Invitae

Key takeaways

Invitae belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Invitae to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Invitae from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Invitae Corp. is a biotechnology company that was created as a subsidiary of Genomic Health in 2010 and then spun-off in 2012. In 2017, Invitae acquired Good Start Genetics and CombiMatrix. In 2020, Invitae announced the acquisition of ArcherDX for $1.4 billion. In 2021, Invitae announced the acquisition of health care AI startup Ciitizen for $325 million. In early 2024, Invitae filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and later announced an agreement for an acquisition by Labcorp.

CombiMatrix Corp. CombiMatrix Corp. (Nasdaq: CBMX) was a clinical diagnostic laboratory specializing in pre-implantation genetic screening, miscarriage analysis, prenatal and pediatric diagnostics, offering DNA-based testing for the detection of genetic abnormalities beyond what can be identified through traditional methodologies. As a full-scale cytogenetic and cytogenomic laboratory, CombiMatrix performs genetic testing utilizing a variety of advanced cytogenomic techniques, including chromosomal microarray analysis, standardized and customized fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and high-resolution karyotyping. CombiMatrix is dedicated to providing high-level clinical support for healthcare professionals in order to help them incorporate the results of complex genetic testing into patient-centered medical decision making. In 2012 CombiMatrix shifted its focus from providing oncology genetic testing to developmental testing. Their focus is cytogenomic miscarriage analysis, prenatal analysis and postnatal/pediatric analysis.

History In the mid-1990s, a PhD from Caltech invented a method of analyzing and immobilizing genetic material on the surface of a modified semiconductor wafer. The CombiMatrix microarray ("CombiMatrix" refers to combinatorial chemistry on a matrix array) was born and received US patents in the late '90s. Located in Mukilteo, Washington, the company received several rounds of private financings and filed to go public in November 2000. Unfortunately, CombiMatrix missed its "IPO window" by a few months due to the turmoil that was happening in the financial markets in late 2000 and early 2001, and then the events of Sept. 11 2001 put the final "nail in the coffin" to the company's fundraising plans at the time. So, CombiMatrix shifted gears and began pursuing several funded R&D projects to further develop its proprietary microarray technology with outside entities such as Roche Applied Sciences in Europe, biotech researchers in Japan as well as the U.S. Department of Defense. In late 2002, CombiMatrix merged with and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Acacia Research Corporation of Newport Beach, California. From 2002 to 2007, CombiMatrix continued its commercial development of "CustomArray" as it was called and began selling its DNA synthesis instruments and arrays to various R&D facilities throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. In an effort to diversify the company from the "tools" R&D sector, the company created CombiMatrix Molecular Diagnostics, Inc. and opened a diagnostics lab in Irvine, California, which was originally led by former US Labs employees with the intent of entering the much larger clinical diagnostics market using its proprietary microarray platform for oncology-related diagnostic services. CMD then branched into pediatric diagnostic testing by introducing other array technologies beyond the CustomArray platform. In 2007, CombiMatrix spun out from Acacia Research Corp. and became an independent public company in August of that year. By 2010, the clinical lab business was showing promise, while the legacy CustomArray tools business was not achieving the commercial success that was needed to grow the company. As a result, the CombiMatrix Board made the difficult decision to scuttle the CustomArray tools business in Washington state and instead focus all commercial and operational resources on the diagnostic services business in California. By the end of 2010, the Irvine CLIA lab was the sole remaining commercial operations of CombiMatrix. Since that time, the company has launched several different genetic diagnostic tests in oncology, pediatric disorders and reproductive health, with the latter becoming the primary growth engine of the Company in recent years. As our Board has often said over the past three years in particular, we have become a "real, commercial company" at CombiMatrix. The company's recent success over the past 16 quarters of consistently increasing revenue and collections while decreasing costs and cash burn led to the successful sale of CombiMatrix to Invitae in November 2017. On February 5, 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that the company was preparing to file for bankruptcy. The following day, the New York Stock Exchange announced it was delisting the company's stock and trading halted. On February 13, 2024, Invitae declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New Jersey.

CombiSNP Array CombiMatrix uses the CombiSNP Array as their technology platform. SNP stands for Single nucleotide polymorphism probes. These probes allow for increased precision and greater diagnostic yield. This array contains more than 845,000 SNP markers covering both coding and non-coding human genome sequences. The median spatial resolution between probes is 1 Kb within gene rich regions and 5 Kb outside of gene-rich regions.

References

External links Official website Business data for Invitae Corporation:

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Invitae

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Invitae claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Invitae before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Invitae ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Invitae

In research: Invitae appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Invitae in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Invitae is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2024, Microarrays, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Invitae outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Invitae in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Invitae means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Invitae out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Invitae in simple terms?

Invitae Corp. is a biotechnology company that was created as a subsidiary of Genomic Health in 2010 and then spun-off in 2012. In 2017, Invitae acquired Good Start Genetics and CombiMatrix.

Why does Invitae matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Invitae?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Invitae.