News Release

NRC spin-off develops rapid sensors

Peer-Reviewed Publication

National Research Council of Canada

IatroQuest Corporation, an Ottawa company spun off from the National Research Council (NRC), has made significant advances in developing rapid sensing and diagnostic systems for the detection and identification of chemical and biological warfare (CBW) agents. Tomorrow, the company's directions will be highlighted at the 6th Annual Ottawa Life Sciences Council National Conference.

IatroQuest Co-Founders, Drs. David Armstrong and Martine Lafrance, will be speaking of the ever increasing global need for CBW agent detection technology. The company's focus is on developing next generation bio-sensing and ultra high throughput diagnostic systems for the defence, medical and occupational health sectors. Less than a year old, IatroQuest has already captured the attention of major players in industry and government.

Currently IatroQuest has patents pending world-wide for its Bio-Alloy™ platform technology. "This breakthrough technology combines elements of biotechnology with advanced materials yielding unique properties" explained Dr. Armstrong, President and CEO of IatroQuest. Bio-Alloy™ can be customized to meet the sensing requirements for military and civil defence, medical and environmental applications. "The technology lends itself to be used in miniaturized, portable, biosensing devices that can be used in defence theaters for real time CBW agent detection and identification allowing for prompt and appropriate countermeasures to be taken," added Dr. Lafrance, Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer.

IatroQuest was founded in January 1999 by Drs. Armstrong and Lafrance, former biomedical Research Officers at NRC. The company is now expanding its workforce and senior management team in order to penetrate the lucrative markets in the defence, medical and occupational health/environmental sectors.

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