Latest technologies from The Translational Genomics Research Institute

RNA Biomarkers for Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries

ip@tgen.org — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 22:49:57 GMT

With generous support from Riddell, TGen has developed a noninvasive diagnostic method for mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) using advanced genomic analyses of circulating DNA and extracellular RNA (exRNA) existing in bodily fluids that can be easily sampled in the field such as blood, urine, and salvia, and bodily fluids that can be further sampled in a clinical setting, such as cerebral spinal fluid. This novel approach to assessing mTBI, a malady undetectable by conventional neuroimaging techniques, measures changes in RNA expression associated with head impact exposure in bodily flu...

Assay for Detecting and Quantifying Coccidioides

ip@tgen.org — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 14:04:17 GMT

Researchers at TGen and Northern Arizona University (NAU) have developed a real-time qPCR assay for detecting and quantifying Coccidioides immitis and Coccidioides posadasii. The highly sensitive and specific assay can be used by clinicians in rapidly diagnosing Coccidioidomycosis. This assay can be particularly useful outside of the endemic regions of the Southwest US, Mexico, Central America, and South America, where clinicians have had less experience diagnosing such illness but may encounter cases in individuals that have traveled from these regions. Coccidioidomycosis (ak...

Bisphosphonate Conjugates with RON Kinase Inhibitors

ip@tgen.org — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 12:40:08 GMT

Researchers at TGen and the University of Utah are developing bisphosphonate (diphosphonic acid) conjugates with RON kinase inhibitor compounds for treating metastatic cancers, such as breast cancer, and diseases, such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, associated with bone destruction. These conjugated bisphosphonates combine the anti-mitotic, anti-angiogenic, and bone-targeting properties of bisphosphonates with kinase inhibitor activity for improved pharmaceutical performance. Cancer, and in particular, metastatic cancer remains one of the most challenging diseases to treat. Met...

Assays for the detection of Enterovirus D68

ip@tgen.org — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 12:39:45 GMT

Researchers at TGen have developed assays for the detection of Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) in complex patient samples. Both PCR and amplicon sequencing assays rapidly diagnose patients with EV-D68 respiratory illness, and can be used to assess a patient’s risk of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) and potentially diagnose AFM. The assays can additionally be used for EV-D68 epidemiological tracking. Current detection methods for enteroviruses require large amounts of high quality starting material and involved sample preparation methods, which limit the applicability and spee...

TREM2 agonists for the preventative and therapeutic treatment of neugodegenerative disorders

ip@tgen.org — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 12:38:33 GMT

Researchers at TGen have identified new potential preventative and therapeutic treatments for clinical management of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders with an immune neuorinflammatory component such as frontotemporal dementia, chronic traumatic encephalophathy, Down syndrome, or other diseases with an amyloid and/or tau neuropathy. Through the development of a proprietary assay, TGen researchers targeted compounds for inhibiting amyloid and/or tau protein accumulation in the brain through the activation of Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells 2 (TR...

Biomarker Proxies for Standard Blood Chemistry Tests

ip@tgen.org — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 12:38:14 GMT

Researchers at TGen have identified several RNA signatures that can be utilized to predict standard blood tests based on hematology or chemistry, for example, the results from a complete blood count panel, a comprehensive metabolic panel, a chemistry panel, or an endocrine panel (such as levels of thyroxine, T3, and TSH). The expression of these RNA markers from a reduced volume blood sample provide predicted blood test results with high accuracy (at least 80%) when compared to the actual blood test result using a standard volume sample. Blood tests offer a variety of i...

BioThreatSeq: an amplicon sequencing assay for detection and characterization of microbial pathogens in complex environmental and clinical samples

ip@tgen.org — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 12:36:16 GMT

Researchers at TGen and Northern Arizona University have developed a multi-agent multi-locus amplicon sequencing protocol encompassing 79 targets aimed at detecting the presence or absence of five major biothreat agents: Burkholderia pseudomallei, Burkholderia mallei, Bacillus anthracis, Yersinia pestis and Francisella tularensis, as well as the presence and sequence of plasmids, virulence factors, antimicrobial resistance factors, and sequence variant loci for near-neighbor species differentiation with high sensitivity and specificity. The multiple amplicon sequencing system has a...

