Credence Genomics introduces country’s first commercial next gen sequencing facility

Tuesday, 7 January 2014 00:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Strengthening the assurance for high quality health care and manufacturing products as well as research projects Next generation sequencing (NGS) is a cutting edge technology that has broadened the frontiers of genomic research, opening up new avenues and offering insights into diverse areas of biology. This technology has the capacity to sequence DNA and RNA at unprecedented speed thereby enabling previously unimaginable scientific achievements and novel biological applications. A rapid increase in accuracy, scalability and speed with dramatically lowered costs are some of the major improvements seen in this field. This rapidly evolving technology is efficiently applied worldwide within clinical environments, where it has the potential to improve diagnoses and

treatment outcomes of many diseases including cancer. With such innovative technology, healthcare providers around the world have now become able to perform rapid disease diagnosis while identifying the most efficacious drugs depending upon the genetic make-up of each patient. This technology also helps to identify genetic basis of most inherited diseases accurately discriminating between normal and faulty gene copies of humans. In addition the ability to acquire affordable sequence data has enabled Next Generation Sequencing technology to expand beyond the confines of large research centres into many smaller laboratories worldwide. Technologically hindered The lack of availability of such sophisticated technology has always kept Sri Lankan scientists from entering into genomics research. Typical drawbacks of conventional microbiological and biochemical techniques demand for a more accurate, reliable and faster means of disease identification. For this same reason, Sri Lanka is left behind when other countries enter the realm of efficacious, timely diagnosis and treatment. With Credence Genomics, Sri Lanka now welcomes Next Generation Sequencing for the first time in its history. Being the first and the only commercial Next Generation Sequencing provider, Credence Genomics is looking forward to leap beyond the boundaries, leveraging genomic research in the country. Based on a unique platform, the company offers high quality sequencing services in relation to genomic research areas to any individual at competitive value and pricing. With the efforts and essence of the right combination of technology and human resources put together, Credence Genomics is ready to deliver real-time genetic analysis services to their customers and invites all potential stakeholders to reap the benefits they offer. BactFast sequencing Being the exclusive service provider of its type, Credence Genomics has already launched its first commercial Next Generation DNA sequencing product ‘BactFast’; a single test that allows the identification of the entire population of most bacteria in one go. This test can replace the entire cohort of conventional microbial and biochemical test methods and all of its drawbacks, generating highly transparent, accurate and more reliable data in rapid turn-around time with a minimum quantity of test sample. A Bacteria species identifying test which usually takes up to seven days or more to process is now completed within a 48 hours. Additionally, BactFast can identify up to 6,000 different species of microbes whereas the conventional methods can only identify approximately 10 microbial isolates at the same cost. With such competitive advantages being offered, BactFast can be considered as one of the most effective bacterial identification tests that addresses bacteriological problems across a vast array of fields including healthcare research, agriculture, food and beverage/dairy product testing, pharmaceutical/cosmetics testing, clinical/veterinary research, sewage/effluence treatment, ecological/marine microbe profiling, fuel testing, soil profiling and so on. Further to this the test has drastically reduced the error rates of conventional microbiological testing from 20% to 1%. We live in a world where there’s an entirely invisible realm in which its inhabitants outnumber the dwellers of the visible world by million times or more. These microscopic living beings share our body space forming ecological communities. Our body harbours a total of 10 to the power 15

microbial cells, which exceeds the total number of our body cells. Microorganisms are present everywhere, making up the mass of life on earth. Some of these are beneficial and are of great significance in sustaining life on this planet while others are extremely harmful. It is only in the past few decades that we have come to realize how ubiquitous microbes are, thriving in extreme environments where no other form of life can survive. We’ve just begun to understand how important they are to our health, manufacturing and agricultural processes, and to the health of all forms of life on earth in a whole. Therefore, identifying these minute forms of life is the key to healthcare, food safety and environmental safety. In the past few decades, ignorance of the microbial abundance on earth was largely due to our inability to grow most of the microorganisms in laboratory environment. Among the cultivable types of microorganisms, some were difficult to identify due to unusual biochemical reactions. Identification of microbes using conventional microbial techniques has always been cumbersome, time consuming and less accurate. When considering accuracy, the conventional methods of detecting microbial species unavoidably claim a 20% rate of error in results. Since of late, DNA sequencing techniques have permitted to study whole populations of microorganisms in a given environment without the need to culture any of them in a Petri dish. Mounting evidence suggests that particular aspects of human health and disease may be attributable to the trillions of microbes that inhabit our body, collectively referred to as “microbiota”. These microbes inhabit the human gut, nose, mouth, throat, skin and urogenital tract providing essential services such as extracting energy from food, absorbing and generating vitamins and amino acids and forming barriers against infective invaders. The recent realisation of the power of microbiota in regulating human health and disease has provided new potential targets for the maintenance of health and prevention of certain diseases such as diabetes and cancer. BactFast delivers new insights needed for better understanding of human microbiota, sensitively analysing each inhabitant along with its abundance. BactFast provides a vast range of opportunities to resolve a number of issues that burdens the healthcare system. The test can support as a life saving approach in the case of Intensive Care Unit patients whose lives are entirely dependent on the turnaround times of bacteria species identification. Early detection support of the disease helps the physicians to identify the course of therapy before the infection worsens and continuous medication procedures can minimise the disease complexity. It also helps to minimise the cost spent on antibiotics and additional medical care while reducing the tendency of developing antibiotic resistant microbial strains that could affect the patient’s life in long term. Moreover, it can greatly reduces the length of hospital stay while decreasing the tendency of administration of non-specific drugs that could adversely affect other underlying diseases, imposing life threatening situations. Innovative products BactFast is only the start point in a line of numerous innovative products and tools to arrive to the local and global market. With each service to disembark, Credence Genomics plans to provide, address and unveil different aspects of genomics, incorporating all the power and capability of its unique in-house platform. This pioneering technology will provide the users with;

