Geospiza, Inc., a Seattle, WA-based developer of genetic analysis software, received a Phase I SBIR grant for “Software Systems for Detecting Rare Mutations” from the National Human Genome Research Institute.
According to an official statement, the project will focus on improving methods for detecting rare mutations that define cancer types and determine how a cancer cell may grow and respond to or resist treatment. The software will improve cancer research and diagnostics and move next generation sequencing closer to clinical applications, with general use for any application where DNA sequencing is used to understand the genetic basis of human health, disease, and response to drug therapies.
As explained by Todd Smith, Ph.D., CSO of Geospiza, “New sequencing technologies are advancing at a significant pace and the instrument vendors are making tremendous progress in developing a wide range of applications that will change how we examine gene expression and study variations in DNA sequences that cause disease and impact health”.
“At the same time, biologists are more challenged then ever when it comes to working with the data and underutilizing these technologies outside of genome centers.
“This award will help us conduct important research to develop new methods to support resequencing applications”, he said.
FinSMEs
07/10/2009