Ibis Biosciences was founded out of the quest to adopt technology originally developed for RNA-targeted drug discovery to create a system that could rapidly identify a broad range of infectious organisms in a sample, without needing to know beforehand what organism was present in the sample. Development under the auspices of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA) and numerous other federal agencies evolved into the launch of the Ibis T5000, the first commercially available mass spectrometer-based biosensor dedicated to the identification and discrimination of biological organisms, including: bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa.
Subsequent work with the Centers for Disease Control, the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, the Naval Health Research Center, the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Disease, the FBI, the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center, Johns Hopkins University, and the Cleveland VA demonstrated the application of this technology to biodefense, forensics, epidemiology, food safety, and infectious disease research. At this time, the Ibis T5000 won two awards for its innovation and technological significance: the ALA Innovation Award and R&D Magazine's 100 Award.
Ibis Biosciences was acquired by Abbott to contribute to Abbott’s expanding role in molecular testing, with a focus on delivering an innovative approach to the detection and characterization of a broad array of pathogens for the management of infectious diseases. This acquisition led to the development of the Abbott PLEX-ID system, which performs the same functions as the Ibis T5000, but offers enhanced automation and ease of use to enable double throughput. In 2009, the Abbott PLEX-ID won two prestigious awards: The Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation of the Year Gold Award and The-Scientist.com’s Top 10 Innovations of 2009.
While the Ibis Biosciences division of Abbott remains dedicated to the accelerating advancement of high resolution microbial screening, the Ibis legacy of innovation will be continued with a focus on developing state-of-the-art technology to further Abbott’s leadership in applied molecular detection and analysis.
