Trials are underway for a tuberculosis test in livestock with hopes it will prove not only more accurate, but also save money.

Palmerston North company PolyBatics Inc has developed the unique tuberculosis skin test called Assign-bTB based on the company's bionanoparticle technology which it believes will lower the incidence of false positive tests, reducing the need for re-testing animals.

A unique tuberculosis skin test is being trialled with hopes it will provide a more accurate TB test.

'We are pleased to be supporting this study using a cutting edge technology and in the process, reaffirming New Zealand's place at the forefront of managing and eliminating tuberculosis in wild animals and in our farmed livestock,” says TBfree New Zealand's manager of TB eradication and research Dr Paul Livingstone.

'The aim of the study is to compare the specificity of Assign-bTB, the reagent developed via PolyBatics' technology, with the current tuberculin in selected non-infected herds and its sensitivity in infected herds,” says Paul.

'If successful, we expect use of Assign-bTB will reduce the number of false-positives to the skin test. This will reduce the need for re-testing which will, in turn, provide potential cost savings to the TB control programme.”

The PolyBatics Assign-bTB product is a 'differentiate infected from vaccinated animals” TB skin test reagent and the first such test able to differentiate mycobacterium bovis-infected animals from those vaccinated against bovine TB or exposed to other strains of mycobacterium.

The same antigen-presenting biobead technology is also being developed to produce a similar human TB skin test as well as new TB vaccines for animal and human use that don't interfere with TB skin tests created using the same technology.

The field trial is being conducted during the next few months in New Zealand cattle under the leadership of TBfree New Zealand and the Hopkirk Research Institute.

The DIVA skin test was developed in conjunction with Dr Bryce Buddle, who is the adjunct professor of Infectious Diseases at Hopkirk Research Institute and the principal scientist of the Infectious Diseases Team at AgResearch. The test uses using PolyBatics' technology.

'PolyBatics biobeads represent an ideal platform for either diagnostic or vaccine applications, given their unique ability to consistently display antigens of choice on the biopolymer nanobead surface and their low-cost single-step production,” says PolyBatics chief executive officer Tracy Thompson.

Tracy says PolyBatics has initiated a number of vaccine development programmes during the last year, including programmes in hepatitis, dengue fever and TB therapeutics.

The PolyBatics technology allows biocompatible beads with specifically engineered proteins on their surface to be grown in microbial hosts.

'The beads can be manufactured using standard fermentation equipment at very low cost and may be tailored to perform a wide range of functions based on the nature of the proteins that are grown on the surface.”

PolyBatics' revolutionary technology harnesses the natural power of cells to create natural polymer particles, or biobeads, covered with proteins engineered to perform specific functions. Since its inception in 2009, the company says it's surpassed many milestones that demonstrate the platform's usefulness in diagnostics and vaccines, affinity chromatography, biocatalysis and other applications.

Through all this, it has eliminated the toxic processes involved in the creation of immobilised proteins by creating them naturally, in bacteria, without using hazardous chemicals.

Located in Palmerston North, PolyBatics was created to commercialise biobead technology created by professor Bernd Rehm at Massey University. For more information, visit www.polybatics.com