Thermo Fisher Scientific has formed the Immuno-Oncology Consortium to drive adoption of highly sensitive, next-generation sequencing (NGS) clinical research panels designed to help identify predictive and prognostic biomarkers associated with cancer immunotherapy.

Recognizing this shift towards a multi-targeted approach to detect a broad set of gene variants with a single panel, the company has also launched the Ion AmpliSeq Immune Repertoire Assay Plus, TCR beta and expanded its portfolio of liquid biopsy assays for analysis of cell-free nucleic acid (cfNA) in lung and breast cancer.

Led in collaboration with Dr. Sabine Merkelbach-Bruse from the Institute of Pathology of the University of Cologne, the Immuno-Oncology Consortium brings together a prestigious group of clinical researchers from renowned institutions in Europe.

The consortium will initially spearhead efforts to validate Thermo Fisher's previously launched Oncomine Immune Response Research Assay with the expectation to extend studies with the new immune repertoire assay and an application to interrogate tumor mutational burden currently under development by Thermo Fisher.