for your sample type. Whole blood, for instance, requires a different sample prep protocol than saliva. Contact us to talk about sample prep possibilities.
No, all of our products are currently for Research Use Only and not for use in diagnostic procedures. We intend to take a subset of our products through the US regulatory process in the near future.
A number of third-party validators and assay development organizations are using our systems now. Contact us to learn how you can get your hands on one.