Markets

The markets for the technology that is the utilization of firefly reaction are many. Below you’ll find the major ones that we sell to under the BioThema brand.

In biochemistry, molecular biology and biology there is a need to measure cells, enzymes, metabolites and DNA/RNA. The luc gene coding for firefly luciferase is a reliable in vivo or in vitro reporter gene. ATP (adenosine triphosphate) participates in a large number of these reactions. Using the firefly luciferase reaction emitting a light proportional to the ATP concentration makes it possible to follow the reactions in a simple and highly sensitive way. Calibration of the assays with our certified liquid-stable ATP standard provides robust and reliable results.

In the development of new drugs high throughput screening (HTS) is often used to screen large libraries of compounds for inhibitors or stimulators of various reactions. The firefly luciferase reaction can be performed reliably in a small reaction volume and is therefore highly suitable for HTS. Our Protein Kinase Kit RR can be used to measure not only protein kinase, but also all ATPases and aminoacyl tRNA synthetases. Growth inhibition from e.g. antibiotics can be measured. Gene expression can be monitored.

Clinical diagnostics as e.g. measurement of bacteria in urine with a luciferase based assay of bacterial ATP can be used in the diagnosis of urinary tract infection (UTI). Screening for Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) has been performed in 528,410 newborn boys in a German study.

Luciferase based assays of ATP and ATP+AMP is more and more used to control hospital hygiene.

In cleaning industry luciferase based assays of ATP and ATP+AMP is used for hygiene control in food and beverage industry, restaurants, hospitals and pharma industry. It is also used to develop improved cleaning tools and procedures and for education of cleaning personnel. The advantages area that an objective result is obtained, that seller and purchaser can agree on a measurable degree of cleanliness and that the cleaning personnel can perform the test in less than one minute using a portable instrument immediately seeing whether the work done is satisfactory or not.