Indena, Hyris, and NHP Research Alliance have signed a strategic cooperation agreement for the joint development of DNA authentication test kits for botanicals and related natural health products. 
 
The alliance capitalizes on Indena’s nearly hundred years’ experience in the botanical field and its pioneering commitment for the use of this technology to potentially problematic species. The contribution of Indena will be key to providing Standard Plant Reference Material resource that will include: 

• preparation of herbarium vouchers with ancillary information from the Indena supply chain;
•  professional taxonomic IDs;
• genome scans (DNA sequences) for multiple populations to identify unique nucleotide signatures;
• nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) for a chemical fingerprint;
• image scanning of samples and bioinformatics database archival with on-line access. 

In parallel, the patented Hyris platform will offer the unique capability to perform full genetic analysis of biological samples in any kind of setting. It incorporates all the needed hardware, software and reagents that can be used as a fully portable testing laboratory to provide highly accurate results, reducing the time and costs associated with traditional methods. Moreover, it can be controlled by bAPP, a dedicated mobile app that provides a complete, intuitive, user-friendly interface. 
 
“Indena, always seeking excellence and innovation, started integrating DNA sequencing into its Quality System in 2011. Today I am proud to announce that an exclusive partnership has been established with the scope of setting once again a forefront Industry Standard in the botanical authentication field” said Daniele Giavini, Indena managing director. 
 
“Hyris is honored to join this world class team as a key technology provider. We look forward supporting the botanicals industry worldwide and help streamline DNA based quality control systems throughout the supply chain” said Stefano Lo Priore, Hyris Ltd CEO. 
 
Indena and Hyris will provide their unique expertise contributing to strengthen the NHP Research Alliance launched by the University of Guelph, leader in DNA-based identification. The three strategic partners hold exclusive technological and scientific assets that are now merging together to build a reliable third-party verification program that will benefit the Natural Health Product industry. 
 
“Indena/Hyris are strategic members in the NHP Research Alliance focused on the development of molecular diagnostic biotechnology (bCUBE & Probes/Kits) that will eventually transform the NHP Industry in a new gold standard for botanical species authentication; affordable testing on-site that is validated by a third party TRU-ID” said Dr. Steven Newmaster, Professor, Botanical Director, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph.