UW, Third Wave forge research partnership

Third Wave Technologies, Inc. and UW–Madison announced today, Feb. 6, that they have entered into a collaboration that will encourage new research to identify and treat genetic origins of disease.

The collaboration will provide UW–Madison researchers with broad access to Third Wave’s Invader operating system for single nucleotide polymorphism detection and gene expression analysis. It will provide Third Wave with future opportunities for technology development and product commercialization.

“This collaboration will amplify the connection between a great research university and a leading-edge genomics company,” says Virginia Hinshaw, dean of the Graduate School and senior research officer. “Both institutions have common research interests and successes to build on in understanding the genetic basis of disease.”

Third Wave has natural ties to UW–Madison, since it originated from university research and is based at University Research Park, Hinshaw says.

“This is yet another initiative to expand the reach of our platform to identify valuable targets that may be useful in identifying the genetic cause of diseases and therapeutic candidates for treatment,” says Lance Fors, CEO of Third Wave. “Like the other relationships we have established with leading academic institutions, we believe our relationship with UW–Madison will help speed the identification of the genetic basis of disease.”

Third Wave has other collaborations with leading genome research and medical genetics institutes to use Invader technology for large-scale studies, including the Sanger Centre, Stanford, Cambridge and Oxford universities.

UW–Madison has a variety of active research projects in genomics, including sequencing work on disease-causing microbes and the genes associated with cancer and aging. The biological sciences are one of UW–Madison’s strengths, with approximately 800 faculty and 2,000 graduate students working in more than 60 different departments and research centers.

Third Wave develops and provides DNA and RNA analysis products for use in genome research, pharmacogenomics and clinical applications.