Omico partners with biotech company on ‘ALT+’ cancers

Omico has entered into a unique collaboration with Tessellate BIO and CMRI (Children’s Medical Research Institute) which focusses on advancing the understanding of alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT), a mechanism present in cancer cells, and accelerating the development of precision medicines to target it.

Tessellate BIO is a preclinical stage biotechnology company focused on approaches involving novel Synthetic Lethality. CMRI uncovered the ALT cancer mechanism in 1995, and the research into telomere biology and ALT cancers remains a priority focus of the institute led by Prof. Hilda Pickett, the Telomere Length Regulation Unit Head at CMRI.

“Collaboration is at the heart of our mission at Omico in advancing precision oncology,” states Prof David Thomas Omico Chief Science and Strategy Officer.

“And this groundbreaking partnership, which combines world-class expertise in genomics, synthetic lethality, and ALT biology is set to accelerate a very important pathway to uncovering innovative precision therapies and new hope to address ALT+ cancers.”

While ALT has been detected in 10 to 15% of all cancers, it has primarily been studied in cancers with ALT prevalence exceeding 50%, including soft tissue sarcomas and osteosarcomas. Cancer cells utilise ALT to maintain integrity of the DNA telomeres during cell division. It is essential to support their unlimited ability to replicate or grow.

Omico has already played a critical role in applying its extensive genomic dataset, collected through the MoST (Cancer Molecular Screening and Therapeutics) program, to identify subpopulations of patients with different cancer types driven by ALT.

The C-Circle Assay has been central to the identification of these ALT+ cancers – and the multi-year collaboration will aim to establish this Assay as the gold standard diagnostic tool for establishing ALT+ status.

“This collaboration is incredibly exciting and reflects Omico’s commitment to translating cutting-edge science into real-world clinical practice. Our ever-growing genomic data set has already yielded important results revealing the presence of ALT in in a broader range of cancer types than previously thought,” adds Prof Thomas.

“Our ultimate goal now is to work together to help expand synthetic lethality for use in ALT+ cancers which we hope will result in the development of new therapies and associated companion diagnostics to improve patients’ lives.”