Arima Genomics, Inc., a company leveraging 3D genomics to reveal actionable insights to improve human health and drive discovery in the life sciences, today announced the formation of a clinical advisory board to help the company advance its 3D genomics technologies into the clinical oncology and biopharmaceutical markets. As influential clinical oncology thought leaders and collaborators, Matija Snuderl, MD, Darren Sigal, MD, and Ken Young, MD, PhD, will join the newly formed clinical advisory board and help guide the company’s clinical strategy.
The clinical advisory board will collaborate with Arima Genomics to drive toward routine utilization of 3D genomics technology to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The advisory board members will play a critical role in helping Arima Genomics bring forth clinical evidence on the validity and utility of Arima Genomics’ products for patient management, precision diagnosis, risk stratification, and prognosis. Through advisory board members’ experience and expertise, the body will provide valuable insights into the practical application of 3D genomics technology, helping inform Arima Genomics’ strategy and future product development efforts for product development.
The clinical advisory board will collaborate with Arima Genomics to drive toward routine utilization of 3D genomics technology to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The advisory board members will play a critical role in helping Arima Genomics bring forth clinical evidence on the validity and utility of Arima Genomics’ products for patient management, precision diagnosis, risk stratification, and prognosis. Through advisory board members’ experience and expertise, the body will provide valuable insights into the practical application of 3D genomics technology, helping inform Arima Genomics’ strategy and future product development efforts for product development.
“The growing success of translational cancer researchers leveraging Arima Genomics’ 3D genomics tools has already generated incredible new insights into the genetic drivers of cancer,” said Anthony Schmitt, PhD, Senior Vice President of Science at Arima Genomics. “The clinical advisory board will play a pivotal role in helping us incorporate the clinical perspective on using 3D genomics into our work to streamline the adoption of innovative and effective 3D genomics solutions in ways that directly benefit patients with cancer. We further anticipate clinical adoption will accelerate 3D genomic data use in biopharma translational medicine and clinical development programs.”
Matija Snuderl, MD, is the director of molecular pathology and diagnostics at NYU Langone Health. As a neuropathologist, he evaluates and treats brain tumors and other brain diseases in children and adults.
“In my laboratory, I’ve already seen examples of patient tumors that were initially considered driver-negative based on DNA- and RNA-based next-generation sequencing assays, but we successfully identified potentially targetable gene fusions or other structural rearrangements, which were found only using Arima Genomics’ technology,” said Snuderl. “I am eager to build upon my research with the Arima Genomics team to facilitate broader adoption of 3D genomics technologies in the CLIA setting.”
Darren Sigal, MD, is the Director of GI Oncology at Scripps MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is an active collaborator in translational and early-phase clinical programs with several research centers and industry.
“Conventional next-generation sequencing approaches and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) have been widely utilized to identify gene fusions to inform patient management. However, these approaches are burdened with a range of limitations, making them sub-optimal tools for gene fusion testing in the clinical setting,” said Sigal. “Arima Genomics’ technology can overcome the limitations of the legacy technologies and offers the promise of being able to detect more actionable gene fusions and other structural rearrangements, and ultimately helping clinicians better personalize cancer treatments for their patients.”
Ken H. Young, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Pathology at Duke University. He is currently the Director of Hematopathology Division and Chief of Duke Blood Cancer Pathology Program that provides diagnostic consultation services and relevant specialized testing for patients with hematological disorders, including acute and chronic leukemias, myelodysplastic syndromes, myeloproliferative neoplasms, B and T-cell lymphomas, Hodgkin lymphoma, cutaneous and orbital lymphomas and pre-malignant or reactive bone marrow and lymph node disorders.
The importance of gene fusions and other structural rearrangements have long been recognized as important diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in hematological cancers, and in several contexts can inform optimal treatment regimen selection. However, it can be difficult to identify the genetic alterations using conventional testing approaches. Arima Genomics technology makes it possible to identify these gene fusions and structural rearrangements in a comprehensive and unbiased way using its DNA-based 3D genomics approach, which offers the potential for improved diagnostics, patient’s risk stratification, and optimized treatment strategy for patients with a wide range of hematological cancers, and beyond.”
Ken H. Young, MD, PhD, Professor of Pathology, Duke University
With the success of translational cancer research efforts leveraging Arima Genomics’ tools, there has been increasing interest in the adoption of 3D genomics tools in clinical settings. As a result, the company recently announced collaborations with Velsera to enable broad adoption of Arima Genomics’ technology in clinical labs and with Protean Biodiagnostics to facilitate clinician ordering of a 3D genomics-based lab-developed test for the detection of gene fusions across cancer sample types, and the hire of Gabrielle Raia as Senior Vice President of Discovery and Clinical Sales.