NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Eureka Genomics said today it has received a $450,000 grant from the US Department of Agriculture to commercialize a next-generation sequencing-based bovine genotyping assay, and that the company plans to raise additional capital from investors to advance new targeted clinical and agricultural assays.
Eureka said will use the grant from USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture to commercialize its Sparse Genome Scan (SGS), a platform that produces commercially relevant data currently generated from microarrays at lower cost. The new grant follows a $100,000 NIFA award from 2012, and a related ongoing cooperative research and development agreement with the USDA's Meat Animal Research Center.
The Hercules, Calif.-based company said the SGS is a next-generation genotyping (NGG) technology that can be used in agriculture and research to determine parentage, genetic defects, quantitative traits, and marker-assisted feedlot management. The company said it is already offering genotype testing of barley for traits such as yield, environmental resilience, and nutritional value, and is developing pilot projects for other crops.
Eureka Chief Operating Officer Didier Perez said in a statement that the firm plans to provide a low-cost next-generation genotyping platform targeting the agricultural biotech, clinical, and research markets "in the very near term."