NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Good Start Genetics said today that it has exclusively licensed a preimplantation genetic screening test from Johns Hopkins University.
The test, dubbed FAST-SeqS for Fast Aneuploidy Screening Test-Sequencing System, screens embryos for chromosomal aneuploidies prior to implantation in an in vitro fertilization setting.
Johns Hopkins researchers Bert Vogelstein, Ken Kinzler, Isaac Kinde, and Nickolas Papadopoulos originally developed the test in 2012 for non-invasive prenatal testing and published their method in PLOS One.
Good Start Genetics, based in Cambridge, Mass., currently offers a next-generation sequencing-based carrier screening test, which tests for all 23 diseases recommended by major medical societies.
"FAST-SeqS has demonstrated that it can enable accurate PGS, and the technology may have applications beyond PGS, such as in prenatal testing," Don Hardison, president and CEO of Good Start Genetics, said in a statement. "We look forward to further developing this technology and continuing to provide useful genetic information to physicians and prospective families."
Good Start Genetics also said that it has been developing the FAST-SeqS technology over the last year with the goal of launching a proprietary PGS assay.