ReadCoor has received a multi-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for its proprietary spatial sequencing technology to probe into causes of childhood mortality.
The company will use this grant to develop technology using its FISSEQ platform to detect pathogens directly from their transcriptomes and genomes.
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FISSEQ is a fluorescent in-situ sequencing platform developed for highly multiplexed analysis of RNA, DNA and other molecular features without removing cells from their tissue.
The platform has demonstrated its utility in infectious diseases, as well as other applications such as brain mapping, gene therapy, immuno-therapy, oncology, neurodegenerative diseases, regenerative medicine and others.
ReadCoor co-founder and CEO Shawn Marcell said: “It is a great privilege to partner with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in this important effort to reduce childhood mortality in developing countries.
“We are committed to applying the FISSEQ platform for the benefit of humankind and we applaud the Gates Foundation for its vision and willingness to support innovative approaches to age-old problems.”
The foundation will fund up to $2.5m over the next two years to support the development of FISSEQ-based diagnostics and analytical tools to analyse pathogens responsible for early childhood ailments.
FISSEQ’s in-situ sequencing of tissue enables it to identify each pathogen’s unique genetic sequence and location in the tissue which is correlated with mortality marker, such as inflammation.
The epidemiological approach is to pave the way to adopt disease surveillance efforts and prepare to combat outbreaks.
