In India, for the textile industry, the company offers its CertainT® platform, a unique solution to ensure that supply chain risks are minimised
US-based Applied DNA Sciences offers technology which enables those in the textile industry to tag, test or track any material or product within their supply chain, with forensic certainty. These three options help the textile industry differentiate their products in the marketplace by protecting their products with DNA technology, from source to shelf. They also help protect intellectual property and ensure that products that are proprietary are forensically protected and authenticated. At the same time, they also minimise supply chain risk by ensuring that weak links in the supply chain are mitigated or eliminated.
It also helps investigate any potential problems in the supply chain through covert security solutions. Applied DNA Sciences was founded by biotechnologists who saw the opportunity to provide innovative, molecular-based technology solutions and services to help keep life real and safe. Specifically, its CertainT platform was created to help protect products, brands, entire supply chains, and intellectual property of companies, governments and consumers from theft, counterfeiting, fraud and diversion. Chairman, President and CEO at Applied DNA Sciences, Dr. James Hayward has a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and has successfully raised over USD 150 million that has enabled the company to patent its technologies and bring to market commercially scalable solutions.
These solutions are for textiles, pharmaceuticals and cannabis, to name a few. In the textile industry, for tagging a DNA molecular tag is applied or embedded into the product itself. This identity tag can be applied typically at parts per billion to a wide range of substrates and will not have an impact on the performance or quality of the textile. For testing, unique tags can be designed to be tested using a portable DNA testing device called SigNify®. The company also provides full PCR-based authentication, analytical and other testing services. ADNAS forensic scientists are also able to provide expert witness services for legal cases. For tracking, data collected from tagging and testing is collected and stored in the CertainT portal.
This can be synchronised with the existing database systems of the client. According to Mei Lin Wan, Vice President – Textiles at Applied DNA Sciences, CertainT is a platform that provides proven and trusted solutions to help clients to achieve brand assurance, which assures that the brand is protected, minimising the potential for diversion and counterfeits. The technology also offers supply chain integrity and be certain that one can follow the product from point of origin to point of sale at any stage of the supply chain. In addition, Certain T also offers physical traceability and security for materials, which offers assurance that the products are traceable and secure at all times.
In India, Applied DNA Sciences has a wholly owned subsidiary and a central laboratory that conducts authentication of textiles located in Ahmedabad. The state-of-the-art laboratory functions under highly qualified and skilled scientists. When quizzed on any new products launched or in the pipeline, Wan said: “Applied DNA Sciences continues to expand its textile solutions through CertainT in viscose, PET, leather, cotton and many other innovative materials. Recently, we announced our ability to tag, test and track leather in tanneries. We also offer genotyping and stable isotope analysis as part of our solution set for Pima and Upland cotton varieties. We see potential to expand this to other natural materials as needed by clients.”
The laboratory has the ability to process thousands of samples, serving the company’s textiles customers in the region. Wan considers the growth and opportunities for CertainT to be very dynamic in the Indian textile market. According to herm recycled polyester and synthetics continue to be an important part of the growth in 2020 and beyond. “We have great partners in India in textiles, and we believe this will continue to expand in the future. We are also excited about our leather program which is important for the industry’s evolution and will help to ensure that products are made responsibly and sustainably,” she states.