CLC Bio, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Aros Applied Biotechnology, and Aarhus University Hospital will develop an informatics platform to help researchers use formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue samples in molecular diagnostics research and drug pre-clinical trials, according to statement released today.
When it is completed, the platform will be used to select FFPE tissue samples, to choose the best sequencing technologies, and to assemble and analyze sequence data and then compare that data to existing tissue samples collected and stored in healthcare, disease, and population registries.
Aarhus University Hospital's Stephen Hamilton Dutoit said in a statement that the platform is aimed at advancing personalized medicine efforts by making it easier for researchers "to compare the genome of the individual patient and their diseased tissues to a broad range of control samples."
Roald Forsberg, CLC Bio's director of scientific development, noted that hospitals have collected tissue samples and patient data for years and have been unable to use the information because they haven’t had the tools to collect and analyze the genomic data. He said that the platform will provide access to a "research treasure trove" that exists in hospital biobanks.
The project is expected to cost $5 million and will be funded in part by the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation.
The collaboration is the second for CLC related to molecular diagnostics. In June, the company said that it was partnering with Aarhus University Hospital and Ion Torrent to develop an integrated software and hardware solution for use in sequencing-based molecular diagnostics (BI 6/18/2010).