08.2010 – The two Germanbased 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 (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) 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(TM) 48.48 System are a perfect match when it comes to ampliconbased 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 barcoded 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 errorfree 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.”
For more information on 454 Sequencing Systems, visit www.454.com
The GS FLX System and GS Junior System are for life science research only, not for in vitro diagnostic use in the U.S.
About IMGM Laboratories GmbH
IMGM, one of Europe-s leading outsourcing companies, offers advanced genomic services tailored to the needs of customers from pharma, diagnostics, academia, and biotech. IMGM gained wide acceptance for its excellent genomewide gene expression analyses (microarrays) and focused gene expression studies (quantitative realtime PCR). Expert bioinformatics and understandable reports adding further value to these services. IMGM is accredited according to DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025 with a full accreditation for gene expression analysis based on microarrays and qPCR. For more information on IMGM-s service portfolio, please visit www.imgm.com.
About the Center for Human Genetics and Laboratory Medicine Dr. Klein and Dr. Rost
The Laboratory Dr. Klein & Dr. Rost in Martinsried near Munich was founded in 1998 as a spinoff from the university hospital Großhadern in Munich. One of the critical factors of success was the professionalization of diagnostic sequencing at a time, when many other still worked with DGGE or DHPLC for mutation search. Today, the facility employs 80 staff including 20 molecular biologists and is the number 1 in diagnostic sequencing in Germany. The laboratory holds an accreditation according to ISO 15189 and 17025 and the European Federation of Immungenetics (EFI) and was the first to be accredited for array analyses in Germany. The service portfolio covers the entire range of genetics including molecular and cytogenetics, pharmacogenetics, immunogenetics, reproduction genetics and molecular oncology. Further information is available at www.medical-genetics.de.
454, 454 SEQUENCING, 454 LIFE SCIENCES, GS FLX and GS JUNIOR are trademarks of Roche.
Other brands or product names are trademarks of their respective holders.
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in researchfocused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world-s largest biotech company with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism and CNS. Roche is also the world leader in invitro diagnostics, tissuebased cancer diagnostics and a pioneer in diabetes management. Roche-s personalised healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. In 2009, Roche had over 80-000 employees worldwide and invested almost 10 billion Swiss francs in R&D. The Group posted sales of 49.1 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche has a majority stake in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information: www.roche.com.
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