NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Oxford Gene Technology said today it signed a license agreement with the Cancer Cytogenomics Microarray Consortium to create a whole genome, cancer-specific microarray.
The technology will incorporate probes for more than 500 cancer genes and 130 cancer-associated genomic regions from CCMC's design for hematological and solid tumors, OGT said. By accurately identifying DNA copy number changes and the loss of heterozygosity associated with different cancer types, OGT hopes to improve cancer research through the agreement.
Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"The use of microarray technology will substantially improve the facility of cytogenetics research laboratories to identify cancer," M. Anwar Iqbal, president of CCMC, said in a statement. "The CCMC board appreciates the efforts of companies such as OGT to making the CCMC cancer array design available to the cytogenetics research community worldwide."
Formed in 2009, CCMC promotes communication and collaboration among cancer cytogenomic laboratories.