Bioscience Genomics is the winner of the Special Prize “Leonardo Startup”, promoted by Comitato Leonardo – Italian Quality Committee, together with the Italian Ministry of Economic Development (Mise) and the Italian Trade Agency (ITA).
Born in 1993, the Italian Quality Committee gathers more than 160 among entrepreneurs, artists, scientists, and culture personalities sharing a goal: to value Italy and its originality by promoting Italian excellences worldwide. Bioscience Genomics was chosen among other startups by a qualified panel based on its level of innovation, its contribution to the image of Italy in the world, and its ability to inspire the new generations.
In 2019, Bioscience Genomics won the 13th Italian Master Startup Award, a prize promoted by the Italian Association of University Incubators, PNICube, to recognize the cutting-edge technologies generated by academic research.
The Special Prize and Bioscience Genomics’ activities
By awarding Bioscience Genomics the Special Prize “Leonardo Startup”, the Italian Quality Committee highlighted the high standard of innovation of this startup. Born as a spin off participated by Bioscience Institute and “Tor Vergata” Rome University, Bioscience Institute initially focused its activity on the sequencing of fetal DNA in the blood of pregnant women to study the presence of fetal chromosome abnormalities. «Afterwards, we developed the patented algorithm that enables the identification of the very first stage of solid cancer development», Giuseppe Mucci, CEO of Bioscience Institute and founder of Bioscience Genomics, explains. «This stage is characterized by the progressive build up of somatic mutations, that is DNA lesions that are not repaired by the cell. Today, Bioscience Genomics’ activities include the analysis of the cancer driver conditions which promote or insist on these mutations: chronic inflammation, dysbiosis, immune system disequilibrium, and changes in the length of telomeres (the structures that protect chromosome ends)».
Bioscience Genomics’ tests require a blood draw or, as in the case of gut dysbiosis analysis, a stool sample. Such a simple blood or stool sampling paves the way to innovative approaches to prenatal diagnosis and cancer prevention. In fact, the analysis of cell-free fetal DNA avoid invasive procedures (amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling) that are not strictly needed, and the analysis of cancer driver conditions allows for delaying or avoiding tumor development by identifying and treating the conditions that increase the susceptibility to cancer.
«DNA fragments in the blood – or circulating free DNA – are the only biological material that allows us to obtain information on lesions accumulated in the DNA over time», Mucci explains. «The test and the algorithm that analyze them were validated in a scientific work published in Cell Death & Disease». Now, Bioscience Genomics is developing new predictive algorithms and chemopreventive supplements by analyzing the data from the tests and with the support of artificial intelligence.
Already present on the Italian and UAE market, Bioscience Genomics planned an IPO at the New York NASDAQ for 2022 to fund its international commercial development. For more information on Bioscience Genomics’ and Bioscience Institute’s activities, please visit bioinst.com, or feel free to contact the company at info@bioinst.com.
