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Tianlong to Lead a National Key R&D Program - Development and Application of a New Pipelined High Throughput Nucleic Acid Analysis System

Recently, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China approved that Tianlong will take the lead in undertaking the 2021 National Key R&D Program, a Key Special Project on Diagnostic Equipment and Biomedical Materials - the Development and Applications of a New Pipelined High Throughput Nucleic Acid Analysis System, which has been formally established with this approval.

After the application guide of Key Special Project on Diagnostic Equipment and Biomedical Materials was publicly released, Tianlong and the project partners were selected and approved after multiple evaluations and defense steps among other competitors.

This key special project focuses on the strategic products of medical devices and biomedical materials. It is one of the important tasks of national science and technology innovation during China's 14th Five-Year Plan period. It aims to "lead at the high end", accelerate the integration of the chains of innovation, industrialization, and services in the field of medical devices in China, and provide scientific and technological support to pioneer in the global market of medical devices.

Project Information

• Name of Project

  Development and applications of a new pipelined high throughput nucleic acid analysis system

• Ref. No. of Project

  2021YFC2400900

• Leading Unit

  Xi'an Tianlong Science and Technology Co..Ltd.

• Responsible Person

  PENG Niancai

  Project R&D Team

Led by Xi'an Tianlong Technology Co., Ltd.; and jointly undertaken with Xi'an Jiaotong University, Suzhou Tianlong Bio-technology Co., Ltd., China National Institute for Food and Drug Control, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Shaanxi Testing & Inspection Institute for Medical Devices and other superior units in the field.

High Throughput, Automated-Pipelined HTP Nucleic Acid Analysis System

High-throughput, automated, highly sensitive, rapid, and efficient nucleic acid testing solutions are critical to the precise diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases, genetic diseases, and tumours, as well as chronic diseases. The project, "Development and Applications of a New High-Throughput Nucleic Acid Analysis System," led by Tianlong, brings together the strengths of universities, enterprises, inspection institutes, and hospitals to establish a whole chain of "industry-university-research-medical-inspection" R&D cooperation mode. We expect this project to make a breakthrough in the research of key nucleic acid testing technologies, product development, and application fields and develop a high throughput nucleic acid analysis system with higher throughput, sensitivity, flexibility, and biosafety for real-world clinical needs. Thus, this project supports major applications such as infectious disease surveillance, mass screening, genetic disease diagnosis, precision medicine, tumour diagnosis and treatment, and animal disease quarantine.

Tianlong Tackling Key Nucleic Acid Testing Technologies to Meet Major National Needs

High-end nucleic acid testing instruments were primarily imported for a long time in China. To achieve "independent control of high-end medical devices" and "high-end self-reliance and self-improvement" in this area, China has released relevant policies in the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th Five-Year Plans, National Medium and Long-Term Science and Technology Development Plan (2020) and the Healthy China 2030 Planning Outline, to promote and support the technological innovation, industrialization and related applications of high-end medical devices in China.

Tianlong has always been a market-oriented, industry-academia-research-based, innovation-driven high-tech enterprise with profound technical accumulation in the field of nucleic acid detection and molecular diagnostics. Over the years, Tianlong has received rolling support from several national science and technology programs and has taken the lead in many major national research projects, including the National Major Scientific Instrument and Equipment Development Project, National Science and Technology Key Projects on Major Infectious Diseases, National High-tech R&D Program (863 Program), National Science and Technology Support Program, the National Science and Technology Support Program, National Science and Technology Key Projects on Major Scientific Instrument and Equipment Development, and multiple key projects of the National Development and Reform Commission Industrialization Project.

The industry-academia-research team of Tianlong led by Prof. PENG Niancai, professor of Xi'an Jiaotong University and founder of Tianlong, has been working on the key technologies for nucleic acid detection instruments and reagents for over 20 years and has solved the critical technical problems. We have successfully developed and industrialized hundreds of high-end nucleic acid testing instruments and supporting molecular diagnostic reagents covering the whole technical chain of molecular diagnostics such as sample pre-processing, nucleic acid extraction and amplification, and analysis, and we have broken the monopoly of imports in various fields. Tianlong team also led the development of the national pharmaceutical industry standard, "YY/T1717-2020 Nucleic Acid Extraction Kit (Magnetic Bead Method)" to fill the gaps in China. Tianlong received the 2020 National Science and Technology Progress Award. Prof. PENG Niancai, General Manager Dr. LI Ming, CTO Dr. MIAO Baogang of Tianlong team were listed as the Top 3 individuals of this award for outstanding scientific and technological innovation contribution.

The above national science and technology awards are a recognition of our achievements contributed to national strategic science and technology and give us a new mission and responsibility for the future. Tianlong team will continue contributing to the high level of scientific and technological self-sufficiency in China, and will start with this leadership in the new National Key R&D Program at the beginning of the 14th Five-Year Plan.