Mira Dx landed a $1 million investment from Connecticut Innovations.

The stake in the New Haven, Conn.-based biomarker technology firm’s $4 million Series A round will help the company launch its PreOvar ovarian cancer test.

The test screens for the KRAS-variant using samples of a patient’s saliva or blood. The variant is found in 25 percent to 30 percent of women with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer and in more than 60 percent of ovarian cancer victims from hereditary breast and ovarian cancer families who are negative for other known markers for the disease. Ovarian cancer is the fourth-leading cause of cancer death among American women.

Mira Dx licensed the MiRNA technology for the test from Yale University. MiRNAs are genetic regulators that control cell development; scientists have linked them to certain cancers.

Connecticut Innovations is a quasi-public organization that invests in early-stage Connecticut-based technology companies and collaborations between universities and industry. Its managing director of investments, Dave Wurzer, will join Mira Dx’s board.