Agilent’s Next-Generation Sequencing Target Enrichment System

SANTA CLARA, Calif. & GENEVA–Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) and Fasteris SA today announced that Fasteris has been named the first European Certified-Service Provider (CSP) for Agilent’s SureSelect Target Enrichment System for next-generation sequencing.

SureSelect, introduced in February 2009, has been shown to greatly increase the speed and cost-efficiency of next-generation sequencing workflows used in life science research by enabling experiments to focus on genomic regions of interest rather than sequencing the entire genome.

Fasteris achieved CSP status for the SureSelect Target Enrichment System after demonstrating a high level of proficiency using the SureSelect system with the Illumina Genome Analyzer.

“Fasteris is a pioneer in next-gen sequencing, and we’re delighted that they’ll be combining the efficiencies of SureSelect with their expertise on the Illumina Genome Analyzer,” said Fred Ernani, Ph.D., Agilent senior product manager for Emerging Genomics Applications. “Having Fasteris as an Agilent-certified service provider promises to deliver real value to the genomics community.”

“We have been impressed by the SureSelect technology with its high proportion of reads on target and resulting reduction in downstream sequencing costs on the Illumina Genome Analyzer,” said Laurent Farinelli, Ph.D., Fasteris founder and CEO. “We are very pleased to work in collaboration with Agilent to provide customers with highest quality service.”

The Agilent SureSelect Target Enrichment System is based on an in-solution design, making it automation-friendly and easily scalable from 10 reactions through thousands.

Users can design their own custom SureSelect kits using Agilent’s eArray online design tool, which contains many key genomes and also lets users upload their own sequences. Because sample requirement is 3 micrograms or less of gDNA, researchers can perform highly targeted next-generation sequencing on very precious samples.

Agilent and Illumina have a non-exclusive co-marketing agreement to support the Agilent SureSelect Target Enrichment System optimized for the Illumina Genome Analyzer.

About Fasteris SA Fasteris (www.fasteris.com) is a leading provider of next-generation genomics services. The company has long experience with the ultra-high throughput DNA sequencing, as the first service provider company to acquire an Illumina Genome Analyzer system in 2006, and co-invented the “DNA Colony” (or DNA Cluster) technology in 1996, which was later incorporated into the Illumina Genome Analyzer System.

Being among the very first users of the system, Fasteris developed a very broad range of applications for the analysis of genetic variation and biological function. The firm adapts its protocols, from sample preparation to bioinformatics analyses, to help researchers extract the relevant genetic information from their samples.

Fasteris provides highest quality service for a comprehensive range of applications such as ChIP-SEQ; small RNAs; Genomic Shotgun (Whole genome re-sequencing, de novo sequencing, genotyping); Targeted-resequencing (liquid array-capture using Agilent SureSelect technology); mRNA-SEQ or dir-mRNA-SEQ (Whole transcriptome shotgun, including directional protocol). For all these applications Fasteris provides “à la carte” Bioinformatics analyses. To reduce sequencing costs Fasteris developed Multiplexing: Bar-coding or Indexing to analyze several libraries in a single channel.

Customers around the world include leading genomic research centers, academic institutions, and biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is the world’s premier measurement company and a technology leader in communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis. The company’s 17,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenues of $4.5 billion in fiscal 2009. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com.