ANDE is the global leader in Rapid DNA. With a mission to use Rapid DNA to create a safer world, ANDE’s pioneering work is already having major impacts in a wide range of applications in the U.S. and internationally. ANDE believes that moving DNA analysis from sophisticated laboratories to the police station, battlefield, borders, and disaster sites will dramatically transform public safety and strengthen national security. By reducing crime, exonerating the innocent, monitoring borders, and reuniting families, Rapid DNA represents a fundamental opportunity for the public and private sectors to protect the innocent.
“It is our hope that this simple concept can help reduce human suffering and loss by identifying criminals more quickly and by allowing our justice system to work reliably and with reasonable speed.”
— George Heinrichs, CEO, ANDE
Our Experience
Founded based on pioneering research performed at MIT's Whitehead Institute, ANDE was incorporated in 2004 in Greater Boston and has received significant support from both government agencies and industry. ANDE products are based on a series of enabling microfluidic and molecular biology technologies developed for sample preparation and DNA purification, rapid thermal cycling, highly multiplexed amplification, focused DNA sequencing, optical detection of DNA sequences, and nucleic acid separation and detection. ANDE's products have been designed for use by non-technical operators outside the laboratory, a feature that is critical to address the enormous unmet needs of the rapidly emerging Rapid DNA markets.
In 2009, ANDE was awarded the contract for a competitive R&D program sponsored by a consortium of Federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Department of Homeland Security. The result of the program was the development of an automated rapid human DNA identification capability that minimizes analytical complexity and user manipulations for field-forward biometric and forensic applications. The ANDE program achieved its objectives to deliver fully automated and integrated field-deployable systems that would rapidly generate human DNA IDs with no user manipulations after inserting a sample into the system.
ANDE has undergone extensive lab and field testing by DHS in partnership with NIST, DOD in partnership with DFSC, and the FBI laboratory. This program resulted in the first and only field-forward, fully-automated, and integrated Rapid DNA Analysis system. The ANDE system is currently used operationally to help support public safety around the world.