July 27, 2023 | Quest Diagnostics has launched its first consumer-initiated genetic test, the Allen Institute for Immunology and Eli Lilly and Company will collaborate to better understand disease molecules, and Cleveland Diagnostics opened a new facility for further prostate cancer testing. Plus, new partnerships and products from Lifebit, Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics, Critical Path Institute, and more.
Quest Diagnostics has launched its first consumer-initiated genetic test. Called Genetic Insights, the new offering helps people understand their potential risk of developing certain inheritable health conditions, with advanced technology and end-to-end support that includes personalized health reports and access to genetic counseling. Press release.
The Allen Institute for Immunology will collaborate with Eli Lilly and Company to investigate and profile disease state diversity and biomarkers for drug response involving atopic dermatitis (eczema) and rheumatoid arthritis using Allen Institute-developed unique molecular tools and comprehensive bioinformatic analysis techniques. This collaboration will lead to more detailed, molecular understanding of disease, in service of developing new treatments and therapies to improve human health. Press release.
Lifebit has launched partnerships with two population genomic initiatives in Mexico and Brazil to help diversify genomic research and reduce health inequality in Latin America. The use of Lifebit’s federated technology will allow researchers around the world to connect with and securely access genomic data held by gen-t (headquartered in Sao Paolo) and Omica.bio (based in Mexico City) in a secure and compliant manner. Press release.
Critical Path Institute announced that the Coordination of Rare Diseases based at Sanford Research (CoRDS), in partnership with Cure MITO, will contribute its mitochondrial disorders data from its international patient registry to the C-Path-managed Rare Disease Cures Accelerator-Data and Analytics Platform (RDCA-DAP). RDCA-DAP provides a centralized and standardized infrastructure to support and accelerate rare disease characterization targeted to accelerate clinical drug development. Press release.
Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics, a division of the Allen Institute, launched the world's first completely open- and crowd-sourced neuroscience experiment—inviting researchers from around the world to publicly design a shared experiment that will run on the Allen Brain Observatory, as part of the Institute's OpenScope program. Experiments will probe the dynamic functions of the brain and how cells interact and communicate to produce thoughts and actions and shed light on how we make complex decisions. The goal is to maximize impact by turning to the combined talent and insight of the broader international neuroscience community. The experiment that is chosen by the community will use two-photon imaging in behavioral tasks, as part of the OpenScope program's Allen Brain Observatory, to shed light into how the brain operates. Press release.
Boston Scientific has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the Vercise Neural Navigator 5 Software, which can provide clinicians with simple and actionable data for efficient programming in the treatment of people living with Parkinson’s disease or essential tremor. Press release.
The Association for Molecular Pathology published consensus recommendations to aid in the design and validation of clinical CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 genotyping assays, promote standardization of testing across different laboratories, and improve patient care. The manuscript, “CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 Genotyping Recommendations: A Joint Consensus Recommendation of the AMP, Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC), College of American Pathologists (CAP), Dutch Pharmacogenetics Working Group (DPWG) of the Royal Dutch Pharmacists Association, European Society for Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Therapy (ESPT), and Pharmacogenomics Knowledgebase (PharmGKB),” was released online ahead of publication in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. Press release.
QIAGEN announced the launch of the QIAseq Normalizer Kits that give researchers a fast, convenient, and cost-effective method to pool different DNA libraries for best-quality results from next-generation sequencing (NGS) runs. Press release.
Cleveland Diagnostics has opened a new facility. The space will help Cleveland Diagnostics meet the burgeoning demand for its prostate cancer test, IsoPSA, while also supporting the development of additional product and platform enhancements. The new Cleveland-based facility provides ample room to grow its workforce and manufacturing space to accommodate increased test demand as patient accessibility and interest continue to rise. Press release.