The Challenge:

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- Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, is known as ‘Australia’s National Cancer’ and kills 5 people per day – more than the road toll.
- Melanoma is the leading cause of cancer death in people aged 20-39yrs.
- Current methods of diagnosing melanoma are subjective, resulting in 1 out of 6 melanomas being misdiagnosed.
- Unlike other common cancers, the mortality rate of melanoma is increasing – and is 33% more deadly now than it was in the 1980s
- Over $1 billion is spent on skin cancer procedures and treatment every year in Australia, more than any other cancer type – yet death rates continue to increase.
(Part Of) The Solution:
Geneseq Biosciences have identified a genetic fingerprint of malignant melanoma that can be measured using a standard blood test – or from excised skin biopsy tissue.

Melaseq™ is a new approach to detecting and more precisely diagnosing melanoma.
The test is being developed as a genomic blood and skin biopsy test which will assist doctors to diagnose and monitor melanoma more accurately and objectively.
The test measures a panel of 38 microRNAs, which are a recently-discovered class of genes that have key functionality both inside and outside of cells.
The ability to detect microRNAs in disease-specific combinations makes them ideal candidates for differentiating between healthy and cancerous states.
The 38 molecular markers that comprise the Melaseq test, perform key roles in cancer development and invasion:
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- Angiogenesis & inflammation (3 markers)
- Immune/drug resistance (11 markers)
- Tumour growth (8 markers)
- Invasion/metastasis (16 markers)
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Geneseq Biosciences believes that by incorporating a molecular biomarker of melanoma with existing imaging and histopathology techniques, doctors will be able to more accurately diagnose melanoma with fewer unnecessary, costly and sometimes disfiguring, biopsies.