Rubicon Genomics Raises $2M, Prepares to Launch New Plasma Product
Rubicon Genomics, the Ann Arbor, MI-based totally university of Michigan existence sciences spinout, today introduced it has raised $ 2 million in a structured debt deal. The financing was once led by means of BroadOak Capital partners in Bethesda, MD, with participation from Tucson, AZ-based analysis service supplier applied sciences.
The announcement caps a yr of extreme growth for the corporate, stated CEO James Koziarz. all over the first half of 2015, he stated, Rubicon knowledgeable a forty percentelevate in 12 months-over-12 months gross sales.
Rubicon is “pre-analytical reagent kits” meant to simplify and improve the DNA sequencing course of. Its ThruPlex and PicoPlex merchandise amplify small quantities or fragmented samples of DNA, enabling genome analysis and liquid biopsies. PicoPlex, with a view to put together a single cell for analysis, has revealed a house in the in vitro fertilization market, Koziarz said.
“we will support in the characterization of embryos thru doing essentially a one-cell biopsy to find imaginable issues,” he introduced. “It improves the possibility of the implantation leading to a full-time period delivery.”
Rubicon sought the brand new financing on account of it’s making able to launch a brand new product known as ThruPlex Plasma-seq this month. ThruPlex Plasma-seq allows customers to take fetal DNA from maternal serum and sequence a complete genome, Koziarz explained. It’s non-invasive and can be utilized in most cancers diagnostic purposes as well, he stated.
Christine Haakenson, Rubicon’s chief operating officer, said the company has revealed a captivating space of pastime available on the market—and one that’s rising as consumers seek for extra appropriate, a lot less invasive pre-natal trying out. “It’s the right expertise at the correct time,” she mentioned.
Haakenson also noted an enormous differentiator in Rubicon’s know-how: the process for preparing a DNA sample for analysis is all performed in a single check out tube, which saves time and preserves subject matter that may well be particularly precious. “With low-enter samples—whether or not it’s one nanogram or a single cell—doing the method in a single tube not best helps workflow, but it’s additionally why we’re ready to be correct. We’re no longer shedding DNA alongside the best way or exposing it to an infection. It additionally deals us a nice advantage for automation.”
Koziarz said Rubicon has been running profitably for a few years now, then again it wishes additional capital to grow fast, enhance analysis and building capabilities, and add gross sales and advertising workforce. “We’ve been using the money we make to reinvest within the company, then again we think there’s more than a few possibility available available in the market,” he mentioned. “we have now a well-primarily based product line and a steady, a success firm. We simply wish to improve quicker because of we have now further good ideas than we will get to.”
Koziarz mentioned Rubicon now has 32 group of workers working out of a model new place of work on mission pressure, and the company is devoted to rising in Ann Arbor: “We’re going to stay in Michigan and proceed to rent.”
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