SEQUENOM Introduces New Ultra-High Throughput Genotyping System
SAN DIEGO, March 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SEQUENOM(TM), Inc. (Nasdaq: SQNM - news), a discovery genetics company, today introduced its newly developed ultra-high throughput genotyping platform, the MassARRAY(TM) 200K system. This unique process line is believed to be the industry's first completely integrated and fully automated industrial-scale single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis platform. The MassARRAY 200K system has routinely demonstrated capacities of up to 200,000 individual analysis reactions per day, which can be increased to more than 1 million analyses per day when optimized for multiplexing. This ultra-high throughput genotyping platform is the result of an 18-month collaboration between SEQUENOM and Grohmann Engineering, a German developer of industrial-scale automation.
The addition of the MassARRAY 200K system to SEQUENOM's High Throughput Center expands the Company's ability to generate revenues through service deals and collaborations, while accelerating its candidate disease gene discovery programs. The throughput capacity of the MassARRAY 200K system enables the completion of full genome scans on feasible time lines and at affordable cost levels. Individual genotyping at such levels is essential for studies involving complex traits and the monitoring of drug response.
``The MassARRAY 200K system represents the next generation of integrated genotyping technologies,'' said Toni Schuh, Ph.D., SEQUENOM's President and Chief Executive Officer. ``Successes of the Human Genome Project have been driven primarily by large-scale experiments. We are now well into the final leg of this project, the race to determine the medical impact of genes and genetic variations. The MassARRAY 200K system brings a level of performance, speed and cost-efficiency never before seen in genetic marker analysis. Combined with the largest working SNP assay portfolio in the industry and one of the most complete and diverse collections of DNA samples for population genetics and association studies, SEQUENOM is well poised to lead this race. We have already seen a number of current and potential customers express interest in purchasing some of our capacity through service relationships. The advent of the MassARRAY 200K system once again demonstrates our ability to set the pace in the industry and further enhances our leadership position in large-scale genetic marker analysis.''
``The launch of the MassARRAY 200K system is the culmination of an intensive multi-disciplinary research effort to reinvent the ways in which genetic analysis is conducted,'' said Paul Heaney, Ph.D., SEQUENOM's Vice President of Instrumentation and Technology. ``Nearly 50 processes were re-engineered and integrated in order to overcome the existing throughput and accuracy limitations associated with large-scale genotyping. Betsy Nanthakumar, SEQUENOM's Program Director, and our joint teams with Grohmann Engineering have been both creative and tenacious in pursuing the extraordinary specifications that were set. The implications of these novel methods are enormous and will be further witnessed in a suite of new products that SEQUENOM is expected to launch in the near term.''... |
