Arizona’s DesertDx marks debut

University of Arizona has spun out US-based non-invasive cancer diagnostics deverlop DesertDx to deliver a liquid biopsy for lung cancer based on advances in epigenetics.
DesertDx’s founding intellectual property was brought to the attention of Tech Launch Arizona (TLA), the university’s tech transfer office, in 2016.
The routine blood test, dubbed DDX-Sentinel, looks for cells detached from tumours through an epigenetic process called methylation in order to provide more comprehensive diagnostics of lung cancer.
The approach is the result of research conducted by Bernard Futscher, professor at the College of Pharmacy, and Lukas Vrba, assistant research scientist at UA’s cancer centre. It is expected to be compatible with existing CT tumour scans, allowing doctors to determine whether tumours are malignant or benign without the need for a tissue biopsy.
DesertDx has availed of several TLA-run supports to lay the foundations for development, including UA’s leg of the US government-funded I-Corps research accelerator, and a six-week program covering customer discovery and startup methodology offered through UA’s McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship and Eller College of Management.
The spinout also used grant funding from TLA’s Asset Development Program to collect and compare lung cancer samples against healthy equivalents, with the data anticipated to form the basis for finding the most effective biomarkers for its technology.