BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) has officially opened the BD Innovation Center in collaboration with University of Maryland BioPark, offering University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) students and researchers access to state-of-the-art equipment to support and accelerate innovation in medical diagnostic technology.

Located in West Baltimore at the UM BioPark (part of the UMB campus), the BD Innovation Center goal is to help streamline clinical laboratory workflows and improve patient care by expanding basic diagnostic knowledge, developing new diagnostic capabilities and shaping the future of diagnostics by allowing students and researchers to provide real-world feedback on early diagnostic concepts.

The BD Innovation Center currently houses BD COR PX/GX fully automated high-throughput diagnostic system, which uses robotics and sample management software algorithms for infectious disease molecular testing; BD MAX System for mid-throughput molecular applications, which includes a variety of clinically validated assays and an open system for sample-to-answer assay development; BD BACTEC FX for state-of-the-art blood culture detection of organisms; and BD Phoenix M50 for ID/AST providing sample-to-answer identification and antimicrobial susceptibility determinations.

Image caption- (From left) Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, President of UMB, Brooke Story, President of Integrated Diagnostic Solutions for BD, and Maryland Commerce Secretary Mike Gill