Affymetrix and MTI Ltd., through its wholly-owned subsidiary, EverGene Ltd., (MTI/EG) announce that the two companies will collaborate in genetic research and personal genomics services in Japan. With the support of leading academics and through this collaboration, MTI/EG plans to further expand their business in the healthcare field.

MTI/EG, a personal genome services (PGS) provider in Japan, announced their new research service under the supervision of Dr. Naoyuki Kamatani, director, Tsukuba International Clinical Pharmacology Clinic (TICP) and director, StaGen Co. Ltd. One of the research programmes is a collaborative project with TICP in the “quality of life” area.

More than 10,000 volunteers from the subscriber base of MTI’s LunaLuna, a women’s healthcare service mobile app in Japan, have applied to participate in this research programme. The outcome of the research is expected to produce results that will enable MTI/EG to introduce, over time, new categories of PGS in several fields for quality of life improvement.

“I am excited to work with MTI/EG in this important work,” stated Dr. Naoyuki Kamatani. “I believe that providing people with an easy way to understand their genetics as it relates to quality of life will lead to improved awareness of health and well-being, and ultimately happier and healthier lives.”

MTI/EG announced the launch of “DearGene Starter Kit”, which is an updated genotyping service for consumers. This service is a comprehensive genotyping analysis that provides diseases onset risk based on a risk calculation model developed by Dr. Kamatani. Affymetrix’ Axiom genotyping platform will be used for generating the individual’s genotyping data.

Affymetrix will support MTI/EG in their genetic research and PGS programmes in Japan by supplying its Axiom Genotyping solution for the highly accurate measurement of genetic variation. Samples from MTI/EG will be processed exclusively by Takara Bio Inc. of Japan, who has a excellent and long established reputation in the genomics field. Affymetrix has begun providing MTI/EG with custom Axiom genotyping arrays for the collaborative research program, and will supply custom Axiom arrays for MTI/EG’s personal genomics service, “DearGene Starter Kit”.

“We feel very privileged to work closely with MTI/EG and look forward to our Axiom technology being utilized with the aim of providing improved quality of life for the Japanese people,” stated Frank Witney, president and chief executive officer of Affymetrix.

“We are very excited to work with Affymetrix,” stated Toshihiro Maeta, president and chief executive officer, MTI Ltd. “We value their long history in the field of genetic analysis and their commitment to quality will help us provide our customers with the best possible information that can positively impact their lives. The strong relationship between Affymetrix and MTI/EG is expected to advance these important areas.”

“We are very pleased to announce the launch of our updated genotyping service, DearGene Starter Kit. With our close collaboration with Affymetrix and Takara Bio Inc., we look forward to providing our Japanese customers with high quality genotyping analysis services,” stated Masanori Akita, president and chief executive officer, EG.