SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 1, 2011 – Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced that its SureSelect Target Enrichment System for next-generation sequencing has reached a significant milestone by playing a key role in 100 published studies since its introduction in early 2009.
The 100th article is posted in Nature Genetics online (July 2011), by Simon J. Girard et al., Centre of Excellence in Neuromics of Universite de Montreal. The investigators used SureSelect All Exon kits to enable them to identify mutations by analyzing schizophrenia sufferers and their unaffected parents.
“A work of this scale would not have been possible before the era of high-throughput sequencing and exome capture,” Girard said. “Using the SureSelect kit, we were able to capture the exomes of 14 schizophrenia subjects and identify 15 de novo mutations. These mutations could be the hallmarks of a new era for the field of schizophrenia genetics.”
“The very rapid adoption of SureSelect by the genomics community is gratifying,” said Emily Leproust, Ph.D., Agilent director, Applications and Chemistry R&D. “We launched the first commercial in-solution target enrichment product just two years ago, and SureSelect’s performance and flexibility has led to it being the most commonly cited target enrichment tool on the market. It’s very exciting to see how researchers use SureSelect to overcome formidable challenges.”
SureSelect target enrichment has enabled researchers to identify mutations associated with more than 50 Mendelian diseases, 10 different types of cancer, and other complex diseases such as schizophrenia and Parkinson’s. The breakthrough findings of these studies published in high-impact journals demonstrate the research significance of targeted resequencing using SureSelect to enable the identification of variants associated with different diseases.
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. In addition, Agilent offers library quantification qPCR kits and its Bioanalyzer line for next-generation sequencing library quality control. Agilent’s Bravo Liquid Handling System automates the next-generation sequencing workflow.
About Agilent SureSelect
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 enabling 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.
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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