About Biomarker Discovery Center Heidelberg
The Biomarker Discovery Center Heidelberg (bdc) was initiated by febit biomed GmbH as part of the Biotech Excellence Cluster Rhine Neckar (BioRN), one of the leading life science clusters in Europe. As one of the top 5 high tech clusters in Germany, the BioRN was recently granted 40 million Euros of funds by the BMBF. The Center is a novel platform for innovative genomic biomarker discovery and validation studies based on cutting-edge molecular profiling and Next Generation Sequencing technologies.
Its main goal is to integrate the medical expertise of clinical researchers and the technological advances provided by febit in a way that enables scientific and clinical institutions to perform large scale biomarker studies and benefit from the collective knowledge.
The bdc facilitates the accomplishment of clinical case-control studies with established biomarker testing methods routinely applied to any disease of interest. With the discovery of biomarkers and the development of predictive or diagnostic signatures these studies might provide the basis for early diagnostic testing, detection and assessment of disease progression. This is essential for successful disease management, especially in tumor patients where timely therapeutic interventions are extremely critical.
Currently the bdc platform conducts two types of studies: Targeted highthroughput sequencing (based on next generation sequencing) and miRNA based Biomarker signature studies . To this end, the bdc uses innovative technologies like febits HybSelect and Geniom technology and ABIs Solid and Taqman.
