Sequenom Inc announced the launch of two new products, Allelotyping and the MassARRAY 20K system. Both products are expected to dramatically increase the speed and efficiency of large-scale genetics studies.
Sequenom''s Allelotyping product was developed to rapidly analyze genetic variations, or SNPs, across large DNA pools that combine up to 500 individual samples. This process, also known as DNA pooling, enables users to quantify the allele frequency distribution of a SNP within an entire pool representing a population in a single reaction. The product thereby allows users to scan more than 190,000 individuals (384 pooled reactions) per hour with sensitivity to detect allelic frequencies as low as 3 percent. Allelotyping allows customers to pre-evaluate SNPs of interest in stratified pools, enabling scans that test broader sets of SNPs, followed by more detailed individual genotyping on the SNPs of demonstrated interest. Allelotyping requires as little as 50 picograms of DNA from each individual. The product has been independently validated in peer-reviewed journals. Allelotyping uses a customized SpectroCHIP microarray and a proprietary software package together with Sequenom''s existing high performance MassARRAY platform. Allelotyping has been successfully used both internally and by outside collaborators for more than a year.
The new MassARRAY 20K system was developed in response to customer demand, and integrates all steps involved in DNA sample preparation. The system is designed for complete automation in the preparation of up to 20,000 analytical reactions in the course of 12 hours. It would require up to three standard MassARRAY systems and six additional technicians to achieve an equivalent throughput. The MassARRAY 20K system features proprietary rapid thermal cyclers that the Company believes can cycle four times faster than competing technologies. The rapid thermal cycler is capable of completing 50 cycles in 25 minutes, not including any initial enzyme activation period. The MassARRAY 20K system has the potential to use some of the lowest reaction volumes in the industry, which would result in additional cost savings to customers. The system also comes equipped with full sample tracking for minimal user intervention and can be programmed for unattended overnight runs.
Sequenom reached an agreement with the Whitehead Institute to place the first MassARRAY 20K system at the Institute''s Center for Genome Research in the fourth quarter. The Whitehead Institute was one of the primary sequencing centers for the Human Genome Project, contributing roughly one-third of the genetic sequence, and is an academic participant of The SNP Consortium.
Each of these new products addresses a critical need for accelerating our customers'' large-scale genetics studies, said Rick Episcopo, Sequenom''s Executive Vice President of Commercial Operations. As we have demonstrated through a number of internal projects, sample pooling provides a significant advantage in identifying potential disease-related SNPs. By determining SNP allele frequencies, the Allelotyping product replaces hundreds of individual measurements with one consolidated analysis. Only SNPs that prove valuable in the pool-to-pool comparison need to be individually genotyped later, dramatically increasing throughput capacity. The MassARRAY 20K system is ideal for performing both allelotyping and high-throughput genotyping, enabling our customers to determine the medical impact of SNPs with greater speed and efficiency.