Quantitative imaging and genomics merge with CorTechs Labs and HLI database

Kathy Mahdoubi | | Health Imaging | Molecular Imaging

CorTechs Labs, a quantitative imaging technology company in San Diego, is teaming up with the genomics and therapeutics group Human Longevity Inc. (HLI) to align their data into a comprehensive phenotyping database.

HLI is combining mcrobiome sequencing, metabolomics, proteomics and genomics with CorTechs Labs’ quantitative technology. Researchers at CorTechs made a name for themselves with NeuroQuant, quantitative MRI software used to analyze brain atrophy in patients with Alzheimer’s, epilepsy and other neurodegenerative diseases. These systems are FDA cleared and in over 150 clinical settings.

"HLI's goal is to revolutionize healthcare using the most advanced tools available for predicting, preventing and treating disease, and imaging is a critical component for this," said J. Craig Venter, PhD, cofounder and chief executive officer of HLI, in a press release. “The image analysis tools CorTechs has developed and brought to market are ideal to translate imaging data into quantifiable phenotypes that can scale to a project of this size."

In another announcement, HLI has brought in a team of high-powered advisers with strong research and regulatory backgrounds, including Brad Perkins, MD, previously from Vanguard Health Systems. Perkins is now HLI’s chief medical officer in charge of clinical and therapeutic operations, such as collecting and utilizing phenotypic data and developing stem cell therapies and clinical business.

James Brewer, MD, PhD, associate professor of radiology and neurosciences at University of California, San Diego, is also a medical adviser for CorTechs Labs. "Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging can be applied to multiple organs, since there is no radiation exposure, and can also be applied in screening strategies for catching and preventing disease at its earliest stages," he said in the release. "It shows tremendous promise in cancer screening, determining cardiovascular risk, and assessing other diseases of aging, and can even be applied for earlier diagnosis of pediatric illnesses."

 

Kathy Mahdoubi

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