NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – 10x Genomics said this week that its Chromium Exome Solution has been selected by the Faroe Genome Project (FarGen) to conduct a population sequencing project of the Faroe Island Native people. The FarGen Project aims to sequence and analyze the genomes of Faroese individuals in an effort to enable improvements in the prevention and treatment of rare medical conditions. During the first phase of the population study, the exomes of 1,500 Faroese people will be sequenced using the 10x Genomics Chromium Exome Solution, and the data will be digitized and shared with researchers in a database held by the Genetic Biobank, the company said.
Rosetta Genomics this week announced an agreement to make the RosettaGX Reveal thyroid miRNA classifier and its other testing services accessible through MediNcrease Health Plans’ regional and national health plans, insurance companies, employers, and other parties. MediNcrease is a national provider network and provider advocacy firm.
Elsevier said this week that it is donating its Unified Data Model for data sharing to the nonprofit Pistoia Alliance in hopes of promoting collaboration in life science R&D. The Unified Data Model, which Elsevier and Roche developed together in 2013 as a "starting point" for interoperability, will become an open-source format for storage and exchange of data related to drug discovery, Elsevier said. The Pistoia Alliance, which represents big pharma and related service companies, plans on publishing the first version of the extended UDM early next year.
Precipo this week completed the consolidation of the Transgenomic CLIA lab, formerly located in Omaha, Nebraska, and moved all CLIA and pharmacological research projects to its CLIA lab in New Haven, Connecticut. Precipio and Transgenomic completed their merger in June. The consolidation is expected to trim operating costs by about $500,000. The facility in Omaha will focus exclusively on continued R&D related to the ICE COLD-PCR liquid biopsy technology. Precipio also said that it has signed a deal with an unnamed, existing pharmaceutical client for an additional research project that will generate an expected $750,000 in revenues over the course of the project, which is anticipated to start in the fourth quarter.
Millipore Sigma this week opened a new 280,000-square-foot Life Science Center in Burlington, Massachusetts to serve as a regional hub for scientific advancement and customer collaboration. The center employs around 1,000 people and features an M Lab Collaboration Center, where the firm's scientists and engineers can work with customers on biomanufacturing techniques. MilliporeSigma also plans to open its BioReliance End-to-End Biodevelopment Center, which will provide a lab for small-scale drug manufacturers to conduct early-phase clinical trials, at the end of this year.
Cytonome and Inabata announced this week that they have formed an exclusive sales partnership agreement for Cytonome's proprietary GigaSort technology in Japan. The GigaSort Platform is a laser-based cell sorter that allows for the identification, characterization, and isolation of highly purified cell populations. Due to its low-pressure parallel microfluidic channel design, the GMP compliant platform provides high-throughput processing while remaining gentle on cells. The system is ideal for high-performance cell therapy applications such as regenerative medicine using iPS cells and CAR-T therapy, Cytonome said.
Premaitha Health said this week that it has signed several new contracts in the Middle East through its regional distribution network. The firm already has three established customer laboratories in the region. It has secured contracts with three additional laboratories, including in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, and it has signed new customers there who will send samples to Premaitha’s service laboratories. Permaitha said it anticipates that the new laboratories will be operational with its Iona test by early 2018. The firm added that these additional installations will increase the company’s potential addressable market by expanding access into new population groups.
Sophia Genetics said this week that six leading healthcare institutions from across Mexico have adopted Sophia artificial intelligence, which provides clinical genomics solutions for cancer and congenital disorders. The firm noted that its solutions are tailored to the individual needs of hospitals or laboratories regardless of whether they have NGS testing capabilities or not. Through the company’s software-as-a-service platform, Sophia DDM, clinicians are connected to a network of more than 360 hospitals across 55 countries. Sophia said that this platform allows clinicians and researchers to use genomics data to diagnose and treat patients.
In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared on the GenomeWeb site.