• Olink announces collaboration with Element Biosciences and Singular Genomics

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    Two recently announced next-generation sequencing platforms offer increases in Olink Explore readout flexibility and cost-effectiveness

    The Olink Proximity Extension Assay has demonstrated readout flexibility

    When Olink Proteomics offered its first 96-plex Olink Target 96 panels to the marketplace, the molecular barcodes from the Proximity Extension Assay were quantitated with the Fluidigm Biomark HD microfluidic real-time PCR instrument. Now there are fourteen Olink Target 96 panels to choose from and a new Signature Q100 instrument available directly from Olink.

    It was in the Fall of 2020 when Olink Proteomics introduced the Olink Explore 386 and 1536 panels, and subsequent doubling to the Olink Explore 3072 for analysis of up to 3,000 circulating protein biomarkers. These panels were designed in collaboration with the Illumina next-generation sequencing platforms; both the NextSeq 550 and NovaSeq 6000 systems are supported with several flowcell configurations. An automated liquid-handling workflow helps enable generation of ~14 million data points per week, per NGS instrument.

    Element Biosciences offer novel chemistry in their AVITI™ technology

    A new company called Element Biosciences announced in the spring of 2022 a new sequencing approach they call AVITI, where their new instrument offers not only very high quality sequencing data (up to 150 bases per read) with wide availability of their systems in the first half of 2022.

    Olink announced a collaboration with Element Biosciences, to enable Olink Explore products to be read out on the Element Biosciences AVITI system. At the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) Conference taking place in early June 2022, Element will participate in a round table discussion where a proof-of-principle set of data will be discussed.

    Singular Genomics’ G4 platform with Max Read technology offers additional flexibility

    About four months prior to Element Biosciences announcing their AVITI system and technology, Singular Genomics announced a new platform they call G4, promising runs of four billion reads per run with a new format they call Max Read technology. With a four flowcell format and sixteen individually-addressable lanes for physical separation of samples and/or experiments (in contrast to use of molecular barcodes within a single lane), the G4 sequencer from Singular Genomics offers additional flexibility in instrument setup and execution of a sequencing run.

    A second revolution in large-scale proteogenomics throughput

    With the announcement of these two collaborations with Element Biosciences and Singular Genomics, there is greater choice in NGS readout for the Olink Explore platform. It is worthwhile to note these collaborations have just been announced, with no date set for future specific product offerings.

    For the past 13 years the number of whole exomes and whole genomes has been growing exponentially, and now combining the variant data from hundreds of thousands of individuals and being able to combine them with proteomics information promises to unlock valuable insights into the biological mechanisms of disease.

    Related links & sources

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    Utilizing proteogenomics technology for novel drug target discovery

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