NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Applied Biosystems, a business of Life Technologies, announced today that has formed a strategic alliance with the Translational Genomics Research Institute.
Under the agreement, a team of researchers from TGen and Applied Biosystems will use Applied Biosystems' SOLiD 3 system to do genomic analyses of thousands of patient samples. The goal is to increase researchers' understanding of the genetics behind various complex diseases and medical conditions and hasten the translation of such research into new diagnostic and other clinical tools.
The collaboration also is aimed at developing a more personalized approach to medicine and driving down the cost of genome sequencing so that it can ultimately be used as a routine diagnostic tool.
The team plans to use five SOLiD 3 systems to create a pipeline for re-sequencing samples from individuals with diseases such as cancer, autoimmune disorders, and neurological conditions in a patient-centric, medically-directed way. The researchers also plan to co-develop a SOLiD bioinformatics analysis and visualization pipeline, including software tools for sequencing data analysis.
TGen President and Scientific Director Jeffrey Trent will be among the principal investigators partnering with Applied Biosystems scientists. The effort will reportedly involve six projects aimed at comprehensively characterizing the genetic and molecular changes underlying disease in clinical cohorts of individuals with each condition.
"Consistent with TGen's mission of developing the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics, the alliance with Applied Biosystems forges ties with a key industry partner whose technologies align seamlessly with our research objectives and should produce accelerated progress in our efforts to better understand the genetic underpinnings of many diseases, with a particular emphasis on cancer," Trent said in a statement.