Roche and PerkinElmer inked a supply agreement for distribution of the NimbleGen CGX microarray workflow for use in constitutional disease research. Under this agreement, effective January 2012, PerkinElmer will assume responsibility from Roche for sales, service, and support of the CGX array workflow for most countries outside of the U.S.
Roche will continue to sell the workflow in the U.S. and other select markets. The deal expands the collaboration Roche has had with PerkinElmer since 2009, which started with the development of a cytogenetics array workflow.
The NimbleGen CGX array workflow uses microarray technologies from Roche with the cytogenetic-focused array design and analysis software developed from Signature Genomics (acquired by PerkinElmer in May 2010). It is used for the discovery and analysis of copy number variations associated with constitutional disorders for the cytogenetics research market.
The workflow consists of NimbleGen CGX microarrays, reagent kits, the NimbleGen Hybridization systems, and Signature Genomics Genoglyphix® software for data analysis. The NimbleGen CGX array design was developed by Signature Genomics based on the analysis of over 50,000 cytogenetic samples to ensure appropriate coverage of the cytogenetically relevant regions. The arrays are available in multiple formats (3-, 6-, and 12-plex) to match the throughput requirements of the researcher.