Irish genetics company IdentiGEN has patented a new chemistry-based technology that it said can cut the labour cost of DNA testing by 60%.

Headquartered in Dublin and with offices and laboratories Wales, the US and Canada, this Enterprise Ireland supported company, offers DNA traceability services to meat producers around the world.

IdentiGEN said the novel chemistry-based approach to genotyping that it has tested and validated brings major advantages over the market leading alternatives.

“The new testing approach, for which patents have been filed, has been delivering transformational improvements in DNA sample analysis since it was put into production testing earlier this year,” said IdentiGEN founder and managing director Ciaran Meghen.

“In particular the technology can reduce the labour cost of data scoring by more than 60%. The experience within IdentiGEN’s own facilities has been a dramatic reduction in the cost of generating results.”

According to Meghan, the company’s technology – IdentiSNP – offers a clear alternative to the established approach. He said opportunities to commercialise the product are now being actively pursued on a global basis.

To support the development, the company has recruited additional staff including molecular biologists and product managers.

“While this technology has transformed our internal cost base, and will support our continued growth and development in the area of animal and meat product identification in particular, the opportunity to promote our new formulation to a wider customer base is an exciting development for our business,” said Meghen.

The new genotyping chemistry has been validated on multiple instrument systems including Douglas Scientific, LGC, Fluidigm and ThermoFisher systems.

A newly launched dedicated IdentiSNP website provides additional information and contact details. The project is being supported by Enterprise Ireland under its research and development grant scheme.