NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Nuclea Biotechnologies and the College of Nanoscale Science & Engineering (CNSE) of the State University of New York on Thursday announced a $1 million research partnership to develop and commercialize a high-throughput nanochip to analyze biomarkers associated with cancer.
The partnership is aimed at accelerating the diagnosis and treatment of breast, colon, prostate, and other cancers, they said. The partners plan to develop a nanochip based on Nuclea's antibody protein analysis chip for fatty acid synthase analysis.
Nuclea is able to conduct about 300 tests per run using its current chip, but as part of the collaboration, Nuclea and CNSE will try to develop a chip that triples that figure.
CNSE will use its nanofabrication capabilities to help Nuclea develop the high-throughput nanochip as a sensing platform for analyzing biomarkers associated with cancer and other diseases. In addition to increasing the number of tests per run, the collaboration is expected to reduce the amounts of biological sample necessary for testing.
CNSE will also explore ways to support miniaturization of the protein chip.
The partners are also in discussions about other collaborative opportunities, such as placing a Nuclea office and personnel at the college and joint educational and workforce training programs.
Earlier this week, Nuclea announced a deal with Berkshire Medical Center to identify prostate and breast cancer biomarkers. The company raised $4.2 million in a Series D financing round.