New Serum Test for Mad Cow Disease

A serum-based test to detect bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, has been developed by Chronix Biomedical (San Francisco, CA, USA) in collaboration with the Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Georg-August University in Goettingen (Germany), a leading European veterinary research institute.

The test is based on unique genetic material found in cows affected with BSE but not in healthy cows. Since the test detects the disease in live cattle, there is no need to kill the cows to be tested. The cooperative work of the two developers focused on identifying the molecular basis of the disease and methods for detecting affected cattle. Chronix contributed its expertise in nucleic acid detection and expression profiling to the test's development. The company plans to focus additional research efforts on understanding the relationship between BSE and new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob (nvCFJ) disease in humans, which appears to be closely related.

"I am confident important diagnostic technologies will emerge from this collaboration that can be useful in ensuring the safety of the food supply,” said Bertram Brenig, director of the Institute of Veterinary Medicine.




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