MOGene creates spinoff lab targeting personalized medicine

Genomic services company MOgene LC has launched a spinoff aimed at establishing a footprint in the growing field of personalized medicine.

Called MOgeneDx, the company became operational two weeks ago and is providing diagnostics services out of a lab adjacent to its parent company’s facilities in Bio-Research & Development Growth (BRDG) Park, at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. At the helm of MOGeneDx is Dun Liang, who had previously worked as a post-doctoral researcher with the National Institutes of Health in Maryland.

Shaukat Rangwala, MOgene senior vice president for operations, said his company found Liang through a headhunter and pursued him because of his expertise in the HIV virus, which is the central focus of MOgeneDx’s early operations. While parent company MOgene concentrates on a wide array of genomic services — including sequencing, bioinformatics and RNA isolation on a range of organisms from humans to plants — MOgeneDx’s diagnostic service focuses on the genome of viruses.

[St. Louis Business Journal]