Molecular Assay for Diagnosing and Prognosing Esophageal Adenocarcinoma

ip@tgen.org — Tue, 09 Apr 2019 07:54:34 GMT

Through a collaboration between TGen and Dignity Health, researchers have developed an assay for early detection and monitoring of Esophageal Adenocarcinoma (EA), which differentiates Metaplasia from Dysplasia patients and monitors progression of EA . The identified panel of markers can be monitored non-invasively for uptake and release changes through the testing of patient gastric fluid samples, while providing greater sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing esophageal cancer than current diagnostic practices. EA is the most common type of esophageal cancer in the United States,...

Screening and Treatment Methods for Small Cell Carcinoma of the Ovary, Hypercalcemic Type (SCCOHT)

ip@tgen.org — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 14:16:13 GMT

Researchers at TGen, in collaboration with the University of British Columbia, have developed methods and compositions for screening for Small Cell Carcinoma of the Ovary, Hypercalcemic Type (SCCOHT) in a patient based on the genomic profile of a biological sample to enable earlier diagnosis and more effective treatment than is currently available for SCCOHT patients. Methods of treating SCCOHT were also developed based on the target gene mutation that was discovered through this collaborative research, providing an alternative to the current treatment methods that have provided only lim...

Dried Blood Spot Sequencing to Identify RNA Biomarkers

ip@tgen.org — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 16:16:48 GMT

Researchers at TGen have developed a simple and non-invasive approach to sequence RNA biomarkers from a single dried blood spot. Using this RNA biomarker technology enables a relatively small volume biofluid sample from a patient (e.g., a drop of blood) to provide significant clinical information, such as identification, severity, stage, outcome, etc., of various diseases, conditions, and medical states based on the expression of the RNAs. With this technology, not only could multiple samples from a patient be easily obtained over an extended period of time for monitoring a disease...

miRNA Biomarker for Detecting Increased Risk of Brain Metastasis in NSCLC Patients

ip@tgen.org — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 15:59:10 GMT

Through a collaboration of TGen, Honor Health, and Arizona State University, a method for classifying a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patient as having an increased risk of brain metastasis by detecting a microRNA (miRNA) biomarker in a sample was developed. Through the ability to stratify NSCLC patients with a high risk for brain metastasis, clinicians can better select and implement a prophylactic treatment for these patients while saving patients at a low risk of brain metastasis from unnecessary treatment side effects. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths and a...

Methods of Detecting Antiviral Drug Resistant H1N1 Influenza Variants

ip@tgen.org — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 13:04:09 GMT

Researchers at TGen and Northern Arizona University (NAU) have developed a real-time PCR assay for detecting H1N1 influenza strains (which may also be known as as "novel H1N1," "swine flu," and "Mexican flu," among others) in a sample and informing clinicians whether the detected strain is a variant resistant to antiviral drugs, such as oseltamivir and other neuraminidase inhibitors. By quickly providing clinicians with accurate detection and susceptibility information, an effective treatment strategy can be chosen for a patient or population. H1N1 is a...

Methods for Detecting and Differentiating Burkholderia pseudomallei and Burkholderia mallei with a Single Probe DNA SNP Assay

ip@tgen.org — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 13:02:09 GMT

Researchers at TGen and Northern Arizona University (NAU) have developed a method for detecting Burkholderia pseudomallei and Burkholderia mallei from a single DNA SNP in a sample using Taqman SNP dual-probe allelic discrimination real-time PCR assay. This assay provides a single-step, single reaction for identifying and differentiating between B. pseudomallei and B. mallei. Further, in cases in which circumstances eliminate the possibility of one of the two species, this assay can be used as a single-probe assay for specific identification. Melioidosis is an infectious diseas...

