BRANFORD, Connecticut, April 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
Roche announced today the immediate availability of a new software upgrade and further upcoming sequencing performance and workflow improvements to the company’s 454 GS Junior System. Now a widely published benchtop next-generation sequencing platform, the GS Junior System is rapidly advancing research worldwide in areas of infectious disease, cancer, environmental microbiology and agriculture[1]. The new software package (v2.7) improves sequencing consistency and robustness and also includes functionality improvements to the GS De Novo Assembler, GS Reference Mapper, and GS Amplicon Variant Analyzer Software. The company also announced the immediate availability of new protocols for paired end sequencing (3 kb, 8 kb, 20 kb span) using the GS FLX Titanium Rapid Library Preparation Kits. The protocols enable simple sample multiplexing for paired end projects and reduce overall prep time.
In addition, the company has announced upcoming improvements to the GS Junior System, which include extension to sequencing read lengths and automation of the library preparation and emPCR workflow. The improvements will further ease the transition of projects from traditional Sanger capillary sequencing to 454 Sequencing Systems in basic and translational research laboratories around the world. The planned improvements will first become available in late 2012 and during 2013.
“We are pleased by the adoption of the GS Junior System worldwide and are excited to announce our efforts to continuously improve performance and ease of use of the platform,” said Thomas Schinecker, President of 454 Life Sciences, a Roche Company. “These improvements make our long read sequencing solution more user friendly and enable customers to convert projects from Sanger to next-generation sequencing more easily.”
[1] For the latest list of peer-reviewed publications using the GS Junior System, visit http://www.454.com/publications.
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world’s largest biotech company with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism and CNS. Roche is also the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics, tissue-based cancer diagnostics and a pioneer in diabetes management. Roche’s personalized healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. In 2011, Roche had over 80,000 employees worldwide and invested over 8 billion Swiss francs in R&D. The Group posted sales of 42.5 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche has a majority stake in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information: http://http://www.roche.com
For life science research only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.
454, 454 LIFE SCIENCES, 454 SEQUENCING, EMPCR, GS JUNIOR, GS FLX and GS FLX TITANIUM are trademarks of Roche.
All other product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
For further information please contact:
Roche Diagnostics
Dr. Burkhard Ziebolz
Phone: +49-8856-604830
Email: burkhard.ziebolz@roche.com
454 Life Sciences Corporation, a Roche Company
Katie Montgomery
Phone: +1-203-871-2300
Email: katie.montgomery@roche.com
SOURCE Roche Diagnostics GmbH
