After more than 15 years in the biosciences industry, Jeff Roma and Matt Ryan launched their own laboratory in Jessup to fill a void for physicians in the region.
“We’re more like a boutique service,” Ryan said. “You can call us and you’re not going to get a menu with 15 different options. You’re going to speak with someone in the lab regarding your patient in a very timely manner.”
Roma, 46, of Downingtown, and Ryan, 53, of Factoryville, anticipate opening US-Biosciences inside the TekRidge Center on Alberigi Drive sometime in June.
The approximately 2,000-square-foot molecular diagnostic laboratory will eventually employ 10 to 15 people, officials said.
Ryan believes Northeast Pennsylvania was an ideal spot to establish the business.
“I think we’re a forgotten area of the country, just because there’s a lot of elderly people,” he said. “But it’s also a great place to be in the sense that the testing we do is geared toward the Medicare population. We allow doctors to prescribe the medications that are going to best work for that patient rather than just kind of throwing a dart at an invisible dart board. There is a need for this testing in this area, and all over the country. Everybody has genetic information. It will allow doctors to get more proactive and preemptive to prevent further disease or deterioration.”
The co-founders first established a smaller lab on the same road about six or seven years ago before deciding to expand and start US-Biosciences at TekRidge, Roma said.
“They invested a lot of money into the infrastructure,” Ryan said. “It’s a great place for a growing company to be, plus there’s some tax advantages with the (Keystone Opportunity Zone) KOZ program.”
The laboratory — powered by the PacBio Vega HiFi long-read sequencing system — a platform previously only accessible through large national labs offers greater than 99.9% pre-read accuracy, US-Biosciences officials said.
“You can go a lot deeper and basically mine a lot more data as it relates to that patient’s conditions,” Ryan said. “Out of the gates, there is going to be hereditary cancer testing. If you have a relative, sibling or parent that has any form of cancer, a large portion of it is hereditary. We can basically look at that patient’s genetics and say you either do and do not have a higher risk of this specific cancer based off this alteration in a specific gene.”
Ryan added pharmacogenomics — a test that looks at the medications the patient is taking and matches them against their individual, unique physiology based on their genetics — may be the most useful one.
“This basically allows the doctor to optimize everything specifically for that individual rather than just lump summing everybody into the same category,” he said. “It’s a once in a lifetime test because your genomic information is never going to change. I think if Medicare were to mandate that every single patient who is on two or more meds gets this test, it would probably save billions of dollars every year.”
Another test will examine hereditary conditions for your metabolism like how your body processes nutrients and substances, Ryan added.
“If someone has a deficiency in an enzyme that breaks down carbohydrates, they’re probably going to end up with diabetes or something related to blood sugar issues,” he said.