OJ-Bio was recently invited to an event of the Longitude Prize as a guest speaker to present its novel concept and technology to fight antimicrobial resistance. This event held in Tokyo aimed to raise awareness of a unique programme designed to encourage new solutions to the problem of growing resistance to antibiotics.

Dr Dale Athey, Chief Executive of OJ-Bio, was a guest speaker at the event hosted by the British Embassy and the Science and Innovation Network to raise awareness of the Longitude Prize - an international competition making £10 million in funding available to support the development of new transformative point-of-care diagnostic testing that will conserve antibiotics for future generations.

The organisers of the competition want to encourage teams from Japan to enter the award and the unique collaboration between Japan Radio Company and Orla Protein Technologies Ltd in establishing OJ-Bio was used to showcase the sort of innovation that can be achieved by such partnerships.

In making his presentation, Dr Athey described the progress made in the development of OJ-Bio's new Xtalline technology that combines electronic biochips with advanced nano biotechnology to create a point-of-care diagnostic device allowing fast mobile enabled testing and monitoring for infectious diseases and other applications including HIV and flu.

The Tokyo event was opened by Julia Longbottom, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy, who highlighted the extensive activity of the British Government on the issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). She encouraged teams from Japan to enter the Longitude Prize, saying "With its strong pharmaceutical medical technology and diagnostics, not to mention outstanding academic expertise, Japan should be in it."