Developer Collaboration Results in Customized NGS Technologies for Tumor Cell Analysis

Menarini-Silicon Biosystems Inc., and Swift Biosciences, Inc., have announced their collaboration to offer customized next generation sequencing (NGS) products for oncology research and diagnostics, which are optimized for targeted resequencing and exome sequencing of FFPE Cells.

Marketed by Menarini-Silicon Biosystems, the first two products developed for tumor cells from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue samples allow users to obtain high-quality, NGS results from 100 to 300 tumor and stromal cells in an optimized workflow downstream of Menarini-Silicon Biosystems' DEPArray™ cell sorting platform.

"We are excited to continue our technology collaboration with Swift Biosciences to offer our customers reliable solutions for the genetic analysis of cells derived from FFPE tissue samples," said Giuseppe Giorgini, CEO of Menarini-Silicon Biosystems. "This new offering integrates two premier technologies, our DEPArray cell sorting System and Swift Biosciences' Accel-NGS^® 2S and Accel-Amplicons^®, to provide simple, complete and optimized workflows for high-quality genetic results of FFPE tumor cells."

Dr. Timothy Harkins, President and CEO of Swift Biosciences, said, "Our partnership with Menarini-Silicon Biosystems shows how complementary technologies and know how can revolutionize oncology research by unlocking the treasure trove of FFPE samples that have been previously unable to be characterized. Together, we are helping cancer researchers perform whole exome and targeted re-sequencing of pure cell types, and often just using a few hundred cells."

Starting from minute and low-cellularity FFPE specimens, and customized for analysis of tumor and stromal cells isolated with the DEPArray system, the two new products, DEPArray OncoSeek Panel & DEPArray LibPrep Kit, give access to samples that were previously inaccessible for genetic analysis.

The DEPArray OncoSeek Panel will allow simultaneous analysis of sequence variants and copy number alterations focused on cancer-associated genes. The DEPArray OncoSeek Panel workflow employs a streamlined single tube, 2-hour reaction, generating reliable ready-to-sequence Illumina-compatible libraries. The DEPArray LibPrep Kit will allow researchers to build high complex NGS libraries starting from a few hundred FFPE cells that contain low amounts of damaged and fragmented DNA. This product enables a variety of downstream genetic applications, including either low-pass or deep whole genome sequencing and whole exome sequencing that utilizes hybridization capture probes for target enrichment.