DURHAM, N.C. – EA, long known as an industry leader in adopting new genomic technologies announced today that is has begun offering sequencing services on Pacific Biosciences’ PacBio RS system. EA is the first US commercial service provider to offer sequencing on this platform and PacBio selected EA to be their recommended North American commercial service provider for the pharmaceutical market segment.

With the addition of this revolutionary technology, clients of EA can gain new insights into fundamental underlying biological processes with a DNA sequencing platform that provides advantages such as ultra-long readlengths and the ability to detect kinetic information that are not available with any other existing technologies.

“Advances in sequencing technology have provided enormous advantages to the research community. The PacBio RS will play a critical role in helping our clients identify genetic elements that are important to enhance the understanding of disease and improve human health,” said Steve McPhail, President & CEO of EA. “We are excited to have incorporated this technology into our laboratory and look forward to introducing it to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries as their preferred sequencing service provider.

“Given their deep expertise working with new and emerging genomic technologies and the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, EA is a natural fit to be our recommended commercial partner for providing sequencing services to the drug discovery and development market,” said Pat Brooks, Vice President of Sales for Pacific Biosciences. “We believe this arrangement will be of great value to customers looking to take advantage of the unique benefits of single molecule, real-time (SMRT™) sequencing through a trusted service provider.”

The company has various projects in-house ranging from viral and bacterial sequencing with a large pharmaceutical client and numerous academic institutions to plant and animal studies with both governmental and commercial organizations. Interest and excitement has been building since EA originally announced their intent to purchase a system. Initial applications will include de novo and hybrid assembly, pathogen identification and targeted resequencing.

About Expression Analysis

Expression Analysis (www.ExpressionAnalysis.com) provides whole genome to focused set gene expression and genotyping assays along with DNA sequencings services, sequence enrichment technologies and bioinformatics support. Platforms utilized include Affymetrix GeneChip® and GeneTitan®, Fluidigm’s Biomark and Access Array Systems, Illumina BeadChip® and Genome Analyzer, Technologies RDT 1000 and the Pacific Biosciences PacBio RS. Expression Analysis offers solutions for challenging specimens such as whole blood and FFPE tissues, as well as nucleic acid isolation and data analysis services. Our quality system follows CLSI guidelines and our CLIA-registered laboratory supports GLP compliance.