Pacific Biosciences and GenDx Initiate Co-Marketing Activities for Full-Length HLA Gene Sequencing Products
19 June 2014 - 9:30PM
Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc., (Nasdaq:PACB) provider of
the PacBio® RS II DNA Sequencing System, and GenDx, a pioneer in
the area of sequence-based typing and next-generation sequencing
for HLA typing, today announced a co-marketing agreement to offer
products for full-length HLA gene sequencing.
The Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) system consists of a large
family of highly variable genes and allelic variants that forms the
basis of the human immune system. High-resolution HLA typing and
sequencing of the complete gene enables determination of even the
smallest variations between HLA alleles. HLA allele-specific
genotyping is critical for autoimmune disease-association studies,
drug hypersensitivity research and other applications. Thus, there
has been an ever growing interest in characterizing the HLA genes
in their entirety.
GenDx, which currently offers reagents for the amplification of
full-length, Class I HLA genes, will offer a version of its NGSgo®
reagent line with barcoded primers developed with Pacific
Biosciences for sequencing on the PacBio RS II DNA sequencing
system. Using the GenDx NGSengine® software package to analyze data
from the PacBio system provides customers with a highly accurate,
allele-level HLA typing solution. This new reagent kit will allow
the pooling of full-length, Class I HLA genes from multiple samples
into a single sequencing run. More information about the new
solution and ordering information can be found at
http://www.gendx.com/pacbio-ngs.
"With extraordinarily long reads and industry-leading accuracy,
Single Molecule, Real-time (SMRT®) Sequencing really addresses the
unique needs of the HLA research community," said Kevin Corcoran,
Senior Vice President of Market Development for Pacific
Biosciences. "We are eager to expand our growing capabilities in
this field through this partnership with GenDx, which will open the
doors for high-quality HLA typing to all interested researchers,
not just those who have developed their own custom primer
sets."
Wietse Mulder, PhD, managing director of GenDx, commented: "The
whole HLA gene sequencing approach, originally developed at GenDx
for Sanger sequencing, has been tested on thousands of samples and
validated such that both alleles of each HLA gene are amplified. We
are excited that this amplification approach combined with PacBio's
SMRT Sequencing technology may now result in fully phased genotypes
and has the potential of unambiguous typing results. We trust that
this initiative will significantly enhance the tissue-typing
strategies exploited in the HLA field."
Mats Bengtsson, MD, PhD, Head of Transplant Immunology
laboratory, Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology at the
University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden commented: "We believe the
exceptionally long reads provided by Pacific Biosciences' SMRT
Sequencing combined with the quick turn-around time
for processing of samples will be a game-changer for HLA
typing applications. Furthermore, the ability to obtain fully
phased genotypes, attain unambiguous typing results, and identify
new alleles is unprecedented."
About the PacBio RS II and SMRT Sequencing
Pacific Biosciences' SMRT Sequencing technology achieves the
industry's longest read lengths, highest consensus accuracyi,ii and
the least degree of bias.iii These characteristics, combined with
the ability to detect many types of DNA base modifications (e.g.,
methylation) as part of the sequencing process, make the PacBio RS
II an essential tool for many scientists studying genetic and
genomic variation. The PacBio platform provides a sequencing
solution that can address a growing number of complex medical,
agricultural and industrial problems.
About Pacific Biosciences Pacific Biosciences
of California, Inc. (Nasdaq:PACB) offers the PacBio RS II DNA
Sequencing System to help scientists solve genetically complex
problems. Based on its novel Single Molecule, Real-Time (SMRT)
technology, the company's products enable: targeted sequencing to
more comprehensively characterize genetic variations; de novo
genome assembly to more fully identify, annotate and decipher
genomic structures; and DNA base modification identification to
help characterize epigenetic regulation and DNA damage. By
providing access to information that was previously inaccessible,
Pacific Biosciences enables scientists to increase their
understanding of biological systems. More information is available
at www.pacb.com
About GenDx
GenDx is a Dutch molecular diagnostics company that develops and
markets a comprehensive line of In Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) tests and
services, analysis software and education. The company is a pioneer
in the area of Sequence-Based Typing (SBT) for transplantation.
GenDx supports the software package SBTengine® and reagent line
SBTexcellerator® for Sanger based sequencing approaches to numerous
laboratories specialized in transplantation worldwide. Recently
GenDx started development of full workflows for multiple NGS
platforms and has launched the NGSgo® reagent line and NGSengine®
software package. In addition, GenDx offers custom laboratory
services for basic and clinical research organisations.
Furthermore, in the HLA-field, GenDx is renowned for organizing
dedicated HLA-SBT training courses worldwide on a regular basis for
personnel of tissue typing laboratories, blood banks and donor
registries. GenDx is a trade name of Genome Diagnostics BV that was
founded in 2005 as a spin-off of the University Medical Centre,
Utrecht, the Netherlands. Dr. Erik Rozemuller and Dr. Wietse Mulder
are co-founders of GenDx. Further information on GenDx can be found
at www.gendx.com.
i Koren et al., "Reducing assembly complexity of microbial
genomes with single-molecule sequencing." Genome Biology, 14:R10.1
(2013).
ii Chin et al., "Nonhybrid, finished microbial genome assemblies
from long-read SMRT sequencing data." Nature Methods, 10; 563-569
(2013).
iii Ross et al. Characterizing and measuring bias in sequence
data. Genome Biol 14: R51 (2013).
CONTACT: For Pacific Biosciences:
Media:
Nicole Litchfield
For Pacific Biosciences
415.793.6468
nicole@bioscribe.com
Investors:
Trevin Rard
Pacific Biosciences
650.521.8450
ir@pacificbiosciences.com
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