Genome research grant goes to Phila. firm and Princeton U.

BioNanomatrix Inc., Philadelphia, said today the company and Princeton University received a two-year, $200,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute for a project to separate out and sort whole chromosomes from a single cell or multiple cells.

The cell fractionation technology has applications in clinical genetics, cancer diagnostics and biomedical research, the company said.

BioNanomatrix, founded as a spin-out of Princeton University in 2003, is developing analytic systems that enable nanoscale single molecule identification and analysis of the genome. The company said its technology provides rapid and cost-effective ultra-high resolution analyses of DNA.

"The core BioNanomatrix nanofluidics technology was originally developed at Princeton," said James Sturm, professor and director of the Princeton Institute for Science and Technology materials.

The technology is expected to reduce the cost and time needed for the extensive data and integrative analyses that have hindered widespread use of whole genome studies to date, the company said.