Avoiding colonoscopy

SNP detection can be used to diagnose cancers and other diseases, but it is impractical in situations where mutations are numerous and distributed throughout the gene rather than confined to a single region. Other techniques instead determine whether the associated protein is defective, but they are low throughput.

Last week, Ambergen Inc. published the use of its protein expression and labeling technology to make possible high throughput detection of truncated APC proteins, a defect responsible for inherited forms of colorectal cancer. The company hopes to apply the technique to develop a non-invasive test applicable to colorectal screening for the general population...