SAN DIEGO and CARLSBAD, Calif., June 28, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Genoptix, Inc., a leading oncology diagnostics and informatics company, and Bionano Genomics®, Inc., a company focused on genome structure analysis, today announced an exclusive agreement to co-develop information-rich diagnostics for selected hematologic oncology indications in the US using Bionano’s Saphyr™ System.
Bionano’s Saphyr System accurately visualizes the structure of a genome from a simple DNA sample isolated directly from cancer cells, removing the need for cell culture. It allows for the detection of all major types of structural variants with a sensitivity far greater than sequencing based methods, and with much higher resolution than karyotyping or fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) can provide.
The development efforts of Genoptix and Bionano will focus on indications within hematology-oncology where detection of large structural variations of the genome is required for accurate diagnosis. Cancer cells typically show a large number of major rearrangements of the genome, and their presence or absence can affect the characteristics of the tumor and its response to treatment and, therefore, direct clinical care.
Genoptix is one of the largest hematopathology centers in the U.S., and provides oncologists and pathologists with comprehensive testing solutions in hematology and solid tumor molecular profiling.
“We are excited about working with the leader in hematologic cancers. This alliance is a major milestone for Bionano, showing the potential of the Saphyr system for clinical analysis of cancer genomes. Bionano’s approach allows for the entire genome to be analyzed without the use of specific probes to detect variants of interest. Variants of clinical significance discovered in the future can easily be added to an assay without the need to develop additional detection tools,” said Erik Holmlin, Chief Executive Officer of Bionano.
“We are pleased to be collaborating with Bionano to develop and validate robust clinical diagnostics for oncology applications utilizing Bionano’s promising technology. We look forward to commercializing these exciting technologies to empower physicians to more effectively diagnose and treat cancer,” said Joseph M. Limber, Chief Executive Officer of Genoptix.
About Genoptix, Inc.
Genoptix provides personalized and comprehensive diagnostic services to hematologists, oncologists and pathologists, with a specialization in diagnosing cancers and disorders in bone marrow, blood, and lymph nodes, as well as in solid tumor workups using molecular testing. Through an integrated approach to case management, Genoptix delivers individualized, actionable results for each patient to help the referring physician make the best treatment decision. For more information, please visit http://www.genoptix.com.
About Bionano Genomics®
Bionano Genomics, Inc. provides the Irys® and Saphyr™ systems for next-generation mapping (NGM), which is the leading solution in physical genome mapping. NGM offers customers whole genome analysis tools that reveal true genome structure and enabling researchers to capture what’s missing in their data to advance human, plant and animal genomic research. NGM uses NanoChannel arrays to image DNA at the single-molecule level with average single-molecule lengths of about 350,000 base pairs, which leads the genomics industry. The long-range genomic information obtained with NGM detects and deciphers structural variations (SVs), which are large, complex DNA segments involving repeats that are often missed by sequencing technologies and which are a leading cause of inaccurate and incomplete genome assembly. As a stand-alone tool, NGM enables the accurate detection of SVs, many of which have been shown to be associated with human disease as well as complex traits in plants and animals. As a complementary tool to next-generation sequencing (NGS), NGM integrates with sequence assemblies to create contiguous hybrid scaffolds for reference-quality genome assemblies that reveal the highly informative native structure of the chromosome. NGM also provides the additional ability to verify, correct and improve a NGS-generated genome assembly.
Only Bionano provides long-range genomic information with the cost-efficiency and high throughput to keep up with advances in NGS.
NGM has been adopted by a growing number of leading institutions around the world, including: National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, BGI, Garvan Institute, Salk Institute, Mount Sinai and Washington University. Investors in the Company include Domain Associates, Legend Capital, Novartis Venture Fund and Monashee Investment Management.
For more information, please visit www.BionanoGenomics.com.
Notes: Bionano Genomics is a trademark of Bionano Genomics, Inc. Any other names of actual companies, organizations, entities, products or services may be the trademarks of their respective owners.