NEW YORK – NanoString Technologies and Oregon Health & Science University on Tuesday announced a collaboration to develop GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler-based protein assays for breast cancer.
Under the terms of the deal, pathologists at OHSU will design a new GeoMx protein assay with up to 30 targets, including existing diagnostic markers and novel biomarker candidates. They will analytically and clinically validate this and other assays for potential use as laboratory-developed tests. Financial and other details were not disclosed.
"The development of novel GeoMx DSP protein assays expands the potential applications of spatial biology with the goal of providing better patient care through advanced molecular testing," Christopher Corless, executive director of the Knight Diagnostic Laboratories at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, said in a statement. "The GeoMx DSP platform is uniquely suited for this work based on the high-plex and automated capabilities of the system for use with formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples."
NanoString recently launched GeoMx protein assays with next-generation sequencing readout. The deal comes as the firm is trying to broaden the market for GeoMx, which can also perform spatial gene expression analysis.
Last year, NanoString partnered with Mayo Clinic Laboratories to develop clinical breast cancer tests on the GeoMx and nCounter platforms.