Methods of Quantifying Antiviral Drug Resistant Mutations in Influenza A

ip@tgen.org — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 13:00:50 GMT

Researchers at TGen and Northern Arizona University (NAU) have developed a real-time allele specific mixture analysis (ASMA) qPCR assay for quantitatively analyzing the amount of antiviral drug resistant Influenza A mutants in a mixed viral sample. This highly sensitive method provides a cost effective tool for clinical or public health laboratories to quantitate <0.1% SNP minor components in mixed Influenza A samples. The rise of antiviral resistance in influenza poses a major challenge to influenza pandemic preparedness. With the limited treatment options of adamantanes and neu...

Allelic Discrimination Assays for MRSA Strains

ip@tgen.org — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 12:31:25 GMT

Researchers at TGen and Northern Arizona University (NAU) have developed methods to rapidly identify and differentiate Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains using real-time PCR assays. These allelic discrimination assays target SNPs to distinguish the clinically important MRSA strains USA100, USA300, USA 600, and other MRSA strains, in order to better identify index strains of an outbreak and understand the clonal relationship between strains. MRSA has become one of the most dangerous infectious agents, with a higher mortality rate than HIV-AIDS due to the fact ...

Assays for Antibiotic Resistance Gene Detection in Staphylococcus Strains

ip@tgen.org — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 12:26:09 GMT

Researchers at TGen and Northern Arizona University (NAU) have developed a multiplex real-time PCR profiling assay for detecting antibiotic resistance-conferring genes in Staphylococcus strains. The multiplex assay determines the susceptibility of strains such as MRSA, MSSA, MRSE, and MSSE to antibiotics including aminoglycoside, vancomycin, penicillin, macrolide, and tetracycline using a combination of assays to identify the presence of specific variants in the vanA, aacA, blaZ, ermA, ermC, tetK, tetM, and msrA genes. Detecting antibiotic resistance gene sequences in these genes i...

MAMA Real-Time PCR Assay Panel for Genotyping Cyrptococcus gattii

ip@tgen.org — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 12:30:57 GMT

Researchers at TGen and Northern Arizona University (NAU) have developed methods for genotyping Cryptococcus gattii using a mismatch amplification mutation assay (MAMA) real-time PCR assay panel. This assay panel provides a rapid method for genotyping of C. gattii molecular types VGI-VGIV and the dominate North American VGII molecular subtypes VGIIa-c with high sensitivity and specificity to better understand the genotype distribution of C. gattii in a geographic area. Cryptococcus species are the source of many serious fungal diseases, some of which are potentially fatal (e.g., Cry...

Repurposed Drugs for the Treatment of Fungal Infections Caused by Coccidioides

ip@tgen.org — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 09:52:13 GMT

Researchers at TGen and Northern Arizona University (NAU) have developed an effective treatment for fungal infections caused by Coccidioides including the Valley Fever-causing species: Coccidioides immitis and Coccidioides posadasii in humans and companion animals (particularly canines). Repurposed drugs originally developed to inhibit hormone uptake (antipsychotics, antidepressants, sex hormone inhibitors, etc.) can inhibit the growth and spread of these fungal infections at superior rates to current treatment methods especially when combined with fluconazole. Coccidioides are soil...

Methods for Detecting and Treating Coccidioides Infections

ip@tgen.org — Tue, 29 Jan 2019 12:36:11 GMT

Researchers at TGen have developed methods for detecting and treating Coccidioides infections (also known as Valley Fever) using novel proteins. Using these proteins as biomarkers, clinicians can detect this fungal infection from patient samples early in the infection cycle (within the first five days of infection) and implement a targeted treatment, such as augmenting the expression level or functionality of the target proteins. Coccidioides are fungi found in the soil of semi-arid regions of the Americas, and Valley Fever is commonly caused by inhaling these fungi during the arthr...

