PerkinElmer Inc., a global leader focused on improving the health and safety of people and the environment, said that the Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository (RUCDR), the largest cell and DNA biobank in the United States, has adopted the company’s technologies for automation of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) sample preparation.

NGS research has the potential to greatly advance knowledge and facilitate data sharing in identifying the causes of disease, in developing potential disease therapies, as well as in possible clinical diagnostic innovations. The combination of PerkinElmer’s sample library automation with Rutgers’ world-renowned biorepository will make millions of biological samples accessible to researchers worldwide, to help enable large-scale genomic and disease-related studies.

The PerkinElmer NGS laboratory pipeline preparation solutions will enable the RUCDR to perform quality control (QC) on 25,000 DNA samples per week, and prepare hundreds of DNA and RNA sequence libraries per week. The products in use include:

Sciclone NGS Workstation – automated solution for high-throughput sequencing sample preparation, to be used for library preparation and RNA sequencing.

LabChip GX Nucleic Acid Separations System – microfluidics system, to be used for RNA sample quality control and DNA library quality control.

LabChip DS Microplate Reader – to be used for quality control of extracted biological material.

Twister II Microplate Handler – a high capacity plate stacker, to feed biological samples through the LabChip DS reader.

Kevin Hrusovsky, president, Life Sciences & Technology, PerkinElmer, said, “PerkinElmer is very proud to be selected by Rutgers for this milestone project in revolutionizing Next Generation Sequencing research. We are excited to be collaborating with a true pioneer in the field of biobanking for NGS as Rutgers makes its millions of samples available to fuel the life sciences research community’s fastest growing and most exciting technique for basic biological research and disease research.”

Dr Andrew Brooks, associate professor of genetics and chief operating officer, Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository, said, “Going forward, the RUCDR will have the capacity to prepare every biological sample coming into the repository for automated sequencing applications. This will help expedite research projects, ensure comparable data quality across analytical centres, and facilitate large-scale access and use of clinically-relevant samples across a variety of NIH, foundation and industry funded projects. As preserving prepared libraries of patient samples is becoming a new standard practice for accelerating NGS studies, it is our intention to continue to be the leader in providing researchers with unparalleled access to high quality nucleic acid and cellular material to make potential therapies and diagnostics more powerful and accurate. Without this critical relationship with PerkinElmer, we would not have been able to achieve these goals as efficiently as we have.”

PerkinElmer, Inc. is a global leader focused on improving the health and safety of people and the environment.