Sera Prognostics Working to Improve Prediction of Pregnancy Complications

Agilent Technologies Inc. and Sera Prognostics Inc., a Salt Lake City women’s health company, have partnered to develop proteomic assays for the early prediction of pregnancy complications.

Sera Prognostics is currently developing a novel test for the early prediction of preterm birth risk using advanced proteomic science. Agilent is a leading provider of a wide range of analytical instrumentation, including liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry and automation systems.

“Our partnership with Agilent provides Sera with access to advanced and innovative technologies designed to deliver on the promise of personalized medicine.”

“By providing pivotal information to physicians, Sera’s preterm birth predictor is designed to address an unmet medical need for a reliable, early risk assessment that has the potential to help significantly improve the health of mothers and newborns, while materially reducing the costs of care,” said Gregory C. Critchfield, chairman and chief executive officer of Sera Prognostics. “Our partnership with Agilent provides Sera with access to advanced and innovative technologies designed to deliver on the promise of personalized medicine.”

As part of the partnership, Sera Prognostics purchased multiple Agilent 1290 Infinity ultra high-performance liquid chromatography systems, 6490 iFunnel triple quadrupole mass spectrometry systems and 1260 Infinity LC systems with ultraviolet detectors and is adapting Agilent’s automated sample-preparation technologies for production.

The partners will develop high-throughput workflows for sample preparation and mass-spectrometry analysis. To meet the demands of high-volume testing, Sera Prognostics expects to leverage Agilent’s novel automated sample-prep technology and other automation, including the AssayMAP Bravo and RapidFire fast liquid chromatography together with ultra-sensitive ion funnel triple quadrupole mass spectrometry.