Biomodal releases genetics and epigenetics solution

Product delivers epigenetic information from a single low-input DNA library without medical treatment

Biomodal has launched a new ‘duet multiomics’ solution which reveals both genetic and epigenetic data from a single, low volume sample.

The company – formerly known as Cambridge Epigenetix – releases the dual-action solution as the world’s first single-base-resolution sequencing technology with one workflow. In addition, it can involve the use of any sequencer.

Furthermore, the product delivers more epigenetic information from a single low-input DNA library without medical treatment or resource-intensive bioinformatics. Meanwhile, it also provides a more thorough assessment of information stored in genomes, yielding new insights from biomedicine applications.

Indeed, by incorporating cell-free DNA through liquid biopsy, duet multiomics can at once detect powerful genetic and methylation biomarkers in an individual’s blood, providing unique disease analysis in the process.

Notably, the use of liquid biopsy in oncology, to profile circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) in blood, is a promising minimally invasive approach for early cancer detection and minimal residual disease monitoring.

Professor Sarah-Jane Dawson, clinician-scientist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, reflected: “We gain new insight when measuring the interaction of genetics and epigenetics on the same read, allowing us to better understand the biology behind disease development and treatment responses.”

She added: “We look forward to progressing our research with this technology and affecting a paradigm shift in the way that cancer can be treated and monitored in the clinic.”

Peter Fromen, chief executive officer at biomodal, was also confident about the possibilities of the product: “Our novel solution removes the technical barriers that have previously held back our broader understanding of epigenetics. Now, our customers can accelerate their research with a more comprehensive view of regulatory function across the genome, through the interplay of genetics and epigenetics at read level.”

He concluded: “We believe this opens a new era of discovery and utility within next-generation sequencing by capturing additional biological modalities to reveal the complexity and dynamism of the human genome.”