A Novel Cell Line TMA Approach for Tissue Biomarker Development and Validation

C11481: Novel Tissue Microarray for Standardized Cancer Study

Novelty:

This technology uses a Tissue Microarray (TMA) to standardize the study of cancer phenotypes.

Value Proposition:

Current evaluative methods for the study of cancer phenotypes and research reagents are not standardized. Commercial vendors of TMA have no controls, leading to variable results with no way of validating antibodies or reagents. The technology described here is a TMA capable of standardizing research methods for reliability and reproducibility of results. Other advantages include:

Technical Details:

Johns Hopkins researchers have developed a modified fixation technique for use in a proprietary cell line TMA, optimizing tissue biomarker development and validation. The TMA uses genetically, epigenetically, phenotypically, and pharmacologically characterized and thoroughly studied cell lines. Unlike tissue specimens from patients, which involves an inherent degree of variability in handling and processing across different users and different labs, these lines can be grown and processed under defined and standardized conditions. Thus the application of cell line TMA technique is amenable to high-throughput applications, with the ability to analyze dozens of cell line TMA to protocols in immunohistochemistry (IHC), in situ hybridization (ISH), and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) among other approaches allows researchers to optimize and validate reagents for the discovery and validation of biomarkers.

Looking for Partners:

To scale-up, manufacture and commercialize the TMA for use in cancer research.

Stage of Development:

Discovery

Data Availability:

Under CDA / NDA

Publications/Associated Cases:

Not available at this time