Two German-based sister companies, IMGM Laboratories GmbH and the Center for Human Genetics and Laboratory Medicine Dr. Klein and Dr. Rost, have announced their plans to use the GS FLX System and GS Junior System from 454 Life Sciences, a Roche company, for the joint development of robust and efficient workflows for targeted resequencing applications in the field of human genetics.
“We believe that 454 Sequencing Systems and the Fluidigm Access Array™ 48.48 System are a perfect match when it comes to amplicon-based targeted resequencing,” said Dr. Ralph Oehlmann, Director Business Development at IMGM. “With Access Arrays, target amplification and library preparation can be combined elegantly in one single step. In just under 4 hours, 2,304 nanoliter PCR reactions can be carried out to convert 48 samples into 48 pools consisting of 48 bar-coded amplicons each. In addition to rendering general sequencing services, our main focus will be to offer first class assay development and validation services for the GS FLX and GS Junior platforms”.
Of particular interest to the companies are the advantages of the technology for potential diagnostics applications. “We strongly believe that diagnostic sequencing will rapidly adopt the high throughput technologies used now for genomic research. We have already introduced array technologies for molecular karyotyping some years ago, and will now address the massive parallel analysis of disease associated gene panels using next generation sequencing,” explained Dr. Hanns-Georg Klein, MD, CEO of both IMGM and the Center for Human Genetics and Laboratory Medicine Dr. Klein & Dr. Rost.
“The technology will facilitate the molecular diagnostics of clinically heterogeneous diseases such as cardiovascular, connective tissue or neuropsychiatric disorders involving 20 – 100 different genes. Also the analysis of multiple genetic risk factors could be more efficiently integrated into prevention programs by the elaboration of reliable genetic criteria for high risk individuals. 454 Sequencing Systems offer long reads and quick run times, both essential factors for diagnostic sequencing. However, before NGS can be implemented into a routine diagnostics workflow, this promising new technology will have to be thoroughly validated to demonstrate an error-free performance.”
“The characteristics of the GS Junior System bear a high potential for future use in diagnostic applications,” stated Dr. Bodo Eickhoff, Head of Sales and Marketing for Roche Applied Science Germany. “We are very excited about IMGM’s projects, which will have high value for the further development of the 454 Sequencing Systems in the fields of diagnostics.”
Source: Roche
