Technology

Using the world’s most accurate and sensitive sequencing technology, we uncover the somatic mutations that cause or protect against disease, providing novel, unbiased insights that inform the development of genetically-validated breakthrough medicines. 

By middle age, every cell in our body contains hundreds and sometimes thousands of different mutations. So much so that we find nearly every possible mutation in each organ system. This means that we only need 10 – 30 patients for each study in order to find significant mutations that can drive or protect against disease. In contrast, other genetic approaches require hundreds of thousands of patients to reach significance.

We detect recurrently mutated genes directly from the cells that are causing or protecting against a given disease. This gives us confidence that the somatic targets we identify are causally implicated in the biology of disease. 

Somatic mutations not only provide information on disease biology, but also a wealth of information to guide better drug design:

What to target: we often see multiple mutations within a single pathway, allowing for the selection of the most druggable protein within that pathway.

How to target: based on the type of the mutation, the effect of the mutation and the function of the cells in which this mutation is seen, we choose the best therapeutic strategy.

Where to target: analysis of the mutation spectrum along a given gene can highlight specific regions to target for therapeutic effect.

From the moment we receive a patient sample to target identification, biological validation and drug design, we integrate AI and computational tools into our fully digital, data-driven workflows to accelerate our research and development.