Genetadi team in charge
of the project

Genetadi Biotech, specialising in human genetic analysis, has developed a genetic test called Neuroarray, which provides paediatricians with a new diagnosis tool that is able to identify, in just five days, hundreds of rare syndromes and diseases caused by genomic and chromosomal alterations related to the central nervous system, including cases of idiopathic mental retardation (with unknown causes) and autism spectrum disorders.

Neuroarray “improves the genetic diagnosis of idiopathic mental retardation, because it identifies the cause of the disease where all former diagnosis methods offer negative results. This means that around 33 % of children who were not properly diagnosed can have their disease accurately identified, thus enabling them to receive a suitable treatment”, explains Dr José Luis Castrillo, permanent scientist at the Spanish National Research Council-CSIC and co-director of Genetadi Biotech.

The new device is used with patients over 3 years with moderate to severe mental retardation and in patients under 3 with psychomotor development problems, with or without growth alterations (symmetrical hyper- or hypo-growth), macro or microcephaly, non-family-based facial dysmorphia, and more important congenital defects in other organs outside the central nervous system).

Based on a saliva swab from the patient and the parents, molecular karyotyping is carried out, technically known as array comparative genomic hybridisation (aCGH), and which, for example, multiplies tenfold the diagnosis possibilities in cases of idiopathic retardation. It also uses a high resolution scanner (frequency of one million) and its own software to interpret the results of the analysis”.

The new device enables a more direct, precise diagnosis and at a lower global cost, and has a genetic advice service which includes treatment possibilities, psychopedagogical support and neuromotor stimulation. The Neuroarray also has contrasted clinical validation and is already being used successfully in private and public health.