Boston Children’s launches genomics venture

Boston Children’s Hospital has partnered with Life Technologies to launch Claritas Genomics, a new company formed to develop genetic and genomics-based diagnostic testing technologies.

The venture will combine instrumentation, software and bioinformatics capabilities with clinical interpretation of test results and consultation by physicians and medical genomics experts at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Claritas Genomics, majority owned by Children’s, will incorporate the expertise, assets and personnel of the hospital’s Genetic Diagnostic Lab, a CLIA-certified center that offers more than 100 genetic tests. It will leverage Life Technologies’ Ion Proton Sequencer, a benchtop technology that can be scaled for mass application for new tests that the company plans to develop.

Claritas Genomics will seek to validate the Ion Proton Sequencer’s clinical utility and tests developed on the platform for clinical use. The new company also is developing relationships with other U.S. and international children’s hospitals to create a network of pediatric academic centers that can share data, especially important for rare diseases that require large numbers of patients to discover genetic markers.