Connection Between Epigenome, Selective Mutability, Evolution, and Human Disease
Li, Harris et al., PLoS Genetics
Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine and elsewhere propose a "connection between the epigenome, selective mutability, evolution, and human disease" based on the findings of their study on associations of structural mutability with germline DNA methylation and with non-allelic homologous recombination mediated by low-copy repeats. "Combined evidence from four human sperm methylome maps, human genome evolution, structural polymorphisms in the human population, and previous genomic and disease studies consistently points to a strong association of germline hypomethylation and genomic instability," the Baylor-led team writes.
MDxHealth Raises $11.7M to Help Open US CLIA Lab, Develop New Tests
Cancer-focused molecular-diagnostic maker MDxHealth plans to use proceeds from an $11.7 million private stock placement to accelerate test development, set up a CLIA lab in the US, and staff it with a sales and marketing team.
The offering, which closed yesterday, is a good sign for the Belgian lab because it signals it is quickly taking the steps necessary to fulfill its promise of opening a US-based CLIA lab and grow its test menu.
As I wrote last December, the company, previously known as OncoMethylome, said it will work with Ghent University to create a new MDxHealth division based in the firm's Durham, NC, lab, which is expected to open later this year, and to grow its modest family of companion diagnostics.
Headquartered in Liege, in eastern Belgium, MDxHealth has only six tests in its pipeline — three clinical and three companion diagnostics — none of which are FDA-approved.
The company said the new unit, MDxHealth PharmacoDx, and its Ghent University partners, will use next-generation epigenetic sequencing technology to "enhance its offering and design of companion diagnostic[s]."
The assays will be offered as LDTs performed in the Durham lab, MDxHealth CEO Jan Groen told me in December.
Currently, MDxHealth sports a relatively tiny head count: 40 overall, with six of them hunkered down in Durham. However, Groen said the number will grow soon — a strategy that will be funded by yesterday's stock placement.
Got a tip? Click my byline above to send it along or submit it as a comment below. Follow my headlines on Twitter or subscribe to my RSS feed. Learn more about me or become a source via Linkedin, where all conversations are confidential.