
DEVELOPING A DRUG FOR QUICK WOUND HEALING
Wound is a sudden discontinuation of tissue surface caused by varieties of stimuli. Wound is a part of our day-to-day to life. Wound could be internal or external of our body surfaces. Repairing of wound is an inherent biological process that involves a cascade of biological events. A healthy individual repairs a wound quickly and restores the homeostasis of the tissue. Successful repair of a wound could be linked to many statuses of our body such as genetics, physiology, nutrition, and social. All these statuses are deeply associated with the successful healing process.
The pain and social burden of wound healing is enormous. In the United States, chronic wounds affect around 6.5 million patients. It is claimed that an excess of US $25 billion is spent annually on treatment of chronic wounds and the burden is growing rapidly due to increasing health care costs, an aging population, and a sharp rise in the incidence of diabetes and obesity worldwide. According to the latest data from the National Center for Health Statistics, 40 million inpatient surgical procedures were performed in the United States on the year of 2015, followed by 31.5 million outpatient surgeries. The need for the post-surgical wound care is sharply on rise. Emergency wound care in an acute condition has major significance not only in a war setting but also in homeland preparedness against natural disasters as well as against terrorism attacks. An additional burden of wound healing is the problem of skin scarring, a $12 billion annual market. Diabetes is present in 8.3% of the United States' population and is becoming an increasingly prevalent issue in modern-day health care.
One of the crucial factors that regulate the wound healing is cell migration. Cell migration has a positive co-relation with wound healing in our body. Faster cell migration results quick healing of a wound. Annagen Biotech has been investigating the signaling cascade of cell migration that involves with wound healing. Recently, Annagen Biotech identified couple of small molecule that makes the cell migration faster and quicker wound healing. Annagen Biotech is currently involved in R&D whether these molecules could be used therapeutically as a drug for wound healing.

PERSONALIZED DISEASE DETECTION KIT

By employing the technology of NIDS, Annagen Biotech intends to develop a personalized disease detection system. Since last 4 years, Annagen Biotech is engaged in R&D on the technology and has progressed a lot towards its optimization. If successful, the technology can be commercialized as a form of a personalized disease detection kit. To date the most sensitive method used in disease detection is quantitative real time PCR (qPCR). Although qPCR is a sensitive method but it is costly and scientifically robust procedure. Apart from qPCR, there are several sophisticated methods for disease detection such as traditional PCR followed by agarose gel electrophoresis and digital PCR. Unfortunately, all these technologies need extensive instrumentation and trained manpower. All these methods pose economic burden to the users. Since 2014 we have been involved in R&D of a disease detection system which is non-PCR-based. Unlike qPCR, scientists and clinicians do not need to go through extensive instrumentation. It will be simple and user-friendly. The users do not require a deep understand in technology and software. It will be cost effective. Empirically, to assay one sample, our method needs ΒΌ of the cost required to qPCR. The technology is currently patent-pending under USPTO. The major challenge of this mission is to technology cost-effective and within the affordable limit of common people. We are optimizing the technology towards a direction which needs least instrumentation and reagents but qualitatively super-sensitive. Most importantly, the technology can be used as a form of personalized disease detection kit. Anyone can run the kit at home without going to medical facility and diagnose the disease from simple body fluid. Other advantage of this technology will be privacy; the individual will get stern privacy and personal information protection. Apart from personalized uses, the next target users of this technology will be the government and non-government institutions, school, colleges, universities, where identification of pathogens is the goal, not the quantity of pathogen. As this method is cheap, therefore schools, colleges, and universities, who have limited resources, could use this technology as an alternative of qPCR.
DEVELOPING A NON-PCR BASED mRNA ASSAY SYSTEM
Annagen Biotech is involved in R&D of a non-PCR based in vitro diagnostic system (NIDS) which is simple, user-friendly, and cheap. The target molecule for NIDS is mRNA. There is no need to convert the mRNA into cDNA. Therefore it is a non-PCR based assay.
As there is no PCR based amplification of the nucleotides in NIDS, the signal is amplified in the well using a technology based upon quantum mechanics. NIDS is multi-well platform assay system; one can assay multiple samples at a time.
If successful, the social impact of NIDS will be tremendous. The most advantageous criterion of NIDS is that it requires least instrumentation and it is quick. The endpoint result of NIDS is color-based or colorimetric; therefore NIDS results could be measured by a simple colorimeter. Even, if colorimeter is not available, NIDS results could be gauged by naked eye. There are many practical applications of NIDS; here we are discussing about few as follows:
The technology of NIDS could be applied in the development of personalized disease detection kit. Using NIDS, common people can detect any infectious agents such as bacteria, virus, and fungus quickly. Therefore, NIDS could be used in the detection of dangerous pathogens in bioterrorism. NIDS would be employed in the forward deployment facility such as military where rapid detection of pathogens is required withleast instrumentation. NIDS could be used in the research of marine biology and oceanography where least instrumentation is one of the important factors. In the mid of an ocean, NIDS could be employed for the detection of marine fauna and flora.
The target users of NIDS will be the government and non-government institutions, schools, colleges, universities, where identification of pathogens is the goal, not the quantity of pathogen. As it is cheap; therefore schools, colleges, and universities, who have limited resources and funds, could use NIDS as an alternative of qPCR. The technology involved in NIDS is patent-pending under USPTO.
