GATC Biotech, Europe's leading sequencing service provider for industrial and academic research, has announced that it will open a sequencing laboratory in London to provide scientists in UK and Ireland with single sample sequencing services. The GATC London laboratory will be situated in the London BioScience Innovation Centre and will start operations on January 4, 2010.

Through the GATC London laboratory, customers benefit from a free courier delivery service of less than 24-hour. In addition, in many cities throughout the UK and Ireland GATC offers a free sample collection service in the evening with overnight shipment directly to the GATC London laboratory.

GATC Biotech also plans to install a unique "5-to-9" overnight sequencing service, called NightXpress, which will reduce delivery times to just 16 hours from sample collection. From Monday to Friday, DNA samples will be collected for free from 5 pm at defined GATC Sample Collection Points and by 9 am the next morning, including Saturdays, DNA sequencing results will be ready for download. With GATC's overnight service scientists will gain a head start for follow-up experiments of almost two days. NightXpress will start operations on February 15, 2010, initially with customers in London and surrounding areas.

Peter Pohl, CEO of GATC Biotech said: "With NightXpress we offer the world's fastest sequencing service. Being already the first company in Europe to offer commercial sequencing services, GATC Biotech once again sets new standards by delivering mass customized sequencing services with fastest delivery times and at competitive rates."