Company Announcements

In September, Illumina announced an agreement with Advanced Analytical Technologies to support collaborations and comarketing activities.

1CellBiO signed in September a reseller and license agreement with Hangzhou Chengyuan Genomics for its inDrop instrument for single-cell RNA sequencing.

In October, Pacific Biosciences integrated its de novo assembly pipeline onto Bluebee’s genomics analysis platform.

10x Genomics announced in October a partnership agreement with the Human Cell Atlas international consortium to help enable pilot projects. Consortium collaboration members will be able to purchase the 10x Chromium Single Cell 3’ and 5’ RNA Analysis Solutions at discounted prices. The company will also provide technical solutions.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced in October that its Oncomine Dx Target Test, an NGS-based companion diagnostic for non-small cell lung cancer, received a positive coverage decision by Regence Blue Cross/Blue Shield. This makes it available to members in four states.

In October, Fabric Genomics announced partnerships with Genomics England, Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine and the Utah Genome Project to provide identification of pediatric disease causing variants to improve the clinical care of children using its Opal Clinical platform.

Edico Genome and Fabric Genomics announced in October a collaboration to provide an integrated solution for secondary and tertiary analysis of NGS data by utilizing Edico’s DRAGEN Bio-IT platform with Fabric Genomics’ Opal Clinical variant interpretation platform.

Edico Genomics announced in November an affiliation with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The Hospital has validated DRAGEN’s Germline V1 pipeline, and will begin utilizing the pipeline for clinical exome sequencing tests for patients in urgent need for diagnosis.

Pacific Biosciences named Kathy Ordoñez as COO and executive vice president in October.

ReadCoor, developer of Fluorescence in situ Sequencing (FISSEQ) spatial sequencing technology, announced in November a collaboration with the Joint Pathology Center, a pathology reference center for the US government.

In its third quarter results SEC filing, Bio-Rad Laboratories disclosed that it has shut down its GnuBIO operation (see IBO 4/15/14).

Genialis, a provider of cloud software for the visual exploration of NGS data, closed a $2.3 million seed round in November. The round was co-led by Redalpine Venture Capital and First Star Venture Capital.

In November, Global Gene, a genomics data platform and applications firm, announced a collaboration with the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and the Richard J. Solove Research Institute, Department of Radiation, to develop a better understanding of rare cancers in South Asian and Indian populations.

LGC Genomics signed a distribution agreement with Diagenode in November for Diagenode’s sonication systems for DNA fragmentation. The agreement covers EMEA, South America and Canada for clinical and agricultural biotech market segments and the US for the agricultural biotech sector.

In November, Base4 Innovation announced the closing of an oversubscribed funding round, capped at £5 million ($7 million), led by Longwall Ventures. Base4 is developing a microdroplet-based sequencing method that generates long reads from a single molecule of DNA without the need for initial amplification. The company currently has 32 employees.

Microbe firm Biomillenia announced in November a collaboration with QIAGEN for use of QIAGEN’s Microbial Genomics Pro Suite to generate NGS data on microbes.

Partek and Lexogen announced in November a collaboration resulting in a new analysis pipeline based on their respective Partek-Flow software and QuantSeq 3’ Library Prep Kits.

In November, LGC and NuGEN entered into a collaboration agreement for the commercialization of the NuGEN’s Single Primer Target Enrichment Technology (SPET) and distribution of NuGEN’s Allegro Targeted Genotyping reagents for NGS library preparation. The technology is well suited to address large-scale genotyping in agrigenomics. The agreement supports LGC’s SPET-based SeqSNP services.

Product Introductions

In September, Lexogen launched the SLAMseq product family for high-throughput metabolic sequencing of RNA, developed in collaboration with Austria’s Institute of Molecular Biotechnology. SLAMseq can differentiate between nascent RNA and existing RNA versus standard RNA-Seq, which measure total steady-state RNA levels only. Sampling at different time points reveals the complete in vivo and transcriptome-wide kinetics of RNA synthesis and degradation.

Phase Genomics introduced the ProxiMeta Hi-C metagenome deconvolution product, featuring what it calls the first commercially available Hi-C kit. Using an enhanced version of the chromatic capture technique Hi-C, it measures the physical structure of microbial genomes while their cells are still intact.

iGenomX released in October Riptide High-Throughput Rapid Library Prep (HT-RLP), enabling users to create up to 960 high-quality NGS libraries using a low-cost, scalable solution. It is intended for use on small genomes and synthetic DNA constructs.

In October, Swift Biosciences unveiled the Accel-Amplicon Custom NGS Panels to enable clinical researchers to rapidly design highly focused panels to discover, validate and screen disease genes and their variants. It requires only 10 ng of sample input, features an under two-hour library prep workflow, and supports either the Ion Torrent or Illumina platform. By partnering with Genialis, Swift integrates alignment, trimming, QC and variant calling into one pipeline.

In November, Dolomite Bio launched the open, scalable Nadia single-cell platform, a touchscreen-controlled, droplet-based microfluidic platform for single-cell research. One, 2, 4 or 8 samples can be run in parallel, generating up to six thousand high-quality single-cell libraries per sample in approximately 15 minutes.

In October, Illumina debuted the NovaSeq S4 flow cell, reagent kit and NovaSeq Xp workflow for its NovaSeq 6000 System. The flow cell delivers up to 6 TB of output in two days, with users sequencing up to 48 human genomes or 384 exomes per run in less than 40 hours. The NovaSeq Xp enables users to load libraries directly into the individual lanes of the flow cells.

