Febit and Life Technologies have entered into a strategic co-marketing agreement to provide a scalable solution for researchers conducting targeted re-sequencing studies.
Febit's Hybselect technology for sequence capture will be combined with Applied Biosystems' Solid system to enable automated, high-sample- throughput next-generation sequencing.
In addition, Febit will expand its genomic services facility at Heidelberg by adding several Applied Biosystems Solid high-throughput sequencing systems and real-time PCR systems.
Applied Biosystems is a brand of Life Technologies.
As part of the agreement, Febit is a member of both the Solid system and Taqman Service Provider programmes.
These programmes are intended to provide the scientific community with access to a solution for genomic research using next-generation sequencing.
The Febit facility aims to process more than 1,000 samples per week once fully operational.
Similar facilities are envisioned to be installed at dedicated customer labs to meet the demand for high sample throughput.
The Febit Hybselect sequence capture solution combines the advantages of microarray-based enrichment with protected microfluidic technology and runs on dedicated, highly automated instruments.
Eight segregated arrays within a single microfluidic biochip allow for parallel, hands-off processing of samples.
Large-scale studies to identify SNPs, mutations and new biomarkers can be conducted now with many patient samples to receive statistically relevant data.
This will lead to a better understanding of the development, progression and prognosis of complex diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, infections and many others, ultimately resulting in new therapies and diagnostics.
Among the key applications of the combined system are the cancer exome, disease-related loci with high relevance for healthcare and drug development purposes and areas identified through genome-wide association studies.
