Vivione Biosciences Inc. announced that it has signed a collaboration agreement with the University of Arkansas Department of Food Science and the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Center for Food Safety. This collaboration is for a 12 month period with annual renewals during which Vivione and the university will work together on mutually agreed to projects. These projects will include literature searches and objective studies of RAPID-B's performance relative to other methods.

These projects will include existing as well as future assays. Vivione is commercializing its RAPID-B diagnostic platform into the food safety market. RAPID-B has the potential to provide food pathogen detection down to a single cell in as little as seven hours versus the days that it takes with competitive systems. The rapid time to results capability could allow food processors to more closely monitor their manufacturing plants, incoming raw materials as well as mitigate the risk of a food safety recall.