DNA Damage Testing by Exogen Biotechnology

Exogen Biotechnology has some very cool technology that they have made available to the public.  Their test is able to show how many DNA breaks we have.  Yes, our DNA is breaking, and repairing, all the time.  They have kindly offered to analyze the results of victims of FQ toxicity together so that we can see how our DNA compares to that of the general population.

Information about Exogen Biotechnology can be found on their web site – http://exogenbio.com/

Kits can be ordered through the Exogen Biotechnology Indegogo site – http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/exogen-bio-how-damaged-is-your-dna

THE DEADLINE FOR ORDERING A KIT THROUGH THE INDEGOGO SITE IS MARCH 25, 2014.  (Sorry for the late notice!)

For those suffering from fluoroquinolone toxicity, there is a special opportunity just for you.  For information, please see Terry’s note below.

Here is a video about Exogen Biotechnology:

Here is some information, written By Terry Simpson Brosseau, about how this opportunity is applicable to Floxies:

Invitation to participate in a Fluoroquinolone DNA damage preliminary study
Exogen Biotechnology Inc (http://exogenbio.com/) has invited those suffering from Fluoroquinolone Toxicity to participate as citizen scientists in a preliminary study to see if Exogen’s technology can measure a difference in DNA damage levels between our group and their general population control group. If the preliminary study results in some compelling data, Exogen may follow up with a larger scale study.

Who is Exogen Biotechnology?
Exogen Biotechnology is a health startup aimed at developing cutting-edge technologies for individuals to monitor damage to their DNA and to assess their DNA repair capacities for the purposes of personalized and preventive health care. Exogen’s technological platform for assessing DNA damage and repair capacities was developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory by a team of scientists and engineers. Exogen was founded in 2012 to translate this new technology to enable rapid processing of human blood specimens and to make testing services affordable and accessible to the public.

How will this potentially help us?
If our DNA demonstrates that it has more damage than the general population, this could be huge in validating our condition. It might be the first step in developing a diagnostic tool for evaluating an individual’s degree of FQ Toxicity. It also might garner enough attention and interest within the scientific community to raise the alert level for Fluoroquinolone use. Exogen’s preliminary work has already demonstrated that DNA damage increases as we age and that former cancer patients had the highest level of DNA damage for their age group.

How is Exogen funded?

Exogen received an Innovation Grant from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In addition to some Angel Investors, Exogen is crowd funding from the public through their Indiegogo campaign. They do not have any ties to pharmaceutical companies or biotech companies and receive no funding from them.

What about privacy?
From their Indiegogo site: “We encourage you to share your personal data with us to link DNA damage
with specific diseases, and environmental and lifestyle factors, but it is not required. For your safety,
your questionnaire data and your results will be anonymized and kept private. We will ensure that
capturing and storing of your data will be HIPAA compliant. The reason for this citizen science study is to gather data to better learn about DNA damage.”  And, “Once we receive your samples, we will only analyze your blood for DNA double-strand break using our proprietary technology.  When we are done, we will safely and securely dispose of all samples.  High-resolution images, similar to an ultra high-resolution picture from a phone camera, of your blod cells, will be taken and securely stored.  We send your DNA double-strand break results to you securely.  That is your personal DNA data that will always be exportable.  We will use this data for research, but it will never be identifiable to you.”

Who can participate in the preliminary study?

Individuals from around the world, who are suffering from fluoroquinolone toxicity, are invited to participate.

Will it cost me anything?
Yes.  For a maximum of 80 people who have experienced Fluoroquinolone Toxicity, Exogen Biotechnology has offered a special rate.  For those living in the United States the cost is $50 USD. For our Canadian neighbors, the fee is $65 USD to cover international shipping charges. For those outside the US and Canada, the cost for the kit is $75.

In addition, I am well aware that cost can be a limiting factor for many of us – and for those who have
been most devastated by our condition, it can be nigh impossible. With that in mind, if you are
interested in participating in this study but can’t cover the entire cost, please email me (FQDNAStudy@gmail.com) with what you can contribute. In addition, for those who are financially able, please let me know if you are willing/able to “Fund-a-Floxie” in part as the need arises. If possible, I will see if I can match donor with donee costs.

I’m in! What do I do?
 Please email me (Terry) at FQDNAStudy@gmail.com with your name, shipping address.  You will be added to a Facebook group called FQ DNA Study Participants where information will be distributed.  You will also receive emails from Terry with information and instructions.
 The deadline for their Indiegogo campaign is March 25, 2014, so payments will need to be made
before that date (instructions to those 80 in the FQ study are to be distributed shortly). I would greatly appreciate it if you can let me know via the above email ASAP if you intend to participate.  Reminder – there are only 80 slots available for Floxies to get the special rate.  As of March 8, 2014, 63 participants had signed up.
 Please indicate if you have had the 23andMe, Myhill UK or any other genetic testing done and are willing to share it with Exogen.
 The blood test kits (finger prick) are estimated to be shipped out in June and July to all participants.

 In summary, I encourage you to read through the information on http://exogenbio.com/ and http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/exogen-bio-how-damaged-is-your-dna