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Finnish Institute to Use Labcyte Tech to Enhance Cancer Testing Studies

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Labcyte said today that the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, known as FIMM, will use Labcyte's acoustic liquid handling technology in its small molecule-based personalized cancer medicine programs, under a new collaboration.

Helsinki-based FIMM has already used Labcyte's acoustic liquid handling technology to generate better data and to reduce the costs of its small-molecule screening for the past three years, Labcyte CEO Mark Fischer-Colbrie said in a statement.

FIMM's research relies on the use of large sample sets that are correlated to detailed patient records and genetic data to uncover personalized treatments, and the institute hopes to expand its throughput to make its testing process more efficient, which would enable it to conduct more tests.

"We see an enormous potential in expanding our use of Labcyte acoustic dispensing technology to help discover specialized leukemia treatments," said Olli Kallioniemi, the director of FIMM.

"This research is based on high-throughput drug sensitivity and resistance testing of leukemic cells taken from patients. This new initiative will bring us closer to the clinic and closer to patients," Kallioniemi added.

FIMM hopes that the swifter and more efficient testing will enable it to study how leukemia cells ex vivo respond to a range of drug types and what resistance mechanisms are involved.

"Larger trials with samples from acute myeloid leukemia patients who have relapsed under standard treatment may quickly suggest individualized treatment options using existing cancer drugs," Kallioniemi added.

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