DNAVision is a leading global provider of applied pharmacogenomic services. We help pharmaceutical companies and clinical research organizations effectively integrate pharmacogenomics into their drug development program and thus deliver safer and more effective products to the market quickly. Our highly qualified team made up of molecular biologists, geneticists, specialists in bioinformatics and other computer scientists, provides academia and biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies with a comprehensive range of transcriptome analyses.
To guarantee the quality of our results, we comply with the international drug development standards required by regulatory authorities. We are the first laboratory in Europe to be ISO17025 accredited and GLP certified in pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics. We are also CLIA registered and CAP accredited.
General Overview of our services (2006)
Brochure: Expression analysis at DNAVision
Brochure: Bioinformatics at DNAVision (2007)
Target IdentificationThe ability to generate sensitive and specific gene expression profiles has proven fundamental in the identification of drug targets. Gene expression has been successfully used to classify complex diseases, enabling researchers to identify genetic changes that are more likely to be causative and, therefore, better diagnostic indicators and possible therapeutic targets. In addition, since global expression profiling allows for discovery of new pathways disrupted in disease states, researchers can better understand the full complement of changes associated with a particular disease.
Gene expression technologies allow for a more complete understanding of the effects resulting from the manipulation of a target candidate in a model system. Used together with knock-out/down models, the information generated allows researchers to understand the effects that the manipulation of a target may have on downstream pathways, both desirable and undesirable.
Understanding a compound risk profile earlier in the development process should allow more efficient decision making regarding compound prioritization, which will save time and money. Gene expression profiling performed earlier in the compound discovery process holds significant promise to provide valuable information on a compound potential efficacy and toxicity.
Lead optimization and Preclinical trialsBy serving as an additional indicator of lead effects, gene expression information generated by microarrays or real time PCR can be used to help make decisions regarding the prioritization and optimization of lead compounds. Furthermore, expression analysis can generate data relevant for understanding both the efficacy and the safety of a compound.
Study of a drug’s mechanism of action, using expression information to gain improved insight into its on- and off-target effects, is one of the most promising growth areas for the application of gene expression profiling. More clearly defining molecular mechanisms of action, including identification of additional pathways involved in target functional modulation, can lead to the discovery of new applications for compounds under evaluation.
DNAVision provides also GLP toxicogenomic services. Toxicogenomics is beginning to have a significant impact in the way drugdevelopment researchers now assess the safety of compounds. Gene expression profiles have been shown to be more sensitive, more specific, and more complete indicators of toxicity than other assays.
RNA expression profiles can uniquely classify disease and assist in the prediction of clinical trial outcomes. Expression profiling has been productively used in clinical research applications for a few years and literature has examples elucidating how the results of this research could be applied in clinical trials. Most of the existing exploratory work has been performed using RNA extracted from blood-based tumors or tissue samples. Increasingly, researchers will look at expression profiles in blood, which is much easier to obtain as part of a routine clinical trial.
The objective of these pharmacogenomics trials is to scan the genome to discover robust patterns of data that predictably correlate with clinical outcomes, including response to therapy and/or adverse events.
At DNAVision we perform routinely DNA (SNP genotyping) and RNA (expression profiling) analyses for pharmaceutical companies in clinical trials with the highest quality standards (GLP, ISO17025, CLIA).
Pharmacogenomics is the study of expression in individual genes relevant to disease susceptibility as well as drug response at cellular, tissue, individual or population levels.
EMEA/CPMP/3070/01: Position paper on terminology in pharmacogenomics
Pharmacogenomics is the branch of pharmaceutics which deals with the influence of genetic variation on drug response in patients by correlating gene expression with a drug's efficacy or toxicity. By doing so, pharmacogenomics aims to develop rational means to optimise drug therapy to ensure maximum efficacy with minimal adverse effects. Such approaches promise the advent of "personalized medicine", in which drugs and drug combinations are optimised for each individual's unique genetic makeup.