Oxford Nanopore Expands Norwegian Collaboration on Rapid Brain Cancer Classification
Norway is rolling out to multiple hospitals a method for classifying CNS tumors via methylation and taking steps to make it routine within its healthcare system.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies and MATRIX, Norway’s national cancer research center, are expanding their collaboration to implement rapid nanopore sequencing for central nervous system tumour classification across that country’s public healthcare system.
The program will expand use of a method for quickly classifying brain tumors by their DNA methylation patterns using direct detection capabilities of Oxford Nanopore’s instruments.
That method was validated in Phase 1 of the collaboration on 50 CNS tumor samples at Oslo University Hospital.
Phase 2 will see more use of that method at Oslo University Hospital as well as Haukeland University Hospital and St. Olavs Hospital, with further expansion planned. The program is supported by Norway’s Regional Health Authorities and the Norwegian Cancer Society, and encompasses training, laboratory information system integration, logistics, bioinformatics validation and diagnostic pathway development.
Beyond CNS tumor classification, the collaboration will extend into somatic and germline variant detection, copy number variant benchmarking, single-cell transcriptomics, and genome-wide methylation analysis. Oslo University Hospital will also pursue regulatory clearances for the CNS tumor classification assay.
“The expansion of the MATRIX program from evaluation to national implementation demonstrates both the clinical readiness and the value of Oxford Nanopore sequencing for precision oncology,” Tonya McSherry, a commercial executive at Oxford Nanopore, in a statement. “Norway is showing how rapid, scalable, and comprehensive genomic insights can be embedded into routine healthcare, providing a blueprint for others considering national sequencing programs.”
The agreement marks another step towards bringing nanopore sequencing to the clinic and highlights an application where Oxford Nanopore faces little competition. The company’s instruments can read methylation directly and quickly; moreover, the technology allows a sort of digital panel where reads that do not match a pre-established list of targets are ejected before completing sequencing, raising efficiency and speed.
In some cases, researchers have been able to classify brain tumors within hours: fast enough that the information can inform medical decision making while a patient is still on the operating table.
Oslo University Hospital plans to submit documentation required under the European Union’s In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR) by the end of 2026. That documentation, combined with validation data and economic analyses, is intended to establish a pathway for routine clinical use within Norway’s public health system.