Seven startups fighting cancer

Roughly 7.6 million people in the world die due to cancer every year, according to the Center for Disease Control. Biotechnologists in the Greater Boston area are working to change that.

We’ve come up with a list of seven startups that are working on fighting the disease by improving its detection, developing computer models to better understand it with big data, and finding new ways to cure it.

Biolom LLC

Formally NUChip LLC., Biolom produces “low-cost micron-scale biosensors’’ for diagnosing and monitoring diseases. “Our prototype has been tested in animal models for monitoring colorectal cancer and early detection of cardiovascular diseases,’’ the company wrote on its website. The company is currently working on raising venture capital to conduct clinical trials.

ASK Diagnostics Inc.

Based in Woburn, ASK Diagnostics has developed and patented technology to detect a cancer-making protein in the early stages of the disease regardless of its form.

Sextant Therapeutics Inc.

Sextant Therapeutics Inc. is “developing personalized cancer therapies that trigger the tumor to recruit the patient’s own cancer-killing immune response,’’ the company wrote. “Instead of simply trying to kill the tumor, we have created a way for tumors to dynamically trigger an immune response against cancer, and our technologies help us discover the best drug combinations to prevent relapse.’’

OmniCyte

OmniCyte is working on a cure to acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children. The company is working through an LLS grant for its research.

Akrivis Technologies

Founded in 2009, Akrivis Technologies is located in Cambridge. It has developed the Z-TECT Technology Platform to detect cancer in its early stages, increasing the likelihood of the person being “cured easier, faster, and with less toxic drugs,’’ the company wrote.

Cellanyx Diagnostics

Cellanyx is developing a way to diagnose prostate cancer earlier to allow doctors and patients “to make personalized and cost-effective treatment decisions.’’

GNS Healthcare

GNS recently announced that it will work with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Mouth Sinai School of Medicine in New York to better understand multiple myeloma. The Kendall Square company will take a closer look at the blood cancer by creating a computer model through its Reverse Engineering and Forward Simulation platform. The model will then be used to discover new cellular targets and new therapies for the disease, Xonomy reported.