In recognition of his designation of October as “Florida Small Business Awareness Month,” Governor Charlie Crist paid a visit to USF start-up company Claro Scientific LLC, housed in the labs of Florida Blood Services in St. Petersburg. A biotechnology company commencing operations in 2006, Claro Scientific, LLC is continuing to develop technology initially innovated at USF that uses light to quickly and inexpensively identify bacteria, viruses and pathogens.
In recognition of his designation of October as “Florida Small Business Awareness Month,” Governor Charlie Crist paid a visit to USF start-up company Claro Scientific LLC, housed in the labs of Florida Blood Services in St. Petersburg. A biotechnology company commencing operations in 2006, Claro Scientific, LLC is continuing to develop technology initially innovated at USF that uses light to quickly and inexpensively identify bacteria, viruses and pathogens.
“Small business accounts for nearly 60 percent of new jobs created in Florida,” said Crist, who was given an overview of Claro Scientific’s technology by the company’s CEO, Tom McLain.
The Governor’s lab tour was led by Claro Scientific’s President and CSO, Luis Garcia-Rubio, PhD, who, along with colleagues over a two-decade period at USF, developed the basis for the optical profiling diagnostic technology. Claro Scientific, LLC scientist Debra Huffman, PhD demonstrated the technology for Governor Crist.
The two technologies Crist saw first-hand were the SpectraWave ™, technology that can measure and transmit an optical profile obtained from a blood or culture sample in seconds, and SISTERS ™ (Spectral Identification, Storage, Tracking, Exchange and Retrieval System) which analyzes the optical profile and identifies bacteria in less than three minutes compared to the hours or days present technologies require. Using wireless, Internet and satellite technology, SISTERS ™ can send and analyze data from optical profiles anywhere in the world.
“Claro Scientific’s breakthrough technology can accurately identify deadly bacterial infections 97 percent faster than existing technology,” McLain told Governor Crist.
The technology behind SpectraWave ™ works by measuring the distinctive way that biological and other samples react to light. Infectious targets range from identifying hospital acquired bacterial infections, to Defense Department needs, to a collaboration with USF College of Public Health to rapidly diagnose diseases such as malaria in remote areas of the world where no healthcare infrastructure exists today.
“Globally, every day, three thousand children die of malaria,” said McLain. “That’s horrific,” said Governor Crist. McLain told Governor Crist that the future applications of this optical profiling diagnostic technology extend to having quick and inexpensive hospital bedside tests for infectious agents and diseases for which optimum treatment demands early detection and ultimately, at home health monitoring for personalized medicine applications.
McLain told the gathering that businesses in the greater Tampa Bay area represent the second largest U.S. concentration of developers of medical device technologies. He also recognized many of Claro Scientific’s local partners, such as USF, Florida Blood Services, Draper Laboratories, Moffitt Cancer Center and Tampa General Hospital, and national partners, such as the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
“It’s important that we take the necessary steps to give small businesses the resources they need to succeed,” said Governor Crist.
Contact: Randolph Fillmore, Florida Science Communications
