Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Illumina, QIAGEN, And More: News From January 2017

January 26, 2017 | News, products, and partnerships from around the bio-IT community including news from Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Illumina, QIAGEN, and more. 

Johnson & Johnson Innovation, New York State, and the New York Genome Center announced a collaboration to launch a new JLABS in New York City. Called JLABS @ NYC, the 30,000-square foot facility will be located at the New York Genome Center (NYGC) in SoHo and will open in 2018. The project is receiving $17 million in New York State funding. The site will be open to biotech, pharmaceutical, medical device, and consumer health companies. A QuickFire Challenge seeking companies working in these areas, particularly startups working on cross-sector solutions to prevent, intercept or cure diseases, will be launched by Johnson & Johnson Innovation, with the winner(s) eligible for one year of residency at JLABS @ NYC. Press release  

Illumina and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia are currently recruiting participants for a new study called LeukoSEQ, which will use whole genome sequencing (WGS) as part of the diagnostic process for leukodystrophies. The LeukoSEQ study is designed to evaluate the efficacy and clinical utility of WGS testing as a first line diagnostic tool for leukodystrophies. As part of the study, participants will receive results of a WGS test, performed at Illumina’s CLIA-certified Clinical Services Laboratory in San Diego, within six months of enrollment. The study will absorb the cost of the sequencing so that participants do not have to pay for the sequencing test. In order to be eligible to enroll in the study, patients must have undiagnosed abnormalities of the white matter of the brain, with an “index MRI” (i.e. first suspicious MRI) performed no more than two months prior to study referral. The study team will review medical records and radiology images to confirm study eligibility prior to enrollment. The study is open to all residents of the United States. No site visit is required to participate; blood samples will be obtained locally via the referring physician or primary care provider. Press release

QIAGEN announced a comprehensive range of enhancements for the GeneReader NGS System – in particular the launch of new gene panels that will create a full menu for oncology applications – that are designed to significantly improve the utility, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the world’s first Sample to Insight next-generation sequencing (NGS) solution. QIAGEN also announced that it achieved the target set for 55-60 GeneReader NGS Systems placements with customers worldwide at the end of 2016 following the start of commercialization in late 2015. This represents more than a 10% share of the estimated global annual market for new placements of benchtop sequencer used for oncology applications. QIAGEN was featured at the recent JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, which was covered by Bio-IT World. Press release

SCIEX announced their latest solution in the X-Series Quadrupole Time of Flight (QTOF) mass spectrometry (MS) platform. The newest X-Series model, the X500B QTOF System, brings simplicity, high-performance, and robustness for biotherapeutic analyses to one of the most compact MS system footprints on the market. The new user-friendly SCIEX OS Software interface and powerful BioPharmaView 2.0 processing software comprise an unmatched integrated LC-MS solution for mass spec experts, or novices, performing standard biotherapeutic characterization.  Press release

Seven Bridges announced that the Seven Bridges Platform is now live on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) EU (Frankfurt) Region in Frankfurt, Germany, making it one of the first major cloud-based biomedical data analysis platforms to operate in both the U.S. and Europe. By further expanding the footprint of its powerful, cloud-based platform for biomedical data analysis on AWS, Seven Bridges is providing a faster and easier way for researchers to access and analyze data generated in Europe, and do so under the safeguards provided by Germany’s world-class data protection regime. Press release

Core Informatics announced the release of two new genomics workflow solutions for use on the Platform for Science. The apps provide new capabilities for researchers and technicians executing microarray genotyping and Sanger sequencing workflows, and complement Core's existing solutions for Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) workflows. “The addition of these capabilities to our existing NGS applications creates a more holistic genomics solution,” said Jeff Noonan, Core Informatics' Vice President of Business Development in a written statement. “For example, now our biopharma clients who rely on Sanger for sequence validation in the development of therapeutics will be able to share a broader variety of sequencing data across their organizations without stepping out of the Platform for Science.” Press release

BERG announced a multi-year agreement between BERG Analytics, a division of BERG, and BD’s MedMined solution. This new collaboration will leverage the combined healthcare IT expertise of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) and BERG to focus on the development of a medication adherence algorithm that will help healthcare workers identify certain patient populations that are at the highest risk for non-adherence post-discharge. Through this innovative solution, clinicians will be able to better prioritize patient interventions and engage the most appropriate ancillary staff to improve patient outcomes once they leave the hospital. Press release

10x Genomics announced they and PerkinElmer will jointly offer automated next-generation sequencing (NGS) solutions. PerkinElmer’s automation solutions increase both the throughput and efficiency of assays, while also allowing researchers to streamline and enhance existing NGS workflows. The 10x Genomics Chromium System features proprietary Linked-Read sequencing technology, which only requires small fragments of DNA (approximately 1ng) to deliver long-range sequence information, perform haplotype phasing and reveal structural genomic variation, as well as other genomic content. When combined with PerkinElmer automated solutions, the 10x Genomics Chromium System can significantly increase the throughput of existing sequencing workflows. PerkinElmer continues to work with industry leaders to develop simple, sequence-verified automation protocols, including 10x Genomics’ Linked-Read technology. These protocols will provide researchers novel options for automated genome, exome and single-cell assay library preparation, enabling the increased throughput and efficiency required to meet the growing needs of today’s life science research community. Press release

