CLEANA: A Nanomachine for Genome-Wide Chromatin Profiling for Research and Diagnostics

Funded by the NTNU Discovery Pilot Project and NTNU Discovery Main Project

Genome architecture and epigenetics are fundamental to how genes are regulated in mammalian cells, and the global epigenetics research and diagnostics market grew rapidly over the course of this project, driven by rising cancer rates, an aging population, and expanding applications in personalized medicine.

This NTNU Discovery project, led by the Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine in collaboration with the Department of Chemical Engineering, developed CLEANA — a novel nanomachine that combined functionalized magnetic nanoparticles with a targeted enzymatic system to enable fast, sensitive, and cost-effective epigenetic chromatin profiling. The technology supports both single-locus and genome-wide profiling of chromatin modifications across a wide range of sample types, including cultured cells, tissues, organoids, and patient samples.

Building on promising results from an earlier pilot phase, this main project successfully established and optimized CLEANA protocols across multiple cell types and tissues, delivering a faster, more sensitive, and less resource-intensive alternative to conventional chromatin profiling methods. The technology demonstrated strong potential for research and diagnostic applications in areas such as cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic disease, immunology, and neurology.