Automation-enabling technologies will bolster quality and speed of services.

PerkinElmer will provide next-generation sequencing (NGS) sample preparation solutions to Macrogen. The Korean-based sequencing firm will be able to use PerkinElmer’s Sciclone® NGS Workstation for high-throughput automated sample prep as well as the LabChip® XT nucleic acid size selection and collection system and the LabChip GX nucleic acid separation system to automate and increase the company’s sequencing analysis efficiency and throughput.

“Advanced automation-enabling technologies are becoming increasingly mission critical for effective and efficient interpretation and analysis of the human genome,” says Professor Jeong-Sun Seo, chairman, Macrogen. “By applying PerkinElmer biotechnology solutions, Macrogen will be able to further strengthen its objective of providing high-quality, best-in-class, next-generation sequencing services to researchers and clinicians all over the world.”

Dr. Hyungtae Kim, CEO, Macrogen, adds, “The key to success in leveraging genomic data is the ability to combine a high degree of accuracy with efficient high throughput in order to generate efficiencies leading to lower costs. By assuring quality and speed through advanced automation for sample preparation and analysis, we can help provide researchers and clinicians with the insights they need to revolutionize medical treatment.

“We have purchased new NGS sequencers to meet these demands, which resulted in doubling our sequencing capacity,” Dr. Kim notes. “In turn, the introduction of these new instruments made it essential to introduce an advanced automation system, which drove our decision to select PerkinElmer solutions.”

The Sciclone NGS Workstation is a complete benchtop solution for library prep, sequence capture, and normalization. It reportedly creates 480 libraries per week, performs 192 exome captures per week, and has the flexibility to run 8–96 samples per run. The LabChip GX system offers quick and accurate analysis of RNA and DNA samples. PerkinElmer says that it has extreme accuracy with resolution down to 5 bp and sensitivity of 0.1 ng/uL. The LabChip XT fractionation system performs fast, automated nucleic acid fractionation. It reduces wasted nonaligned reads with tight size selection, increases average read length by excluding shorter fragments, and decreases waste and exposure to potentially harmful reagents.

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