Ariosa Diagnostics, Illumina, Life Technologies, PerkinElmer, Qiagen, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, CHU de Quebec, CHU Sainte-Justine, Genome Alberta,

Researchers from regional health services provider CHU de Quebec and Universite Laval received a C$10.5 million ($10.2 million) grant from several partners, including the government health research investment agency Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the CHU Sainte-Justine university hospital and the non-profits Genome Canada, Genome Quebec, Genome Alberta and Genome British Columbia. The recipients will use the funding to conduct a comparative-effectiveness study of non-invasive prenatal screening techniques for chromosomal conditions. The study, which will begin in September, will enroll 5,600 pregnant women - 3,600 at high risk of trisomy conditions and 2,000 at low risk. Researchers will conduct prenatal screening using a variety of genomic-based non-invasive methods, including Ariosa's Harmony Prenatal Test, as well as existing or new biochemical and ultrasound screening tools. CHU de Quebec said Illumina, Life Technologies, PerkinElmer and Qiagen would each also contribute reagents or equipment but declined to disclose details. The researchers will analyze results without knowledge of the pregnancy outcome. Data are expected in 2017. ...