Milestone achievement in biotech; Sri Lanka’s Credence Genomics creates history

Credence Genomics Ltd., Sri Lanka’s premier specialised DNA diagnostics services provider has achieved yet another first by being published in the acclaimed BioMed Central (BMC) Infectious Diseases publication.

With their innovative range of specialised DNA diagnostic tests, Credence Genomics has reached out to benefit the medical community in Sri Lanka and in the region, with the uncompromised guarantee of accuracy and speed of test reports by achieving unparalleled benchmarks.

Conceived by Dr. Vaz Gnanam in 2011 Credence Genomics was one of the earliest biotechnology startups not only in Sri Lanka but the region to invest in cutting edge NGS and application development. Steering the clinical genomics initiative, he led a team of scientists and ICT engineers to develop leading edge innovative diagnostics tests which have been the result of 6 years of stringent research on industry defining genetic science, application of information technology and testing across a broad spectrum of diseases. The tests rely on Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology, which enables the four basic building blocks found in all life forms to be interpreted as digital data, to be captured, stored in a silicon chip and compared by complex software backend. 

Complying to relevant international accreditations and quality standards in clinical genomics, the tests have been well received by many leading hospitals and medical institutions across the country. Three specific tests that have been developed are Rapid Infection Detection (RID), BactFast and FungiFast. The above 90% accuracy and ultrafast reporting times have proven their benefits across many different specialisations of medicine within a very short span of time.

All three tests are designed to identify suspect organisms based on their DNA makeup, and as an outcome of the tests the presence of all known pathogenic bacteria and fungi in any clinical sample.

On reaching this landmark achievement, Associate Lab Manager of Credence Genomics Ltd., and first author of the paper Manahari Abayasekera stated, “The Rapid Infection Detection product (RID) along with BactFast and FungiFast represent the future of accurate diagnostic delivery in infectious diseases.”

Professor Jennifer Perera, Clinical Director of the company, further elaborated saying, “It’s not very often you find a product that not only has precision and coverage under a single umbrella. Anaerobic infections, mixed infections, unculturable organisms and novel/rare organisms along with the common infection causing candidates can be addressed with these tests.”

Dr. N.V. Chandrasekharan, Director Laboratory of Credence Genomics, added, “The stringent parameters under which the company has developed and deployed these products can be considered class-leading. With built in quality control and validation these tests represent the future of medicine available now and developed by Sri Lankan scientists and information technology specialists.”

The publisher, BioMed Central (BMC) has an evolving portfolio of more than 300 peer-reviewed journals, sharing discoveries from research communities in science, technology, engineering and medicine.

The full Report “Detection of bacterial pathogens from clinical specimens using conventional microbial culture and 16S metagenomics: a comparative study” is available for downloading at https://link.springer.com/. 

“At Credence Genomics our commitment to creating a truly world class product has paid off. Not only does this highlight the ground breaking capabilities of Sri Lankan scientists but our ability for niche development in software engineering in specialised health care delivery,” said Credence Genomics CEO Dr. Vaz Gnanam.

For more information: www.credencegenomics.com