Genoptix and Bionano Genomics have joined forces to co-develop diagnostics for certain hematologic oncology indications in which detection of large structural variations of the genome is required for accurate diagnosis. The tests will run on Bionano’s Saphyr system, which visualizes the structure of a patient’s genome using a DNA sample isolated directly from cancer cells, eliminating the need for cell culture. According to Bionano, this enables the detection of all major types of structural variants with greater sensitivity than -sequencing-based methods, and with higher resolution than karyotyping or fluorescence in situ hybridization. “Bionano’s approach allows for the entire genome to be analyzed without the use of specific probes to detect variants of interest,” said Erik Holmlin, PhD, CEO of Bionano. “Variants of clinical significance discovered in the future can easily be added to an assay without the need to develop additional detection tools.”