NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – ITSI-Biosciences has received a $100,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Cancer Institute to support the firm’s ongoing breast cancer biomarker program.
The Johnstown, Pa.-based firm is developing a biomarker-based blood test to detect and classify breast malignancies. The SBIR grant will support the development of a multiplexed assay using a suspended array technology and the development of a prototype breast disease classification, the firm said.
ITSI- Biosciences President and CSO Richard Somiari said in a statement that the firm’s test is “unique in its approach, because, it may allow detection and accurate classification of breast disease via a blood test; employing a reliable and sensitive RNA detection method that does not require RNA isolation and polymerase chain reaction.”