Beckman Coulter Life Sciences and Watchmaker Genomics Collaborate

Beckman Coulter Life Sciences has entered a collaborative partnership with Watchmaker Genomics for high-stringency clinical and translational applications. The partnership harnesses the value of each organisation to deliver robust and reliable automated liquid handling solutions that enable labs to streamline operations and generate consistent results.

As part of the agreement, the two companies will co-develop methods for NGS library preparation leveraging Watchmaker’s portfolio of rapid and highly sensitive DNA and RNA solutions on the Biomek i7 Dual Hybrid Liquid Handler from Beckman Coulter Life Sciences. The tip-based automated liquid handler offers a complete walkaway solution that is flexible and versatile, allowing a variety of sample sizes, reagent volumes, labware, device integrations, and supplemental steps to transform laboratory workflows. 

“The genomics field requires innovative tools that address bottlenecks in both workflow and sensitivity while also delivering robust performance with highly challenging sample types,” said Kerri Stellato, Chief Commercial Officer at Watchmaker Genomics. “This collaboration will deliver solutions that check all of those boxes – ultimately saving users time and operational bandwidth while improving data quality.”

With the global NGS market projected to grow to nearly $27 billion by 2027, demand is expected to increase for solutions to provide critical assistance to NGS labs.

“As more labs around the world tap into next generation sequencing, we’re ready to help by delivering innovative solutions to reduce complexities and turnaround time while improving accuracy,” said Elsa Burgess, Vice President and General Manager of Biotech Workflow Solutions at Beckman Coulter Life Sciences. “This partnership fuels our mission to help labs of all sizes harness the benefits of automation to accelerate pioneering research discoveries, whether for NGS needs, sample management, drug discovery, functional screening, synthetic biology, or proteomics.”

One of the first outputs of this collaboration will be an RNA library preparation method that enables walkaway, automated processing of up to 96 libraries in under 8 hours. The method will use the Watchmaker RNA Library Prep Kit with Polaris Depletion and support clinically relevant samples, including formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples, as well as input amounts as low as 1 ng.