A Windsor-based bio-med startup is leading the country in DNA sequencing for cancer diagnosis.
ITOS Oncology is based in a space at Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare.
They use specialized equipment to sequence DNA at a level of detail only found in research labs in Canada.
Company Founder Dr. Govindaraja (Raj) Atikukke says there's only one other centre in North America offering this kind of testing commercially.
He says the genetic information they can pinpoint goes well beyond what's being done currently.
"The goal of ITOS is to see what is known" says Atikukke. "Very, targeted, focused group of genes so we can give that as information, relevant information to the patients at a reasonably low cost"
He says this is the first time this kind of targeted information is available for cancer treatment.
Dr. Atikukke says the more specific the diagnosis and sequencing is, the more effective cancer treatment will be.
Identifying specific targets and triggers allows the oncologist to personalize treatment for an individual treatment.
Dr. Lisa Porter, Dr. Rasna Gupta, Dr. Sabeena Misra, Dr. Raj Atikukke, Dr. Caroline Hamm (by AM800's Peter Langille)
There is a cost of about $1000 for each sample sequence, which is currently paid for by the patient because OHIP has not authorized it yet.
HDGH officials make it clear ITOS is paying rent for their space and the hospital has not provided any equipment, it's all been supplied by ITOS.