SAN DIEGO, CA–(KPBS, January 23, 2015) – Through a new partnership, the San Diego company behind a prenatal Down syndrome test hopes to offer expectant mothers more information about their pregnancies.
Sequenom’s increasingly popular MaterniT21 Plus test uses a sample of the mother’s blood to analyze fetal genes. The test currently screens for Down syndrome and other chromosomal disorders.
On Thursday, Sequenom announced a partnership with another San Diego-based company, Cypher Genomics, to check for more disorders on the sub-chromosomal level.
“We’re able to return additional information about smaller genomic abnormalities,” said Ashley Van Zeeland, CEO and co-founder of Cypher Genomics. “A lot of those alterations are associated with significant and sometimes fatal disease.”
