AsianScientist (Nov. 11, 2015) – Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and Thermo Fisher Scientific established a collaborative partnership that will work to identify cancer genetic mutations linked with Asian populations on Thermo Fisher’s Ion Torrent next-generation sequencing (NGS) platform.
The collaboration will take phased approaches to analyze retrospective samples from cancer patients with Asian ancestry to identify the mutational profiles and their differences from existing data of reference populations. The reference population principally contain data from individuals of Caucasian ancestry.
In the first phase of the project, SGH will perform a validation study using the Ion Torrent PGM platform and the Oncomine Comprehensive Assay. Both parties intend to move to NGS-based prospective data analysis of multiple cancers by using formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues and potentially other types of clinical samples to realize the highest levels of data acquisition that will lead to new tests with clinical actionability in the future.
“This collaboration underscores our sustained commitment to serve our customers in the oncology research and clinical communities,” said Mike Nolan, vice president and general manager of Oncology for Thermo Fisher Scientific. “We will continue on this path of providing the most advanced tools that add great value in the global effort to manage cancer.”
“Investigating the differences in cancer gene mutations among different populations is an essential factor in advancing healthcare in a multiracial and multicultural society,” said Professor Tan Puay Hoon, Head, Department of Pathology, SGH. “This partnership will enable the oncology community to take steps towards realizing better and personalized care in the region.”
This research started in May and is part of the POLARIS@SingHealth program funded by Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) to enable cutting-edge omics technologies and translating them for disease diagnosis and treatment in Singapore in the future. This will be actualized by establishing the necessary infrastructure and resources, together with its clinical partners.
The project is supported in part by the Central R&D organisation of the Life Sciences Solutions Group of Thermo Fisher Scientific.
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Source: Singapore General Hospital; Photo: Shutterstock.
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