MagBio Genomics
MTC member MagBio Genomics recently launched two new products, so we visited with their CEO, Hyacinth Ntchobo, at their office in Gaithersburg.
Give us an overview of MagBio Genomics.
Our company develops and commercializes magnetic bead-based products for nucleic acids isolation including biomarkers as tools for liquid biopsy.
We’re focused on products that allow both safeguarding integrity of bio-samples and efficient isolation of circulating biomarkers from biological samples for human genetic research including cancer studies and non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT). Our core platform allows efficiency in the nucleic acids sequencing methods including Sanger and Next Generation Sequencing in both manual and automated work flow. Our customers are academic and private genomics research institutions and clinical genomic research institutions around the world.
The company just launched two new products, tell us about that and some of your other products.
Yes, we launched the Blood STASIS 21-ccfDNA tube for venous whole blood collection and room temperature stabilization of circulating cell-free DNA. The tube is a direct draw whole blood collection system that contains a proprietary reagent that prevents post-collection release of genomic DNA from white blood cells. It allows room temperature transport and storage of blood for 21 days and epithelial cell for 8 days. Other blood stabilization systems contain potential formaldehyde-releasing compounds, making them unsuitable for many liquid biopsy applications and limiting room temperature blood stabilization to only 10 days. Another feature of our product is that the tube is plastic, which makes it less susceptible to breakage. The features of Blood STASIS 21-ccfDNA tube significantly expand the range of liquid biopsy applications such as NIPT and cancer genomic assays and improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance outreach for receiving samples on local and international levels.
We also just launched the cfKapture 21 system. This is a circulating cell-free DNA (ccfDNA) isolation kit which includes a proprietary reagent that prevents post-separation degradation of plasma and ccfDNA fragments for up to 21 days at room temperature. This feature allows laboratories to safely transport and process samples within a much longer time frame without the need for extensive cold chain, which in turn reduces cost, improves efficiency, and increases outreach for both local and international samples. cfKapture 21 is the only kit on the market able to provide this level of flexibility for processing plasma samples in a high throughput setting.
The cfKapture 21 kit is compatible with any whole blood collection tube. However, it is best used in combination with our Blood STASIS 21-ccfDNA tube to ensure recovery of the highest quality ccfDNA suitable for most liquid biopsy applications.
We also sell products in the categories of next-generation sequencing kits, Sanger sequencing kits, DNA/RNA purification kits, and magnetic separation devices.
Give us some insight into the company.
The company started five years ago, and we really turned a corner in 2015. We’ve been in high growth mode since that time. We moved into our Gaithersburg office in June of last year, and now we are getting into R&D so that we can bring more products to the market.
Currently, we have seven employees, and we will be looking to expand our sales team within certain channels in the near future. Like I mentioned, we are in a high-growth mode, so we are looking for an experienced sales executive to lead the team.
Who should members contact with questions?
They can call me directly at (301) 302-0144 x311 or email me at h.ntchobo@magbiogenomics.com.