NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Oxford Gene Technology today announced it has received £1.6 million ($2.6 million) to develop a tumor profiling assay as part of a UK initiative aimed a tumor profiling and data capture.
The funding is from the UK government-backed Technology Strategy Board, which is providing £6 million to six companies as part of the Stratified Medicine Innovation Platform, a five-year, £60 million personalized medicine initiative.
As part of the project, OGT will develop a tumor profiling assay based on targeted panel enrichment and next-generation sequencing. According to the company, the assay will provide specific information about each individual, allowing for personalized treatment strategies.
OGT will use its expertise in high-throughput genomic services in an effort to develop a flexible tumor profiling assay that reduces sample processing costs and turnaround times. The assay will detect mutations at informative loci "forming part of an integrated workflow that translates test results into clear clinical decisions," the company said in a statement.
The product will be offered ultimately as a testing service or as an analysis kit for use by existing clinical laboratories. OGT plans to adapt its CytoSure Interpret Software to analyze results from the assays.