CNV Beacon - Rapid Genetic Discovery Platform

Our discovery approach is highly effective because:

• CNVs have a reduced genome search space as compared to SNVs.
• CNVs are much larger than SNVs and thus are more likely to impact gene function or expression.
• Rare variants of high effect size can be found in small cohorts (e.g., clinical trials comprising only a few hundred patients).

Population Bio’s Drug Development Research Programs

• Drug safety, identify genetic variants that increase the risk of a serious adverse event (SAE) to pre-screen patients before taking the drug.
• Drug repurposing, identify genetic subtypes of common diseases that can match patients to approved drugs as a new indication.
• Drug rescue, identify genetic variants for responders in clinical trials (patient stratification) of novel therapies and enable drug approval.

Population Bio’s Disease Research Pipeline

• Endometriosis
• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Parkinson’s Disease
• Alzheimer’s Disease (Late-Onset)
• Food Allergy (Peanut)
• Unsolved Pediatric Syndromes

RationalCNV™ Analysis Product

Discovering Medically Relevant Genetic Variants in Pediatric Syndrome Patients Without a Diagnosis* 
*FOR RESEARCH USE ONLY

About Chromosomal Microarray Analysis
Chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) is a method of measuring copy number variants (CNVs) – gains and losses of DNA – throughout the human genome. It is a whole-genome screening method that can identify major chromosomal abnormalities as well as the location and type of specific genetic changes that are too small to be detected microscopically. It is considered to be a first-tier test in the genetic evaluation of infants and children with unexplained intellectual disability and/or congenital anomalies.

The Problem
Today’s microarray-based cytogenetic diagnostic tests are focused on ~200 known syndromes, yet only ~15% of patients that have an abnormality can be identified or confirmed (i.e., the diagnostic yield is only 15%). Thus, 85% of cytogenetic testing leaves families without answers and without information that can lead to better care, treatment, and understanding of the disorder.

What Does a Clinician Do If Their Patient’s CMA Test Is Negative?
They are faced with a dilemma – what do they do next? There are currently two other options, exome sequencing and whole genome sequencing, both of which are expensive and whose results are very complex to interpret. Exome sequencing does not effectively detect CNVs, nor can it detect variations in intronic or intergenic regions. Whole genome sequencing does not effectively detect CNVs, and interpreting the additional data on introns and intergenic regions is essentially impossible with today’s research resources.

Our Solution
Population Bio provides researchers/clinicians an opportunity to potentially double the diagnostic yield of a CMA to 30% and perhaps up to 50%. Population Bio’s higher diagnostic yield is achieved by using a higher resolution microarray, novel analysis methods, and its proprietary CNV data on normal subjects (apparently healthy controls) – the Normal Variation Engine® database. RationalCNV™ analysis quickly and inexpensively differentiates benign variants from pathological ones.

Providing Meaning to Variants of Unknown Significance (VUS) and Novel Variants
Our high resolution RationalCNV™ analysis reveals two categories of results: 1) better interpretation of VUS found in prior CNV analyses and 2) novel CNVs that are of potential significance to the patient's condition. With the combination of our high-resolution microarray analysis and Normal Variation Engine® interpretation, we can often fine-map a VUS and provide additional details on its potential significance. We can also uncover novel CNVs of smaller size and in genomic regions not surveyed by standard CMAs. Our RationalCNV™ analysis also uncovers novel variants that cannot be found with exome sequencing or with whole genome sequencing, such as CNVs within intronic and intergenic regions, which are increasingly found to contain important regulatory sites that influence gene expression or protein structure (e.g., an intronic deletion may be causing aberrant splicing or preclude the binding of transcription factors).

How to Access RationalCNV™ Analysis
If you are a medical geneticist who routinely sees patients that remain undiagnosed after CMA testing, or if you have already pursued exome sequencing and received a negative result, RationalCNV™ analysis may provide an answer. To collaborate with Population Bio on this research use only product/service, you can arrange to send us anonymized DNA samples by contacting us at bizdev@populationbio.com.