Microsens has been awarded a contract for the supply of tests for abnormal prion protein (vCJD) in human tonsil tissues. The tests will be carried out on the National Anonymous Tonsil Archive by the Health Protection Agency, Colindale, UK

Microsens licensee, Idexx Laboratories Inc. has developed a more rapid test kit that can complete the BSE enzyme immunoassay (EIA) protocol in less than 2.5 hours.

EFSA's Working Group on TSE Testing has recommended the IDEXX HerdChek kit, incorporating the Microsens Seprion ligand technology, for approval by the European Commission to be used in the field to assess the prevalence of classical scrapie and BSE in brainstem samples of sheep. The test is also recommended for the detection of “atypical” scrapie (Nor98) using cerebrum, brainstem or cerebellum samples.