Company Announcements

The Silicon Valley Business Journal reported on December 1 that Complete Genomics will lay off 179 workers in January 2016, and that the firm’s development of its Revolocity sequencer has been suspended. The company will now serve as an R&D facility for its owner, BGI.

HTG Molecular Diagnostics named James T. LaFrance, chairman of Vermillion, to its Board in December.

In December, LifeMap Sciences announced a collaboration agreement with MedGenome incorporating MedGenome’s OncoMD database for use by LifeMap clients.

China-based Novogene and Illumina entered into an agreement to jointly develop advanced clinical applications based on NGS for reproductive health and oncology. Novogene will provide its nucleic acid extraction, library preparation and data analysis software. Illumina will provide NGS instrument components and related reagents.

Bioinformatics firm Sophia Genetics closed a $15 million Series C financing round in December. Sophia supports 100 health care institutions and has 60 employees.

GoLocalProv.com reported in December that the assets of Nabsys, which shut down in September (see IBO 9/15/15), were acquired by former CEO Barrett Bready for $500,000 and $100,000 in assumed debt.

Product Introductions

Bioo Scientific introduced in November the NEXTflex Small RNA-Seq Kit v3, featuring a gel-free library preparation protocol allowing for low-input small RNA library preparation. It also incorporates randomized adapter technology to reduce bias introduced during ligation.

In December, PierianDx launched the PDX NGS Gateway Program, designed to provide sequencing services, analytics and reporting, and medical review. Four gene-set tests are currently offered: solid tumor, hematopoietic disorders, central nervous system tumors, and melanoma.

Bioline, a Meridian Bioscience subsidiary, introduced the JetSeq DNA Library Preparation Kit, the first product in a new line of kits for NGS sample preparation. Developed in collaboration with Oxford Gene Technology, it is designed for use with Illumina sequencers.

Illumina and bioMérieux launched, initially in Europe, the bioMérieux EpiSeq NGS services for epidemiological monitoring and control of healthcare-associated infections. The service utilizes Illumina’s MiSeq sequencer. The menu will initially consist of Staphylococcus aureus.

Sales/Orders of Note

In November, the San Antonio 1000 Cancer Genomes Projects, WuXi NextCODE and South Texas Accelerated Research Therapeutics announced a partnership that enables a city-wide cancer genomics effort. START, a Phase l medical oncology program through clinical sites, contracted WuXi NextCODE to sequence and interpret the samples.