Illumina introduced in November the NextSeq 550Dx, its second FDA-regulated CE-IVD marked platform for the clinical lab. It includes diagnostic and research modes. The setup for different applications are fully integrated in the system’s software. The company also provided an updated intended use for its MiSeq Dx instrument to include the use of DNA libraries generated from FFPE tissues. For the MiSeq Dx, Illumina launched the regulated MiSeqDx Reagent Kit v3 and the TruSeq Custom Amplicon Kit Dx.

Pillar Biosciences, a clinical cancer diagnostics company, announced in October a collaboration with Illumina on NGS-based IVD tests. Pillar will lead development of tests to run on Illumina’s MiSeq Dx instrument.

10x Genomics introduced in October more affordable pricing for its Chromium Genome, Exome and de novo Assembly Solutions. The new list price of $200 per sample for the high-throughput kit configuration is available in the US and Canada.

10x announced in October the launch of the B-Cell and 5’Unbiased Enrichment Kits for its Chromium Immune Repertoire Profiling Solution, which utilizes massively parallel single-cell RNA-seq to sequence paired V(D)J B-cell receptors, together with unbiased gene expression for reading the immune-repertoire along with cell phenotype. The full combination of features within the updated Single Cell V(D)J Solution enables a single sample to be analyzed simultaneously for cellular heterogeneity, phenotype, T-cell receptor repertoire and B-cell immunoglobin repertoire.

In October, Oxford Nanopore announced it is developing target enrichment processes for its nanopore sequencing platform based on the CRISPR/Cas9 system.

Oxford Nanopore announced in November the early release of a new version of its rapid sequencing kit that does not require refrigeration during transit or on site.

In October, the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) and QIAGEN debuted an NGS workflow for ICMP’s missing-persons DNA identification lab in the Hague. The parties worked together to create an SNP panel specifically designed for missing persons’ identification, targeting more than 1,400 sites in the human genome.

In October, MGI Tech, a subsidiary of BGI, launched the MGISEQ-2000 and MGISEQ-200 sequencers, and the modular MGIFLP NGS workstation. The systems are upgrades to BGI’s BGISEQ 50/500 platforms. They can complete one run with PE100 read length in less than 48 hours, and can run with at least 4 different read lengths. MGI plans to release sequencing adapters and the test data to encourage users to develop their own applications on the MGISEQ platform. Shipments will be in February 2018, initially in China.

In November, Invivoscribe Technologies released the RUO version of its LymphoTrack TRB Assay for the Illumina MiSeq platform. The test identifies clinical TRB (VDJ) rearrangements and the associated VDJ region DNA sequences, as well as provides the frequency of distribution of V, D and J, and region segmentation utilizing using the LymphoTrack bioinformatics software.

New England Biolabs introduced in November the NEBNext Ultra II FS DNA Library Prep Kit, which employs a novel enzymatic fragmentation system that combines fragmentation, end repair and dA-tailing in a single tube, and utilizes a single protocol regardless of input amount or GC content.

SeraCare Life Sciences introduced the Seraseq Myeloid DNA and Myeloid RNA fusion reference materials, calling it the first comprehensive reference standards for NGS-based assays focused on myeloid cancers.

In November, BioDiscovery launched the NxClinical 4.0 system for analysis and interpretation of CNV, SNV and AOH (Absence of Heterozygosity) from a single NGS assay. It brings together cytogenetics and molecular genetics. All genomic variations are incorporated into a single database system.

Covaris unveiled in November the 96 oneTUBE-10 AFA Plate, which enables scalable and simplified workflows by leveraging Covaris’ focused-acoustic technology. The new product eliminates transfer steps.

In November, Edico Genomics released the comprehensive DRAGEN Clinical Genomics Information System, designed to enable clinical labs of all sizes to quickly, simply and efficiently develop sequencing based LDTs.

In November, Roche launched the HyperCap Target Enrichment Portfolio, a streamlined and fully integrated NGS sample preparation solution. It integrates the KAPA DNA Library Prep with SeqCap EZ target enrichment portfolio, and is a further expansion of the HyperCap v1.0 workflow. The company also introduced Universal Blocking Oligos, which enhance the performance of capture experiments through the prevention of cross-hybridization between adapter sequences.

Sales/Orders of Note

In October, BC Platforms announced that Biogen and the Accelerated Cure Project will use its BCRQUEST.COM platform to better understand the genetic basis of multiple sclerosis. Microsoft will provide the cloud platform.

WuXi NextCODE announced in October the first open access installation of Oxford Nanopore instruments in a CAP/CLIA lab in China at its lab in Shanghai.

Genomics England announced in October a partnership with Inivata and Thermo Fisher Scientific. The pilot project aims to assess the quality of blood plasma samples and explore the potential liquid biopsy testing to improve disease management and patient outcomes.

Cancer sequencing service provider Intermountain Precision Genomics announced in October the addition of 10x Genomics’ Chromium Genome Solution to its Translational Science Center.

Cancer Genetics, a lab services provide for genomic and biomarker information, announced in November that it is offering Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Oncomine Dx Target Test to physicians.

In November, the NIH selected Seven Bridges to support the NIH Data Commons Pilot Phase. The company will lead a team consisting of Repositive, Elsevier and the Boston Veterans Affairs Research Institute.