Spokane based startup, Signature Genomics Laboratories receives a big hand – Funding is Sacred Heart Medical Center’s first in a startup firm

Bejjani and Shaffer formed the idea for their company when both were researching microarrays at Baylor College of Medicine. The two moved to Spokane in 2001, in part because they were told by area officials that efforts to form a company would receive financial support.

A Spokane startup company created by two area researchers will offer cutting-edge genetic diagnoses using specialized DNA testing.

The company, Signature Genomics Laboratories http://www.signaturegenomics.com , was founded by Dr. Bassem Bejjani and Lisa Shaffer, who holds a doctoral degree in microbiology. Both are researchers at Washington State University Spokane.

Tom Sowa
Staff writer

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=021004&ID=s1485556&cat=section.business

The company also received early-round support from Sacred Heart Medical Center and Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories. Bejjani and Shaffer own one-half of SLG, while PAML and Sacred Heart own the other half.

The funding from Sacred Heart is the first time the Spokane hospital invested in a startup firm, said medical center Vice President Gerard Fischer. Fischer said he couldn’t disclose how much funding Sacred Heart and PAML are putting into the venture. PAML, which provides testing services for medical facilities across the region, is a privately operated unit owned by Sacred Heart Medical Center.

“It was an amount that is appropriate and adequate,” Fischer said.

SGL, a private LLC, is developing specialized DNA tools used to diagnose genetic mutations or hereditary diseases, such as Down syndrome. Over time, the same tools could be used by physicians and specialists treating cancer, said Shaffer.

SGL has developed a test using DNA microarrays — minute sequences of genetic material that can identify structures of similar material on samples of human genetic material. DNA is deoxyribonucleic acid, the proteins that are the genetic code that is transmitted from parent organism to offspring.

Bejjani and Shaffer have developed a microrray test that uses 591 loci — or specific targets on the human set of chromosomes. Those 591 spots have diagnostic value because each corresponds to a particular kind of health problem. For instance, extra material or a missing strand of DNA at one or two spots would indicate a particular disease or condition.

They believe their new test, the first product SGL will provide, is a major advance over other technologies used in medical diagnosis today.

Microarray testing has become a fast-evolving field of medical diagnosis. Current techniques are labor-intensive, said Shaffer.

“We offer a test that requires less labor and is more cost efficient than similar tests already being used,” she added.

People who’d use that service are medical geneticists — specialists who are asked by doctors to provide additional information to help treat a medical condition or provide treatment.

For instance, genetic testing can help determine whether some cancer patients have faster-spreading diseases than others with the same malignancy. That information is provided only through microarray analysis.

“Within a year,” added Bejjani, “our goal is to convince them that ours is the first line of testing.”

Bejjani and Shaffer formed the idea for their company when both were researching microarrays at Baylor College of Medicine. The two moved to Spokane in 2001, in part because they were told by area officials that efforts to form a company would receive financial support.

Their company’s offices are in a building just north of Sacred Heart. They have three fulltime employees, but expect that number will grow by three or four during 2004.

The first year, SGL expects to provide about 1,500 tests. “We want to start slow and ensure high quality,” Shaffer said. As DNA microarray testing evolves, some have estimated there will be a market of 6 million such tests each year.