Agilent Technologies Inc, a global leader in life sciences, diagnostics and applied chemical markets, introduced OneSight, a new software platform designed to help researchers visualise and analyse chromosomal aneuploidies in cell-free DNA sequencing data.

Agilent unveiled its new bioinformatics product at the annual meeting of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics this week in Tampa, Florida.

"The study of cell-free DNA is a very active area of research, and we expect growth in applications such as analysis of liquid biopsies and cell-free fetal DNA," said Herman Verrelst, Agilent vice president and general manager of the company's genomics solutions division and clinical applications division. "With OneSight, researchers will be able to gain a deeper understanding of their sequencing data and apply that to a wide range of applications, from the early detection of cancer to screening for fetal abnormalities."

Verrelst noted that OneSight offers genetics laboratories a cost-effective way to perform high-quality, cell-free DNA analysis in-house (which used to require an often-prohibitive investment).

The software platform is independent of NGS sequencing technology. With an established NGS infrastructure in place, OneSight effectively allows labs to set up an end-to-end cfDNA analysis pipeline. Through the new platform's unique visualization tools and statistical parameters, scientists can now minimize the impact of recurrent technical variations and assess the presence of confounding biological factors such as segmental aberrations and genome-wide chromosomal instability.

The new software was developed with expertise from a company Agilent acquired last year, Cartagenia, known for its software solutions for variant assessment and reporting of clinical genomics data.