The KTP program connects innovative businesses with academic experts who can help them deliver their ideas. This award formalises a collaboration between DNAe and Professor Charles Coombes, professor of medical oncology at Imperial. The work of the KTP will build on the existing research partnership between Professor Coombes and Professor Jacqui Shaw, head of the Department of Genetics and Genome Biology and professor of Translational Cancer Genetics at the University of Leicester.
The aim of the program is to develop a ‘liquid biopsy’ test based on DNAe’s proprietary “sample to answer” NGS technology, to directly detect and identify biomarkers and mutation hotspots that have been identified in Professors Coombes’ and Shaw’s research. This will enable these markers to be used to monitor treatment and detect early recurrence of breast cancer. Under the terms of the partnership, a post graduate researcher (the KTP Associate) will be based at DNAe to integrate expertise from the academic partners into the development of the test.
