FORT COLLINS - Colorado State University's Cancer Supercluster has spun off a company focused on detecting DNA damage using "paint" technology.

KromaTiD Inc., founded by three CSU professors and two additional partners, developed a process that assists doctors in identifying people at risk of developing cancer, improve treatments and even uncover unknown causes of mental retardation and infertility. The technology "paints" chromosomes to show minute details that occur when they break and reform, sometimes in incorrect ways.

"Small inversions are virtually invisible to all current cytogenetic techniques, but we know inversions occur frequently and that they are related to a variety of diseases, including leukemia, thyroid cancer and hypertension," said Susan Bailey, a co-founder of KromaTiD and professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences' Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, in a prepared statement. "Scientists have tools to 'paint' chromosomes, or color them with various florescent dyes, that help them see when pieces from different chromosomes reattach incorrectly to each other, but until now they have not been very good at seeing pieces that are flipped around within the same chromosome."

The company has received start-up assistance through CSU's Cancer Supercluster and its business development arm, NeoTREX. Support has included technology transfer, guiding them through filing patents, licensing and ongoing business development needs.