Orion: Dense diagnostics

Epigenetic research has begun to yield evidence suggesting that aberrant DNA methylation is associated with disease. Orion Genomics LLC says it has developed enzyme-based methods for creating epigenomic diagnostic tests for cancer that can identify markers of disease with greater sensitivity than competing methods.

"In the last five years, evidence has been mounting that one of the primary gene disruption modes in cancer is through aberrant DNA methylation," President and CEO Nathan Lakey said. Normally, enzymes called methylases cruise along the DNA and copy methylation from the parent strand to the daughter strand. Mistakes in the process are called epimutations...