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PacBio to offer both native long and short read sequencing systems

PacBio, a developer of high-quality, highly accurate sequencing solutions, has become the first and only company to offer both native long- and short-read sequencing technology, following their acquisition of Omniome in 2021.

Key highlights:

Onso - a highly accurate short-read sequencing platform

PacBio, a developer of high-quality, highly accurate sequencing solutions, commences external beta testing of the Onso Sequencing System. The innovative short-read DNA sequencing platform is expected to provide an extraordinary level of accuracy by utilising PacBio’s unique sequencing by binding (SBB) technology.

“We are excited to see how researchers will leverage the ground-breaking sequencing accuracy that we expect the Onso system to deliver. Upon the launch, we expect to become the only company that we know of to offer both highly accurate, native short- and long-read sequencing technologies, which will enable us to offer more complete solutions to our customers’ challenges,” said Christian Henry, president and chief executive officer of PacBio.

“The Onso Sequencing System is designed to deliver highly accurate sequencing reads and support scalable, flexible, and cost optimised operation, and enable customers to feel more confident in their science. This system is designed to be a game changer for the genomics industry, and we’re excited to begin shipping beta systems to our beta partners.”

PacBio expects to begin taking orders for Onso in the first quarter of 2023 and expects to begin shipments of the system in the first half of 2023 upon completion of the external beta program.

The Onso Sequencing System has been designed for compatibility with the rich ecosystem of products currently available for short-read sequencers and supports a diverse set of library preparation types, single cell analysis solutions, whole-genome sequencing and other targeted methods, such as amplicon and hybridisation capture panels. It is anticipated to deliver 500 million reads per run and offer 200 and 300 cycle kits enabling paired and single end reads, at a list price of US $259,000 per system.

“We believe the differentiated accuracy and workflow will allow scientists to process many more samples with the same output as other on-market short-read sequencing platforms. The Onso Sequencing System is expected to bring a new standard of data quality and efficiency that allows for better interrogation of the genome without over-sequencing and complicated error correction methods. In oncology research applications, we are excited to demonstrate Onso’s extraordinary sensitivity and specificity for studying genetic variants and for advancing the development of diagnostic tools to improve therapy selection and recurrence monitoring,” said Mark Van Oene, chief operations officer at PacBio.

“We are excited to see continued innovation in the sequencing technology landscape. Improved accuracy and the ability to call challenging variants will be particularly important as we continue to refine targeted areas of the genome that harbor actionable and other clinically relevant variants,” says Stacey Gabriel, chief genomics officer and senior director of the Genomics Platform at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

“The high accuracy of the new Onso system from PacBio opens new opportunities for Agricultural Biotechnology. We look forward to bringing the technology in-house and applying it to applications such as gene editing specificity analysis that can benefit from increased accuracy,” said Gina Zastrow-Hayes, Biotechnology and GT-Genomics Technology manager at Corteva Agriscience.

Revio - a long read sequencing system

PacBio also launches Revio, a long-read sequencing system, which will enable customers to dramatically scale their use of PacBio’s celebrated HiFi sequencing technology. Revio is designed to provide customers with the ability to sequence up to 1,300 human whole genomes per year at 30-fold coverage for less than $1,000 per genome. With this scale and pricing, PacBio believes Revio will enable the use of HiFi sequencing for large studies in human genetics, cancer research, agricultural genomics, and more.

“We’ve designed an entirely new SMRT Cell with three-fold higher density than our existing SMRT Cell 8M, resulting in 25 million ZMWs. Revio will run up to four SMRT Cells in parallel, which provides up to 100 million ZMWs for sequencing single molecules simultaneously. Combined with significant advances in our compute, Revio will deliver shorter run times and a 15-fold increase in HiFi data. I’m excited to see what researchers can discover using the power of Revio,” said Christian Henry, president and chief executive officer of PacBio.

Revio will be PacBio’s first system to feature NVIDIA GPUs, providing a 20-fold increase in computing power compared to the Sequel IIe. In addition to providing accelerated basecalling to meet Revio’s higher throughput, the AI-enabled computer will integrate deep learning algorithms to detect DNA methylation from standard sequencing libraries, and DeepConsensus, a deep learning method developed with Google Health to improve the yield and accuracy of HiFi sequencing.

Revio will require 50 percent fewer consumables than the Sequel IIe and includes substantial improvements in workflow and convenience. Revio will make it possible to set up a subsequent run while the current run is in progress, which provides increased schedule flexibility for an operator to load runs any time of day and maximise system throughput. 

“In our Genomic Answers For Kids (GA4K) program, HiFi genome sequencing shows true advancement beyond contemporary genetic analysis in unsolved rare disease samples. Increased throughput of the Revio sequencing system at lower cost would accelerate answers in GA4K,” said Tomi Pastinen, MD, PhD, director of the Genomic Medicine Center at Children’s Mercy Kansas City.

“The new Revio sequencing system from PacBio will be a key component in our genomics toolbox at Corteva. Long-read sequencing has enabled the characterisation of complex plant genomes and now the high-throughput capabilities of Revio will allow us to apply HiFi technology to a wider array of applications in agricultural biotechnology,” said Gina Zastrow-Hayes, Biotechnology and GT-Genomics Technology manager at Corteva Agriscience.

Revio has a list price of US $779,000. PacBio is now accepting orders and intends to begin delivery in the first quarter of 2023.

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