Orbit Genomics is a precision healthcare company built around the patented, AI-enabled OrbiSeq™ platform, enabling clinically actionable products spanning diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and healthy aging. Unlike conventional genomics, which primarily analyzes genes and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), OrbiSeq unlocks a previously inaccessible layer of genomic biology through genome-wide analysis of short tandem repeats (STRs). By combining STRs with SNPs, OrbiSeq captures both inherited risk and active disease biology, providing insights unavailable through conventional genomics.

Our lead product, OrbiSeq-L™, is the first blood test accurate enough to diagnose early-stage lung cancer in patients with indeterminate pulmonary nodules (IPNs). By providing a rapid, accurate, non-invasive diagnosis, OrbiSeq-L addresses a significant unmet clinical need while validating the broader capabilities of the OrbiSeq platform.

While lung cancer is our commercial beachhead, OrbiSeq is a scalable precision healthcare platform with demonstrated applications across multiple diseases and therapeutic areas. Leveraging a single underlying genomics platform, Orbit Genomics is developing a pipeline of clinically actionable products extending well beyond oncology.

What are Short Tandem Repeats, STRs?

Short tandem repeats (STRs) are short, repetitive DNA sequences composed of repeating units one to six base pairs in length. They are found throughout the human genome in both coding and non-coding regions. For example, the DNA sequence “CAGCAGCAGCAGCAG” contains a “CAG” motif repeated five times. There are approximately one million STRs in the human genome.

Historically, STRs have been used for forensic identification and paternity testing because they vary among individuals. Today, they are also recognized as important regulators of gene regulation, genome stability, DNA repair, and cellular responses to stress, providing biologically important information unavailable through conventional genomics.

Unlike conventional genomics, which primarily analyzes genes and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), OrbiSeq™ accurately analyzes STRs across the genome. Conventional sequencing technologies cannot accurately analyze STRs genome-wide, leaving a previously inaccessible layer of biology largely unexplored. OrbiSeq’s patented, AI-enabled platform overcomes this limitation, unlocking clinically actionable biology for precision healthcare.

How are they different from other DNA sequence variations in the human genome?

For decades, genomics has focused primarily on genes and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). While SNPs have identified important disease-associated genes and improved our understanding of inherited genetic risk, they often fail to explain the development and progression of complex diseases or provide clinically actionable information for otherwise healthy individuals. This reflects a fundamental limitation of conventional genomics—it misses biologically important information beyond genes and SNPs.

Short tandem repeats (STRs) are fundamentally different from SNPs. Unlike SNPs, which are relatively static genetic variants that primarily reflect inherited genetic risk, STRs are dynamic, stress-responsive regions of DNA that influence gene regulation, genome stability, and DNA repair. As a result, STRs capture both inherited risk and active disease biology, providing biologically important information unavailable through conventional genomics.

By integrating genome-wide STR analysis with SNPs, OrbiSeq™ provides a more comprehensive understanding of human health than conventional genomics alone. This unique capability unlocks a previously inaccessible layer of biology, enabling clinically actionable products spanning diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and healthy aging.