Speed: receive analysed data back in a matter of 48 hours
Quality: Based on a Next Generation platform tests generate data with low error rates and high sensitivity
Results: Biology matters and Credence Genomics is dedicated to serve its customers with a skilled team of well- trained scientists
Security: The company treats each individual project reports with maximum confidentiality, customer data is always in a secure, protected environment
Ease: Get in-depth analysis of all biological queries represented in most user-friendly manner
Affordability: contact Credence Genomics to find out how surprisingly affordable Next Generation Sequencing is

Sharing his views on the launch of BactFast, Credence Genomics Ltd. Director Dr. Vaz Santosh Gnanam stated the following: “With the start of Credence Genomics Ltd., we have accomplished Sri Lanka’s first Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) laboratory. We have also managed to become the first to offer the most accurate and fastest diagnosis for bacterial infections. These unique services and offerings have also been priced at affordable rates for the country.” Credence Genomics Ltd. General Manager Nipuna Jayathilake added his views on the importance and the need of such technology: “What we have achieved with Credence is a unique, low cost, high quality sequencing platform that is affordable to researchers and developers. As a platform offering next generation sequencing services, Credence will offer a full range of genomic related products and services to the nation.” Thanking the efforts of his team, Credence Genomics Ltd. Director Lawrence Ganeshalingam said:”I’m excited to see Credence Genomics being the first in Sri Lanka to establish the leader in molecular diagnostics using NGS platform for 21st century molecular medicine or more importantly precision medicine. Dr. Preethi’s effort in bringing metagenomics knowledge from USA, Dr. Vajira’s effort in assembling the local talents to formulate an effective team funded by Dr. Vaz Gnanam to deliver a very cost effective commercial product- BACTFAST is the greatest achievement in itself for Sri Lankan market and further to compete in greater ASIAN market.” Skilled R&D With a skilled Research and Development team working around the clock to invent newer facets of research and diagnosis, the company is groomed to transform the landscape of genomic research. The team at Credence Genomics comprises of both universally recognised academics and professionals. Each and every key personality in this venture is a key player in the current research and development of numerous genetic and pharmacogenomics projects. This facility will allow researchers to use more sophisticated approaches at an affordable cost to answer questions to diverse biological problems. Many other vital genetic testing tools are in progress including a test to identify the whole spectrum of most known fungi in a similar manner to that of bacteria. Bacteriological identification is also to be taken to another level in the near future with more comprehensive analysis on their functional features such as drug resistance, heat/cold, salinity tolerance. Furthermore, Credence Genomics is planning to employ a growing suite of applications of NGS in order to reveal the intricacy of networks controlling gene expression and drug response. This will set the concepts of personalised medicine and pharmocogenomics, delivering the right treatment for the right person at the right time, in motion for the first time ever in the country where Next Generation Sequencing analysis will be used to achieve optimum medical outcomes in the management of a patient’s disease or disease predisposition. Genetically tailored treatment Personalised medicine promises to introduce new standards of healthcare helping the doctors to prescribe better, safer and efficacious treatment that is ‘tailored’ to best fit the individual’s genetic makeup with the least risk of side effects in contradiction to standard treatment or “one- size fits all approach”. Studies show that out of ten patients treated with standard treatment (same drug for a group of patients with the same syndrome irrespective of their genetic make-up) on average about half of them benefit while some may not have any effect at all and others may even suffer from side effects. Many physicians around the globe make use of personalised medicine in treatment of cancer, helping their patients to benefit and survive. With such facility at hand, Credence Genomics awaits to introduce a new era of medicine to the country with diverse benefits. As Credence Genomics brings home this ground-breaking technology eliminating bottlenecks of genetic research, Sri Lanka is now ready to take its first steps in genomics and personalised medicine benchmarking yet another giant movement in the history. In the days to come, with more unseen sides of biology being exposed to benefit human health, the country and its people has to potential to be able to fulfil the expectations of healthier, longer lives. Conventional methods Vs. BactFast