Woburn Company Expands Sequencing Services for Marijuana Industry

WOBURN, MA – As Massachusetts joins the ranks of states considering legalization of recreational marijuana, businesses of many kinds are eyeing ways to get in on the potential profit.

Woburn-based Medicinal Genomics Corporation is one of them.

As reported in the Boston Business Journal, the genomics company is turning its DNA sequencing tools toward medical and recreational marijuana to help test quality and identify strains.

After piloting it services in Colorado, Medicinal Genomics Corp. announced this week it is partnering with a dozen marijuana manufacturers nationwide this week. They'll work to develop "fully-validated, genomics-based safety and quality standards for medical cannabis," a company press release said.

In addition to pondering the possibility of recreational legalization, via ballot question this November, Massachusetts already counts itself as one of several states where medicinal marijuana is legal.

“We set out to ask, what questions can we answer with DNA?” said Kevin McKernan, chief scientific officer for Medicinal Genomics, told the Business Journal. “The first thing that became apparent in the market is people are tired of not knowing what strain they are dealing with."

In short, people want to know a little more about what they're about to smoke than the fact that the strain is called "purple haze."

>>> Read the full story in The Boston Business Journal

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