Scientific Experiment
Scientist transferring liquid into microwell plates using a pipette

Cambridge Epigenetix and NuGEN Technologies recently inked a co-exclusive partnership deal through which NuGEN will market the U.K. firm’s TrueMethyl oxidative bisulfite sequencing (oxBS-Seq) kits for epigenetic marker identification and quantification, and incorporate the tech­nology into its own next-generation sequencing (NGS) library preparation kits. The partners also aim to launch new products incorporating the oxBS-Seq technology later this year.

 

Cambridge Epigenetix’s oxBS-Seq platform has been developed to discriminate between two functionally dis­tinct DNA methylation biomarkers, 5-methylcytosine (5mC) and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), which traditional bisulfite sequencing technologies can’t tell apart. The deal with California-based NuGEN will broaden the reach of the technology within the global research market, and provide new development opportunities, suggested Cambridge Epigenetix’s CEO Jason Mellad, Ph.D. “Importantly, the deal with NuGEN will allow us to focus on exploiting our technologies for developing epigenetic clinical diagnostics, and particularly noninvasive liquid biopsies for cancer test­ing. Our mission is to harness the power of epigenetics to develop the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics, and partnering with NuGEN for our research products will enable us to concentrate our epigenetics expertise and technol­ogies for clinical applications.“

 

The NuGEN partnership does represent an ideal fit for the firms’ product portfolios, Mellad stressed. “NuGEN’s exist­ing NGS and genomic sample preparation kits complement the existing oxBS-Seq kits. We considered other potential partners, but NuGEN demonstrated the right mix of exper­tise and passion. The team has an outstanding reputation for innovative chemistry, and there is a lot of overlap between our customer bases. NuGEN has developed a suite of innovative library preparation tech­nologies that make epigenetic sequencing more affordable,” he noted. “Bundling our chemistry into that platform will provide a methodology for accurately profiling key individual epigenetic biomarkers.”

 

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