Standard BioTools Inc. and Next Gen Diagnostics announced the execution of a long-term agreement aimed at revolutionizing the automation of sample preparation for pathogen whole genome sequencing. Under the exclusive agreement, Standard BioTools? will manufacture the NGD-100, a version of its microfluidics-based Biomark?

X9 System customized for NGD and optimized for automated pathogen WGS library preparation. Used by researchers around the world, Standard BioTools proprietary microfluidics technology offers highly scalable and automated workflows for quantitative PCR and NGS library preparation. These systems will enable the cost efficiencies, flexibility and proven analytical performance that laboratories need to meet the increasing demands of pathogen testing.

NGD has developed and validated world class capability in both the detection of transmission by comparison of bacterial WGS, and the prediction of antibiotic susceptibility. Its recently validated WGS-based prediction of resistance of E. coli to cefepime demonstrated that sequence-based diagnostics can be more accurate than current standard of care in vitro tests. And, NGD has validated the use of bacterial WGS for the detection of the transmission of infection in hospitals, an issue that creates enormous costs for health care systems, payers, and patients.

By pairing Standard BioTools? microfluidic sample preparation with fully automated bioinformatic analysis, NGD offers an integrated pathogen WGS service at the low cost and high throughput required to be compatible with the economics of infectious disease testing.