Agilent Technologies, Inc. (Santa Clara, California) and Oxford Gene Technology Ltd. Expand Microarray and Sequencing Partnership

SANTA CLARA, Calif., and Oxford, England, Oct. 17, 2011 – Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) and Oxford Gene Technology today announced they have expanded an existing partnership into an exclusive agreement for Agilent to provide OGT with oligonucleotide microarrays and SureSelect target enrichment products for next-generation sequencing.

Mike Evans, chief executive of OGT, said: “We are delighted to have been able to broaden our supply partnership with Agilent to include the industry-leading SureSelect platform for our recently launched Genefficiency next-generation sequencing service. We are also pleased to extend our OEM supply agreement for oligonucleotide microarrays, building on the success of our comprehensive CytoSure product range for cytogenetics.”

“Agilent and OGT have a very close working relationship and we are excited to expand our collaboration to the SureSelect platform under our Certified Services Provider program,” said Robert Schueren, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s genomics business. “OGT’s bioinformatics capabilities add significant value to customers targeting specific areas of the genome with our SureSelect product line.”

SureSelect target enrichment has enabled researchers to identify mutations associated with more than 50 Mendelian diseases, 10 different types of cancer, and other complex ailments such as schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease. The SureSelect platform offers the most complete offering of catalog and custom capture kits (including comprehensive exome kits for human, mouse, and other model organisms, and flexible custom DNA or RNA target enrichment solutions) on all major next-generation sequencing platforms.

The initial agreement, announced in 2007, gave OGT access to Agilent’s microarray platform and appointed it an Agilent Certified Service Provider for microarrays. In 2010, following the successful completion of the world’s largest copy number variation study, OGT was the first company to be awarded Agilent High-Throughput Microarray Certified Service Provider status.

About Agilent SureSelect

The Agilent SureSelect Target Enrichment System is an in-solution hybridization capture technology first developed in collaboration with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University, and subsequently published in Nature Biotechnology.

The technology streamlines next-generation sequencing by helping to enable researchers to sequence only genomic regions of interest. One hundred twenty-mer RNA oligos provide reliable capture of more small and large variants, including SNPs, CNVs and Indels with unsurpassed allelic balance.

SureSelect XT offers a complete target enrichment workflow, including the SureSelect Target Enrichment Kit, gDNA prep kit and library prep kit. Automation-friendly reagents are also available for studies at any scale.

The SureSelect platform for target enrichment has led to the greatest number of peer-reviewed discovery publications with more than 125 to date.

About Oxford Gene Technology

Founded by Professor Ed Southern, Oxford Gene Technology is focused on providing innovative solutions to advance molecular medicine. OGT’s exceptional range of products, services and intellectual property has driven significant and sustained growth, with customers in more than 30 countries worldwide.

Further information about OGT is available at www.ogt.co.uk

CytoSure: For research use only

This product is provided under an agreement between Agilent Technologies Inc., and OGT. The manufacture, use, sale or import of this product may be subject to one or more U.S. patents, pending applications, and corresponding international equivalents, owned by Agilent Technologies Inc. The purchaser has the non-transferable right to use and consume the product for RESEARCH USE ONLY and NOT for DIAGNOSTICS PROCEDURES. It is not intended for use, and should not be used, for the diagnosis, prevention, monitoring, treatment or alleviation of any disease or condition, or for the investigation of any physiological process, in any identifiable human, or for any other medical purpose.

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is the world’s premier measurement company and a technology leader in chemical analysis, life sciences, electronics and communications. The company’s 18,500 employees serve customers in more than 100 countries. Agilent had net revenues of $5.4 billion in fiscal 2010. Information about Agilent is available at www.agilent.com

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