Molzym

Molzym GmbH & Co. KG

Institution :

Location: Bremen - Country: Germany

Molzym is a developer and manufacturer of innovative products for molecular microbiology and diagnostics. The product portfolio ranges from proprietary pre-analytical kits, MolYsis™, for the enrichment of microbial DNA from whole blood and other body fluids to DNA-free Taq DNA polymerase and various DNA-free master mixes, particularly for 16S/18S rRNA gene analysis.
For routine in-vitro pathogen diagnosis, the culture-independent PCR-based kits, SepsiTest™ and UMD-Universal combine the MolYsis™ technology for bacterial and fungal DNA isolation from blood and other body fluids, swabs and tissues with universal 16S/18S rDNA detection in one kit. The semi-automated platform, SelectNA™, allows for the universal diagnosis of pathogens from 1-10 ml samples. The latest development, a walk-away, fully automated system, SelectNA™plus extracts DNA from 1 ml liquid samples and tissue biopsies and diagnoses bacterial and fungal pathogens by sequence analysis of amplified 16S and 18S rRNA gene fragments. Diagnostic systems are marked for CE-IVD use according to 98/79 EC (SelectNA™plus is in preparation).
Molzym comprises of a team of 15 scientists, biotechnologists and technical assistants. Molzym is involved in several collaborations with SMEs and a member of the EU FP7 funded project, FungiTect (http://www.fungitect.eu/). Product manufacturing takes place at the Bremen premises. Equipment: PCR and Real-Time PCR machines, L2 work stations, gel documentation, microscope, FPLC, culture shakers, DNA extraction automates.

Role in the project:

Molzym is a partner SME in FAPIC that will contribute especially with its nucleic acid isolation expertise in bacterial and fungal diagnostic products and market exploitation. Molzym has a dynamic developing platform, MolYsis™, for the extraction of low concentration target DNA from clinical specimens for early diagnosis of life threatening infections by pathogens. Further, Molzym has expertise in clean-up of consumables and reagents from DNA contaminations. Within FAPIC, Molzym will provide expertise in the development of automated DNA extraction protocols from clinical and environmental samples for highly sensitive pathogen diagnosis and in market exploitation. Molzym will also contribute to the validation of new pathogen diagnostic tools developed in this project, including automated solutions for individual (Patho-Stick) and multi-throughput, centralised diagnosis.

Scientific Manager and involved team:

Michael Lorenz holds a PhD and habilitation degree for microbial genetics and is co-founder and CEO of Molzym. He has extensive industrial experience in molecular diagnostics and has been responsible for launching several diagnostic products and platforms on the market. Michael Lorenz has been the key person in developing Molzym’s proprietary MolYsis™ and SelectNA™plus technologies.
Michael Lustig, PhD (R&D manager)
Cathrin Wawer, PhD (production manager)
Christine Baussmerth (biotechnologist)
Katja Bergholz (technical assistant)
Svenja Behrens (technical assistant)

Illustration of relevant activities: