The new intellectual property protects a significant evolution of the LumiSort concept, with improvements that will both simplify and further reduce the cost of the construction of LumiSort units, while increasing the speed and efficiency of operation.
Microbix expects LumiSort will significantly increase livestock fertility rates compared with conventional sexing technology making the cattle and dairy industries more efficient and improving producers' margins. The technology also has the potential to more than double the yield of sexed semen straws after processing, making LumiSort far more economical, leading to wider usage in the marketplace.
In 2010 Microbix announced two partnerships including one with an engineering firm focused on the development of the technology and the other with one of the largest suppliers of livestock reproduction products in the world. The second firm has taken an equity position in the program through a milestone based, $2 million investment, and will leverage their two-year, regionally exclusive license to rapidly deploy LumiSort into their markets generating revenues enabling subsequent global expansion.
"These new developments stem directly from investments we've made not only to engineer and deliver the LumiSort instrument, but also to understand and solve the fundamental problems underlying the sex-specific identification and separation of cells,” said William Gastle, Microbix CEO. “By maintaining a broad view of the science and technology and continuing a program of development, we will bring the next generation of semen sexing technology to livestock producers."
Microbix Biosystems Inc. specializes in developing vaccine production technology and markets virology and biological products worldwide.
