BGI, Clearbridge BioMedics To Collaborate On Liquid Biopsy Technology

The technology requires only a simple blood draw for ‘omics analysis or genetic profiling at the single cell level.

AsianScientist (Jun. 3, 2016) – Chinese genomics company BGI and Singapore oncology research and diagnostics company Clearbridge BioMedics (CBB) have signed a partnership agreement to collaborate on CBB’s circulating tumor cell (CTC) liquid biopsy technology.

The companies will jointly develop an integrated CTC liquid biopsy solution that requires only a simple blood draw for ‘omics analysis or genetic profiling at the single cell level.

The partners will focus on the Chinese market, and collaborate with leading hospitals on possible applications such as cancer-related targeted gene analysis, drug-related gene analysis, single cell analysis and cancer immunotherapy.

Additionally, BGI will solely distribute and market CBB’s ClearCell® FX1 solution in China. ClearCell® FX1 is able to isolate and enrich intact, viable and rare cells from a patient’s blood sample.

“We believe that liquid biopsy plays a key role in clinical diagnostics and personalized medicine and can potentially even aid in immunotherapy PD-L1 treatment management,” said Mr. Johnson Chen, chairman and founder of Clearbridge BioMedics.

“Liquid biopsy, a critical cancer sample format which enables access to extremely rare cells such as CTC, will enable us to study the cancer genome and diseases at the single cell level,” said Dr. Xu Xun, executive vice president of BGI and director of BGI Research.

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Source: Clearbridge BioMedics; Photo: BGI, Clearbridge BioMedics.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.

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