Targeted Therapies for Cancers Containing NRG1 Fusions

ip@tgen.org — Tue, 29 Jan 2019 12:28:54 GMT

Researchers at TGen, in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic, have identified a new method of targeted cancer treatment by selecting a patient population based on the presence of Neuregulin-1 (NRG1) somatic gene fusion events (i.e., NRG1 fusions). Tumors of the patients in this identified population may be treated with targeted therapies, including Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) inhibitors and ErbB inhibitors, as an alternative to surgery. NRG1 is an activating ligand for HER3 and HER4. NRG1 induces heterodimerization of HER3 and HER4 with EGFR or HER2 to initiation cell pro...

Amplicon Sequencing Analysis Pipeline (ASAP)

ip@tgen.org — Thu, 24 Jan 2019 18:16:37 GMT

TGen and Northern Arizona University have developed a high-throughput bioinformatics tool for interpreting the significance of alignment data from amplicon sequencing. Amplicon sequencing allows for rapid, cost-effective, highly multiplexed, and accurate detection of numerous clinically important targets directly in clinical samples. The Amplicon Sequencing Analysis Pipeline (ASAP) is a highly customizable pipeline for analyzing amplicon sequencing data. While primarily focused on detecting antibiotic resistant pathogens in clinical samples, the standardized targe...

Enriching non-human DNA in body fluid samples for diagnosis

ip@tgen.org — Thu, 25 Oct 2018 13:01:53 GMT

Researchers from the University of Arizona and TGen have developed a method of rapidly and accurately diagnosing microbes and pathogens causing conditions such as sepsis from body fluid samples. By leveraging the difference in size between human and non-human DNA fragments, the method facilitates a more efficient sepsis diagnosis with reduced turnaround time, reduced costs of sequencing, and increased on-target rates. In patients with infections sepsis, current methods of identifying the pathogen causing sepsis include blood culture and urine cultures. Culturing approaches are...

Methods for identifying and treating pancreatic cancer with ROCK1 therapeutic target

ip@tgen.org — Mon, 23 Jul 2018 21:10:12 GMT

Researchers at TGen have developed a method for identifying and treating pancreatic cancer. Through the identification of the ROCK1 gene as a therapeutic target, pancreatic cancer can be detected and tumor cell proliferation and migration can be inhibited using the inventive methods. Pancreatic cancer is a prevalent cause of tumor related deaths in the industrialized world, with surgery providing a viable treatment option for only a minority of patients. Survival after diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is particularly challenging because traditional medicine has provided no modal...

Amplicon sequencing technology for the detection of Lyme disease and other infectious diseases

ip@tgen.org — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 14:45:01 GMT

Researchers at TGen and Northern Arizona University have developed technology to increase the speed and accuracy of diagnosing and assessing Lyme Disease and other infectious diseases. This amplicon sequencing technology for Lyme Disease and other infectious diseases can be used commercially in a rapid and accurate fashion:• as a diagnostic tool;• to assess the severity of the disease;• to estimate the subject’s prognosis; • ...

Rapid typing and subtyping of Staphylococcus aureus clonal complex 8 (CC8) strains

ip@tgen.org — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 11:42:59 GMT

Researchers at TGen and the United States Centers Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have collaboratively developed a panel of assays for rapidly and consistently typing Staphylococcus aureus strains, and subtyping the strains within clonal complex 8 (CC8). The developed technology is an improvement over previously used typing methods and can be used as a method for source tracking of the bacteria within a facility (e.g., hospitals, medical service centers) to perform surveillance of infections and determine the origin of the infections. The efficient typing system allows for wi...

Rapid pan-fungal detection and quantification

ip@tgen.org — Thu, 07 Dec 2017 10:19:09 GMT

Researchers at TGen and Northern Arizona University have developed technology to rapidly detect and quantify the total fungal load from human, animal, and environmental samples without requiring priori knowledge of the fungi present in a sample. This technology enables quicker and more accurate diagnosis of fungal infections in clinical medicine and public health arenas, measurement of fungal abundance changes over time in response to treatment or among multiple study groups, and assessment of fungal diversity in environmental studies. Additionally, the technology can be used to cr...

