A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

Rubicon Genomics (Ann Arbor, Michigan) reported a collaboration with OncoMethylome Sciences (Durham, North Carolina/Liege, Belgium) to identify biomarkers for early detection of cancer.

Rubicon said it will use its MethylPlex platform to carry out the analysis. Additionally, Rubicon granted OncoMethylome an option to licensing markers resulting from the collaboration.

The companies said that this is the second such marker identification agreement between them, and OncoMethylome Sciences has already licensed a set of markers from Rubicon.

Cancer cells alter the normal patterns of DNA methylation giving the tumor the ability to grow and spread. The patterns of abnormal methylation in DNA are strong predictors of the presence of cancer as well as other diseases. MethylPlex is a method for identifying multi-gene patterns of abnormal DNA methylation during tumor formation and progression.

Rubicon is a developer of MethylPlex-based tests for non-invasive diagnosis of cancer and other diseases, as well as kits and services to facilitate gene-based research and drug development.

In other agreements:

• Paradigm Medical Industries (Salt Lake City) reported it has signed an exclusive agreement with Lace Elettronica (Rome) to distribute the Italian firm’s Lace Glaid electrophysiology instrument for the early detection of glaucoma.

Terms were not disclosed.

Lace’s Glaid is a diagnostic that uses pattern electroretinogram to provide a visual stimulus that generates electrical responses of the retina to measure the physical condition of the retina’s ganglion cells. Retinal ganglion cells collectively transmit visual information from the retina to several regions in the midbrain. There are about 1.2 million to 1.5 million retinal ganglion cells in the human retina.

Glaid was approved by the FDA in 2007. It has undergone extensive testing and clinical studies in the U.S., Canada and Italy.

The current state of the Glaid technology was developed by Vittorio Porciatti, MD, who also is involved in further Glaid-related research at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.

“We believe the Glaid device is the most significant development in glaucoma detection in the last 20 years,” said Paradigm Medical CEO Raymond Cannefax. “It represents a multimillion-dollar market opportunity for our company.”

“The Glaid device is believed to be the fastest method of testing for retinal ganglion cell loss,” Cannefax said. “[It] not only measures dead and living ganglion cells, but also detects ailing ganglion cells. Due to the device’s ability to detect dying ganglion cells, in most cases the viability of these cells can be fully restored with treatment.”

Glaucoma, caused by deterioration of the optic nerve and related ganglion cells, is the second leading cause of permanent vision loss. It affects one in five people over age 50.

• Luminex (Austin, Texas) and Tyson Foods (Springdale Arkansas) reported reaching a collaboration to create faster, more accurate and cost-effective food safety and animal health tests.

“Luminex is pleased to partner with Tyson to develop novel tests that we believe will allow the food industry to screen for pathogens and other microbes more efficiently and accurately,” said Patrick Balthrop, president/CEO of Luminex. “Our xMAP Technology, which enables multiple tests to be run simultaneously on one sample, has great application in the food safety and animal health arena as it provides a significant level of data quickly and efficiently.”

Tyson and Luminex’s first collaboration is the development of an avian flock health monitoring panel. Future research and development projects slated are focused on food safety and quality tests, and additional animal health diagnostic panels leveraging the flexibility and multi-analyte technology capabilities of xMAP technology and current and future Luminex instrument platforms.

Luminex develops biological testing technologies with applications throughout the diagnostic and life sciences industries.