There is one fundamental difference between traditional DNA sequencing and NGS sequencing used for Olink Explore readout.
Traditional sequencing is typically used for applications such as whole genome sequencing and mutation screening. The problem in Traditional sequencing is to identify and read unknown DNA-sequences that are mapped against a reference genome. This is a difficult problem where it is important to measure error parameters and evaluate the probability of erroneous reads of the unknown sequence.
Bcl data file is the raw data file that can be used to analyse error parameters etc.
For PEA with NGS readout the problem differs fundamentally, and is relatively easy. Known DNA sequences which Olink has defined are read. We only want to count how the number of each known sequence, and the counts are related to the protein concentration. The raw data is the counts file that can be used to normalize and process the data.
To summarize: Olink counts known sequences, and the number of counts are directly linked to the protein concentration.
From the NGS instrument the following files are generated: First the BCL file which is then translated to a COUNTS file which in turn results in the NPX file that contains the protein concentration results. The BCL contains proprietary information regarding the molecular design.
For Olink explore products with NGS readout Olink only delivers the NPX data.