Jose-Crispin Zavala Alvarado works at PathoQuest in France. They gave a presentation at London Calling 2024. The topic was “iDTECT Integration Site Analysis assay: a paradigm shift for the quality control of biologics in rare diseases.” This collaboration between PathoQuest and Oxford Nanopore was highly productive. It resulted in the launch of the first ONT-driven GMP-compliant characterization assay for biosafety testing. Using Cas9-sequencing for rare diseases allows for informative characterization of integration sites. This test, Zavala Alvarado noted, can be modular and expand the possible applications. Precise coordinates of a site and information about an inserted transgene are among the possibilities. The iDTECT workflow uses Cas9 to detect a variant site of interest. The assay was meticulously tested to be GMP-compliant. The assay has low sample input and generates valuable clinical data with rapid turnaround times.