KlebSeq: amplicon sequencing screening tool for Klebsiella species.

ip@tgen.org — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 11:08:34 GMT

Researchers at TGen and Northern Arizona University have developed a highly informative screening tool called KlebSeq that detects Klebsiella species and identifies clinically important strains and characteristics using highly multiplexed amplicon sequencing without a live culturing step. KlebSeq comprises 5 species identification assays, 35 strain identification assays, 77 antimicrobial resistance assays, and 15 virulence gene assays, and uses a proprietary amplicon sequencing analysis pipeline to report results. KlebSeq can be used to analyze complex specimens including urine, feces, wound s...

Allelic discrimination assays for important Klebsiella pneumoniae strains

ip@tgen.org — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 11:08:34 GMT

Researchers at TGen and Northern Arizona University have identified robust genomic signatures unique to certain particularly virulent strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC)-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae and have designed molecular assays to detect K. pneumoniae and distinguish those strains. Both assays show 100% sensitivity and specificity, so are ideal for easy, cost-effective microbial surveillance. KPC-producing K. pneumoniae are one of the most widely disseminated carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) pathogens affecting healthcare systems. These infections ha...

Next-Gen Antibiotic Resistance Detection (N-GARD)

ip@tgen.org — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 11:08:33 GMT

Researchers at TGen and Northern Arizona University have developed a clinical rapid amplicon sequencing assay called Next-Gen Antibiotic Resistance Detection (N-GARD). N-GARD is a multiplexed, targeted sequence analysis system for the detection and characterization of antimicrobial resistance (AR) markers in critical Gram-negative bacteria typically associated with hospital acquired infections. Multi-drug resistant hospital acquired infections are a grave threat to public health and clinical medicine. One of the last lines of defense is ensuring that treating clinicians have rapid an...

A Universal Multiplex Indexing strategy for Next Generation Amplicon Sequencing (UMINGAS)

ip@tgen.org — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 11:08:32 GMT

Researchers at TGen and Northern Arizona University have developed a Next Generation universal indexing amplicon sequencing strategy that can be used to amplify multiple genomic regions from a DNA sample simultaneously in a single reaction. This method uses a set of common indexed oligonucleotides with a Universal Tail (UT) sequence to quickly and efficiently add barcodes to any number of amplicons. Barcoded amplicons can then be used for Next Generation sequencing applications with no additional library preparation reagents. As this method involves an initial PCR amplification before sequenc...

Soluable and Solid Forms of Curcumin for Pharmaceutical Application

ip@tgen.org — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 11:08:30 GMT

Researchers at TGen have developed a curcumin-2-aminobenzimidazole co-crystal that is water soluble, non-hygroscopic, solid below 118° C, and chemically stable under a range of conditions, temperatures, humidity, ambient light and water with no signs of degradation, disproportion, or loss of crystallinity. Curcumin is a linear diarylheptanoid and is thought to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties. Studies have suggested that curcumin is effective against cancers of the breasts, uterus, cervix, prostate, and GI tract, and that it may also be effective ag...

NHERF-1 Protein Complexes, Cancer Progression and Therapeutic Targeting

ip@tgen.org — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 11:08:29 GMT

Researchers at TGen have patented a method of detecting invasive glioblastoma in a subject and sensitizing the subject to a therapeutic treatment that targets non-migrating glioblastoma cells. Specifically, our researchers have discovered that Na+/H+ exchanger regulatory factor (NHERF-1) is over-expressed in invasive GBM cells and have confirmed its role as a regulator of glioma migration and dispersion. NHERF-1 is as a multi-functional adaptor protein that recruits cytoplasmic signaling proteins and membrane receptors/transporters into functional complexes. Our studies found that NHERF-...