Technology Innovation Lab
The Technology Innovation Lab is a dedicated incubator within the New York Genome Center (NYGC) comprised of a multidisciplinary team in which staff scientists and faculty, as well as many research collaborators, can explore and test breakthrough genomic tools and ideas.
We serve as a creative hub for generating new technologies, protocol development, equipment evaluation and informatics tool development/integration. Although our interests and focus are constantly evolving due to the fast-paced advancement of genomic technologies, we are committed to developing technologies with the potential to advance research for the wider scientific community, some of which are highlighted below.
New Tools Developed
Research Focus
Single-Cell Genomics
Cells are the fundamental building blocks of complex organisms. The ability to measure genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic states at the single-cell level is paramount to understanding the biology of healthy and disease states. We are actively developing techniques and tools to improve and expand the measurement repertoire of single cells at high-throughput.
FFPE Extraction
Formalin-fixed paraffin embedding (FFPE) is a technique used by clinical centers around the world to preserve and archive patient tissue specimens. In order to take advantage of these collections, a robust procedure for extracting high-quality nucleic acids from FFPE samples is desirable. We are currently developing automation-friendly protocols to extract high-quality DNA and RNA from FFPE tissue.
Liquid Biopsy
Using novel microfluidic architectures and innovative molecular biological approaches, we aim to develop capabilities to perform what is known as “liquid biopsy” on biological fluids. Non-invasive means to detect cancer and other diseases at this molecular level, before clinical presentation, can dramatically improve patient outcomes and help guide treatment regimens. We are actively building methods to capture and enrich circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) from biological fluids.
