LifeGene Biomarks, Inc, is a Johns Hopkins spin-off incorporated in Puerto Rico but continuing a Baltimore MD Presence. Principals of the firm are developing a precision methylation solution for cervical cancer screening triage of African American and Latina women. Studying the complex genomic-epigenomic interactions with the immune system, the microbiome and contextual factors that shape differences in cancer etiology, risk, and outcomes, the firm's project is structured around identifying biomarkers that can lead to the creation of clinically relevant tools that could be useful in precision medicine or precision public health efforts. Principals of the firm were among the first to discover and validate the genome-wide progression of differentially methylated regions from normal to premalignant and malignant head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) lesions - publishing the genome-wide integration of genomic and epigenomic lesions in HNSCC in 2014 and - in 2016 - the HNSCC saliva microbiome associated to Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) positive and HPV negative patients and treatment response. The firm has developed biomarker discovery and validation workflows that include a range of established and novel assays, from ELISAs to unbiased integrated genome-wide analyses using next-generation sequencing technologies, to identify clinically relevant biomarkers for prevention, diagnosis and management of cancer.
