Friday, September 19, 2008

ZS Genetics tests its $100K genome sequencing tool

By Jim Kozubek, Special to Mass High Tech

ZS Genetics Inc., in the fourth quarter, plans to go to trial with a long, direct-read genetic sequencing tool that marks DNA to produce detailed images of thousands of continuous base pairs, eventually enabling the commercial mapping of a complete genome for a price in the low thousands of dollars.

Thomas D. Abert, an investor and vice president of finance for ZS Genetics, said such a long read of DNA has not been possible before, and the technology could reduce the costs of sequencing a human genome to a price point attainable to most patients and help to introduce sequencing into medicine.

Geneticists label nucleotide base pairs with fluorescent markers to see continuous reads of tens or hundreds of base pairs. ZS Genetics’ process untwists a double-helix into a straightened ladder and marks molecules with iodine and bromine to give a read of 5,000 to 8,000 base pairs, he said.   

W. Kelley Thomas, co-director of the Hubbard Center for Genomic Studies at the University of New Hampshire, and an adviser to ZS Genetics, said previous techniques relied on software to create a composite of a many snippets, making it a tedious process that could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

ZS Genetics would also rely on software but would begin with much larger snippets, reducing time and costs to as low as $1,000 to sequence a complete genome for a patient, he said. But Abert said first-generation “pure variable costs” could be higher, “in the low thousands,” perhaps as high as $20,000 to start, he said.   

“The fundamental goal is personal genomics,” Thomas said. “It will enable doctors to determine the specific drugs that work best for you and better predict metabolism.”

George Church, a geneticist with Harvard Medical School, and an investor in three personal genomics companies including the Personal Genome Project, 23andme Inc. and the Cambridge-based Knome Inc., a service provider that he cofounded, said long reads are now less important since software is becoming more capable.  

Knome earlier this year went to market with a complete genomic sequencing service for $350,000, essentially pioneering personal genomics. Church said the costs are dropping dramatically.

The ZS Genetics tool will enable sequencing of 3.4 billion base pairs, much of which is so-called “junk DNA” with no known function. Just 25,000 genes are known to code proteins, and of those protein coding base pairs, scientists have determined how 1,300 are medically actionable, Church said.  

ZS Genetics’ tool at its release will cost an institution $100,000. Abert said the company will begin trials in the fourth quarter with prospective customers from “high-profile research institutions” invited to come to its lab to try out genomic sequencing.

Chad Nusbaum, a co-director of Genome Sequencing and Analysis program at The Broad Institute, said he had interest in obtaining the ZS Genetics sequencing tool. “I care very much about long reads,” he said.

ZS Genetics is nested at the Hubbard Center at UNH and at a lab of a vendor, which the company declined to identify, in Danvers. The company has seven employees and 20 people working on the project including vendors, and it will look to set up its own office in New Hampshire or Massachusetts in a few months, Abert said. The startup company expects to make its first sale in the second quarter of next year, he said.

William Glover, an engineer, founded ZS Genetics in 2003 with investment from multiple angel investors including the Northeast Angels of Nashua.

In April, ZS Genetics entered the Archon X Prize for Genomics competition, which will award $10 million to the first group to sequence 100 human genomes in 10 days for less than $10,000.

 

Jim Kozubek is a freelance writer in Manchester, N.H.