Cofactor Genomics

Cofactor Genomics uses RNA to diagnose disease.

Cofactor Genomics is pioneering the use of RNA to diagnose disease. Cofactor Genomics is a Y Combinator-backed biotech company founded by former Washington Unversity Human Genome Project scientists. Cofactor has developed key genomic and big data products that earned it contracts with eight of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. At the core of Cofactor’s enabling technology is a machine learning based encoding of the RNA data into a new searchable and indexable format. This opens up a new language (and industry) based on RNA disease profiles (which Cofactor has the largest searchable DB of RNA disease patterns). While the rest of the industry is focused on how to interpret information from DNA, Cofactor’s scientists (each with 20 years in genomics) realized that the dynamic and information-rich molecule RNA could address many of the shortcomings inherent in DNA. The last three years have been focused on executing its plan to bring RNA-based technologies to drug development and personalized medicine. Cofactor has recently received both regional and global recognition in GenomeWeb, TechCrunch, and Wired Magazine.