{"id":37483,"date":"2019-10-03T17:26:43","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T21:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencebusiness.technewslit.com\/?p=37483"},"modified":"2019-10-03T17:26:43","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T21:26:43","slug":"small-biz-grant-funds-prenatal-genetic-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/?p=37483","title":{"rendered":"Small Biz Grant Funds Prenatal Genetic Test"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pregnant<\/a>
(Freestocks.org, Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

3 Oct. 2019. A small business set-aside grant is funding early development of a non-invasive prenatal test that simplifies detection of genetic abnormalities in a fetus. The six-month $284,000 project<\/a> is undertaken by Fluxion Biosciences Inc.<\/a> in Alameda, California with funds from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of National Institutes of Health.<\/p>\n

With current techniques, detecting genetic abnormalities in a fetus, such as Down syndrome, first requires a blood test<\/a> to screen for DNA circulating in the mother’s blood stream indicating variations associated with inherited birth defects. According to Fluxion Biosciences, those screens have a high false-positive rate, up to 80 percent in some cases. To confirm the presence of these variations, physicians need to conduct two invasive procedures: an amniocentesis<\/a>, drawing amniotic fluid from the uterus, and chorionic villus sampling<\/a> that takes a sample of placenta tissue.<\/p>\n

Fluxion Biosciences develops liquid biopsy tests<\/a>, mainly for cancer. The company’s process takes a blood sample from cancer patients, then performs a high-throughput genomic sequencing of circulating tumor DNA to identify cancer-associated mutations. The company says its liquid biopsy technology for cancer is able to isolate rarely occurring cells and analyze DNA from individual cells, including genetic sequencing.<\/p>\n

Fluxion proposes applying these tools to analyze one blood sample from the mother for indicators of genetic abnormalities, which would also replace the second-stage invasive procedures. The company says its initial tests show fetal trophoblast cells<\/a> in the placenta that provide nutrients to the embryo can be isolated from the blood. Furthermore, with single-cell genetic sequencing, Fluxion can analyze and identify genetic abnormalities from those isolated cells.<\/p>\n

Under the award, Fluxion will develop a prototype testing workflow that includes cell isolation, lab preparation for single-cell sequencing on commercial sequencers, and bioinformatics software for analysis. The project also calls for validating the technology.<\/p>\n

The company expects to make the non-invasive prenatal test, or NIPT, part of its Spotlight line of testing technologies. “Spotlight NIPT brings together several novel technologies pioneered here at Fluxion,” says Jeff Jensen, Fluxion’s CEO in a company statement<\/a>, ” and we look forward to advancing this important test to routine clinical use.”<\/p>\n

The award to Fluxion was made under NIH\u2019s Small Business Innovation Research<\/a>, or SBIR, program that sets aside a portion of its overall research funding for small U.S.-based companies with science-based products. NIH says it invests more than $1 billion in SBIR and related Small Business Technology Transfer awards.<\/p>\n

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