Wednesday September 19, 2012 0 comments
FORT COLLINS - KromaTiD, a Colorado State University spin-off company, announced it has developed the first fluorescent paint designed to color chromatids.
The "paint," a mixture of fluorescent DNA molecules tailored to a particular chromosome, is the first specifically designed for chromatids, or one side of a chromosome.
The process allows scientists to see rearrangements that occur within individual chromosomes, including inversions associated with genetic abnormalities such as autism and diseases that include cancer.
KromaTiD's paint improves inversion detection by at least 10-fold over current approaches and dramatically increases detection certainty.
"Chromatid paints will provide scientists with an easy-to-read test, currently a missing piece to further research pinpointing certain diseases such as cancer, to better detect specific rearrangements within chromosomes like inversions," said Susan Bailey, CSU researcher and a KromaTiD founder.
KromaTiD is a startup company based on licensed technology from CSU and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
The company is funded primarily through a Small Business Innovation Research Award from NASA. Additional support has come from the CSU College Research Council, CSU Research Foundation, CSU Ventures, CSU Cancer Supercluster, Colorado's Office of Economic Development Bioscience Evaluation Grant program and the National Institutes of Health.