Saturday, December 05, 2020
Onegevity Health announced it has received a National Institute of Health (NIH) SBIR Phase I grant to develop a multi-omics platform to study polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
PCOS is the most common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age. Due to PCOS's complex nature, diagnosis is often delayed, and treatment and self-management options are limited. With recent developments in high-throughput, next-generation sequencing, and molecular technologies, there is now a unique opportunity to utilize a cost-effective multi-omic approach (genome, microbiome, metabolome, epigenome) to study individuals with PCOS and improve monitoring and therapy options.
This platform will enable broader access to the latest in molecular assays, multi-omic quantification, and computational modeling for the general public, which currently is lacking. In turn, this will improve options for PCOS characterization, long-term management, and potentially aid in the development of new treatment options for the millions of women suffering from this disorder, as well as serve as an extensive, annotated multi-omic data set that can help the PCOS field more broadly.
Dr. Christopher Mason, the project's Principal Investigator and Co-Founder of Onegevity, remarked, "The implementation of Onegevity's multi-omic artificial intelligence platform is an innovative approach to study and learn more about PCOS. In Phase I, we will develop and validate our platform for improved PCOS evaluation on a cohort of patients and healthy controls. In Phase II, we plan to expand on the results from Phase I and launch the platform directly to women. The exclusive technology will offer unique and personalized insights on reproductive health more broadly for women."
Dr. Varykina Thackray, a Co-Investigator on the project from the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Diego, stated, "Given the power of 'omics approaches in providing insight into the pathology of complex diseases, such as PCOS, and recent studies from my lab and others indicating that changes in the gut microbiome are associated with PCOS, I am excited to collaborate with Onegevity to implement a multi-omic platform to help women with PCOS manage their disorder."
Onegevity CEO Paul Jacobson adds, "PCOS is a devastating disorder and patients who suffer from it face many uncertainties and difficulties in managing their symptoms. This platform will utilize the latest sequencing and analytical technologies, and, for the first time, we will integrate multi-omic data to provide a more comprehensive view of PCOS. This can reveal new insights and offer a more precise approach towards its management."