Bio-Rad Laboratories announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase RainDance Technologies. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Bio-Rad expects the transaction to close during the first quarter of 2017. “The company's droplet-based solutions will extend our reach into next-generation sequencing applications and strengthen our position in the area of Droplet Digital. We look forward to expanding our offering to provide life science and clinical diagnostics customers with solutions for a wide range of nucleic acid detection applications,” wrote Norman Schwartz, Bio-Rad President and CEO. Press release

Optibrium announced a collaboration with eMolecules, the provider of a comprehensive chemical sourcing database. The collaboration provides StarDrop users with seamless access to eMolecules’ extensive collection of screening compounds and chemical building blocks, further extending StarDrop’s capabilities to guide compound selection and design. Press release

Intellia Therapeutics has joined the Genomics England Genomics Expert Network for Enterprises (GENE) Consortium, as the first, dedicated genome editing company to participate in the 100,000 Genomes Project. Intellia will join twelve other companies who are working together in a pre-competitive trial. The collaboration aims to identify the most effective and secure way of bringing industry expertise into the 100,000 Genomes Project to realize future potential benefits for patients affected by rare diseases or cancers. Members of the consortium are granted controlled access to aggregated, de-identified genome and health data of participants. They work alongside experts that specialize in data analysis, so that the project can benefit from cutting edge advances in handling Big Data. Press release

Synpromics has announced a research collaboration with GE Healthcare to jointly develop customized synthetic promoters optimized for GE Healthcare’s proprietary biopharmaceutical manufacturing platform. Synpromics will develop a complex bar-coded library of synthetic promoters, using its proprietary PromPT platform, for extensive screening in GE Healthcare’s Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) - based expression system. The resulting characterized promoter toolbox is anticipated to have broad applicability for increasing the yield of a range of biopharmaceuticals, including proteins difficult to manufacture. GE Healthcare is paying an upfront technology access fee and will have the rights to commercialize the improved platform. Press release

Genomics pioneer and bioinformatics expert Mark Adams has joined The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) as director of Microbial Genomic Services. In this role, Adams will enhance the nonprofit biomedical research organization’s large-scale microbiome initiatives. “I’m thrilled to be part such a high caliber team that’s dedicated to enhancing this widely unexplored area of human physiology,” Adams said in a statement. “I’m so impressed by what JAX has accomplished with cancer and immunity, among other areas, and I’m excited to work together on the ever-shifting challenges of microbiome research and how it may impact these research areas.” As a founding scientist at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), Adams made extensive contributions to the first genome sequencing of a free-living organism, Haemophilus influenzae, and of other microbial genomes. And as co-founder of Celera Genomics, Adams led the DNA sequencing and genome annotation groups, directing the Drosophila, human and mouse genome sequencing projects and a large-scale resequencing program to identify novel SNPs in humans. Most recently, Adams was the scientific director and professor at the J. Craig Venter Institute, where he directed programs that characterized genomic changes in the evolution of antibiotic resistance in hospital-acquired infections. Press release

Genedata announced that Crescendo Biologics will use Genedata Biologics as its workflow platform. The platform will be used for both Crescendo's internal and its partnered Humabody-based therapeutics programs, with the aim of increasing throughput and efficiency in discovery and development. The Genedata Biologics software will streamline and accelerate Crescendo's R&D programs, which are based on a novel class of small, robust protein therapeutics comprising fully human single V_H domain building blocks (Humabody V_H). The Humabody building blocks can be readily configured into an almost limitless number of multi-functional constructs which optimally engage therapeutically valuable targets. Press release

Prokarium and Probiomed announced the start of their collaboration to scale-up the manufacture of orally administered vaccines in a formulation that would enable stability at 40°C for several weeks. The first vaccine to be manufactured will be developed to prevent so-called ‘Montezuma’s revenge’ or diarrhoea, which affects the local population as well travellers in Mexico and many countries. Probiomed’s CEO Jaime Uribe Wiechers said in a statement: “One of Probiomed’s strategic goals focuses on the company’s capitalization of its advanced manufacturing technologies; a very important step is taken by this collaboration. I’m positive that the technological background of this product, along with Prokarium’s expertise in biotechonolgy and our own, will lead to a high added value vaccine that will enhance people’s health on both continents.” The collaboration is supported by the UK government’s Newton Fund, administered by Innovate UK, and by the Mexican government’s innovation agency CONACYT. The project is important both for Mexico’s own people and for its tourism industry. The results will be widely applicable to many different vaccines for difficult-to-target diseases worldwide. Press release