Personal Genome Diagnostics has launched METDetect, an assay that can detect MET gene amplifications circulating in the blood of cancer patients. The assay uses next-generation sequencing to analyze circulating tumor DNA and is based on the company's proprietary PARE technology.
Illumina has launched several products related to next-generation sequencing within oncology research. The TruSight Myeloid sequencing panel assesses 54 genes, including tumor suppressor genes and hotspots in oncogenes related to myeloid malignancies and includes automated data analysis. Illumina will begin shipping it in the second quarter.
Illumina has also launched TruSeq RNA Access Library Prep kit for analyzing RNA from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues with 10 ng total RNA. The kit focuses on the coding region of the transcriptome. It will be available at the end of the month and available on the NeoPrep Library Prep System in the second half of the year.
In addition, the company now has TopHat and Cufflinks available on its BaseSpace Core Apps, as well as an RNA Express app and a Tumor Normal App to do somatic variant calling of tumor and matched normal whole genome sets.
Thermo Fisher's Life Technologies has launched Oncomine NGS RNA-seq Gene Expression Browser. The browser compiles existing sets of transcriptome data from publically available sources and enables researchers to identify potential cancer driver mutations using a web-based application.
Cancer Genetics and BioDiscovery have launched an expanded version of their Nexus Copy Number Discovery platform to uncover novel copy number biomarkers predictive of cancer outcomes. The new version can automatically classify samples with particular genomic aberrations and can support next-generation sequencing data.