Bionano Genomics Announces Global Launch Of Saphyr

By Bio-IT World Staff 

February 13, 2017 | Bionano Genomics has announced the global commercial launch of Saphyr, its newest and most advanced system for genome mapping. Saphyr, based on Bionano’s next-generation mapping (NGM), is a high-speed, high-throughput platform that delivers unparalleled sensitivity and specificity in structural variation (SV) detection, genome assembly contiguities up to 100-fold longer than those of short-read sequence assemblies, and the structural accuracy to correct sequencing-based errors. 

Saphyr’s primary applications in human genomics include SV discovery for translational and clinical research including undiagnosed genetic disorders, gene discovery and therapy development, and cancer; in non-human genomics, applications include selective breeding, evolutionary biology, and reference-quality genome assembly.

Erik Holmlin, CEO of Bionano, said in a written statement, “We believe Saphyr offers a quantum leap forward in the ability of researchers to make genome structure analysis a cornerstone of their studies. The value and utility of our NGM for SV detection and genome finishing is increasingly recognized, but many potential users were seeing speed and throughput as particularly onerous bottlenecks when they sought to apply NGM to population-scale studies or to analysis of highly complex genomes such as cancer or plants. Saphyr shatters these bottlenecks as a tool that reliably and efficiently uncovers genomic information that lies in the blind spots of other technologies. Saphyr opens the door to uncovering the genetic basis of many traits, especially drivers at the root of serious human health conditions.”