Singapore-based Vela Diagnostics has signed a license agreement with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) for two technologies for enriching rare sequences in nucleic acid libraries known as Finding Low Abundance Sequences by Hybridization (FLASH) and Depletion of Abundant Sequences of Hybridization (DASH). Under the terms of this agreement, Vela Diagnostics will use FLASH and DASH to develop new oncology and infectious diseases testing methods for the U.S. and other mutually agreed upon countries, including methods involving cell free DNA/RNA and microbiology/microbiome testing approaches.

FLASH is designed to be more efficient and less costly than current methods for enriching low-abundance sequences in complex sequencing libraries such as multiplex polymerase chain reaction or hybridization to labeled oligonucleotides. FLASH also targets large numbers of sequences simultaneously, is applicable to samples of any origin, and is compatible with next-generation sequencing. DASH, on the other hand, is a single-tube method for targeted depletion of undesired sequences and is reprogrammable for virtually any sample type.