A Queen’s University spinout which is developing life-saving tests to detect ovarian cancer has secured £300,000 in seed funding.
GenoME Diagnostics’s specialises in blood tests which provide earlier and more accurate diagnosis of the disease, using technology which reduces misdiagnosis and late diagnosis.
The company secured the finance through a seed funding round supported by QUBIS, the commercialisation arm of Queen’s University, Deepbridge Capital and Co-Fund NI which is part of Invest Northern Ireland’s Access to Finance portfolio.
Dr Shannon Beattie, COO of GenoME Diagnostics, said the technology can save lives and money.
“Our work benefits women who are at risk of developing ovarian cancer, or who present with possible symptoms. Early diagnosis can ultimately save lives, as well as reduce cost pressures for healthcare providers.
“We also aim to benefit clinical trial providers and drug developers, by developing accurate and cost-effective companion diagnostics, to better stratify patients and increase their chance of response to novel therapies.”
The company was created as a result of almost a decade of research by Dr Paul Mullan, Dr James Beirne and Dr Laura Feeney at the Patrick G Johnston Centre for Cancer Research (PGJCCR) at Queen’s University. Dr Shannon Beattie joined the team and was selected to participate in the Innovate UK ‘Innovation to Commercialisation of University Research (ICURe) programme’ in 2019. This led to a successful application for Innovate UK funding and the formation of the company. In 2020 the company was crowned the All Ireland Best New Start Company in the Intertrade Ireland Seedcorn competition.
Anne Dornan, Enterprise Network Manager at QUBIS, said praised the firm.
“GenoME Diagnostics builds on 10 years of research at Queen’s and the team has made great progress on their commercialisation journey. GenoME has the potential to improve outcomes for women at risk of developing ovarian cancer across the globe.”
