• H2020
• Societal Challenges
• Health

A molecular diagnostics company specialising in the development of diagnostic tests for genetic diseases and cancers based on molecular combing has announced that it has been selected to take part in the Horizon 2020 backed ‘Genomic diagnostics beyond the sequence’, or BeyondSeq, project.

Genomic Vision, based in France, joins the project co-ordinated by Tel Aviv University, which also brings together six other participants, including universities in Sweden, Israel and Belgium. A university and a business in the UK are also taking part.

The goal of the BeyondSeq project, which has a total budget of €6m until 2019, is to bridge the technological gap between cytogenetic diagnostics, which can identify chromosomal aberrations, and next generation sequencing which can detect single base-pair mutations. Genomic Vision’s molecular combing technology will help meet this need by making it possible to visualise single DNA molecules with a high definition, and thus identify structural variations in the genome, which are the cause of numerous serious pathologies and certain hereditary types of cancer.

The ultimate mission of the project will be to develop a set of tools, from systems for extracting long DNA molecules and preparing samples, through to analysis software to interpret genetic information. Speaking about the venture, project co-ordinator Yuval Ebenstein of Tel Aviv University, said: “BeyondSeq is a project that is emblematic of European genetic research, whose objective is to develop new technologies to provide complementary solutions to sequencing and thus analyse the hidden dimension of genetic mutations.”

Adding his thoughts, Aaron Bensimon, Genomic Vision’s co-founder and chairman, says: “As a world leader in the manipulation of individual molecules of DNA, it is totally natural that Genomic Vision should take part in this ambitious research project. This collaboration is completely in line with the technological development strategy that we are implementing in accordance with the commitments we made at the time of our IPO.

“Genomic Vision will provide this prestigious consortium with its industrial experience while benefitting from the consortium’s academic knowhow in order to drive its technology forward towards a new generation of molecular combing.”

Applications will address a number of indications such as bacterial infections and antibiotic resistance, haematological malignancies, early diagnosis of colorectal and lung cancer, as well as spinal muscular atrophy.