CeGaT Is One of the First Companies Worldwide to Receive the Most Powerful Sequencing Platform NovaSeq™ X Plus

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Tübingen, March 14, 2023: CeGaT, a global provider of sequencing services for research, clinical studies, and human genetic diagnostics, is now using the latest and most powerful sequencing system from Illumina. With the NovaSeq™ X Plus, CeGaT can carry out research projects previously considered unfeasible due to their enormous data volume.

Since mid-March, CeGaT has been one of the first companies worldwide to own the brand new NovaSeq™ X Plus, which was announced by Illumina just last fall. Thanks to innovative chemistry and technology, the high-performance sequencer enables an unmatched level of throughput and accuracy: In one run with two flow cells, up to 16 terabases are generated in the shortest possible time. As a result, tens of thousands of genomes can be sequenced yearly. The acquisition of this platform allows CeGaT to meet the increasing demand for molecular genetic analyses and thus make this revolutionary technology available to its customers.

Innovative and sustainable

Dr. Dirk Biskup, managing director, and co-founder of CeGaT, explains, “We look forward to realizing even the most extensive projects in our usual outstanding quality with the NovaSeq™ X Plus. Researchers will be able to complete their studies faster and more efficiently than ever before. The fact that the NovaSeq™ X Plus is also an innovation in ecological terms and saves considerably on resources during operation fits perfectly with our guiding principle of sustainability in all areas of the company.”

“We are delighted that CeGaT has taken delivery of one of the first NovaSeq™ X Plus instruments in Europe as it continues to invest to meet the increasing demand for sequencing and genetic analyses,” said Bas Verhoef, Head of Region, Europe, Illumina. With its new chemistry, the NovaSeq X series allows our customers to maximize their productivity and minimize turnaround time, that will further our understanding of genetic diseases to improve human health.”

The NovaSeq™ X Plus will be used for a wide range of genomics applications. CeGaT’s business unit, “Research and Pharma Solutions”, offers customers from science, pharma, and industry a wide range of sequencing services that are also used in clinical studies under the highest regulatory requirements.

Continuous investment in state-of-the-art technologies

CeGaT continually invests in acquiring the latest technology. The Tübingen-based company recently became the first provider in Germany to acquire PacBio’s Sequel IIe system. The Single Molecule Real-Time (SMRT) technology behind it enables Hi-Fi reads with exceptional accuracy and length. With the acquisition of the NovaSeq™ X Plus, CeGaT underpins its pioneering role in the field of sequencing.

16S rRNA Sequencing: Discover the Advantages of Long-Read Sequencing

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CeGaT is expanding its Research and Pharma Solutions product portfolio and now offers Full-Length 16S Sequencing. The new service enables full-length sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, including all variable regions. PacBio’s Single Molecule Real-Time (SMRT) technology generates HiFi reads with exceptional accuracy and length. Thus, microbial taxa can be accurately determined.

16S rRNA sequencing is one of the most widely used methods to determine taxonomic distribution in bacterial communities, such as the gut microbiome. The highly conserved 16S rRNA gene is approximately 1.500 bp long and consists of nine hypervariable regions (V1 – V9) that differ between different bacteria.

Using PacBio’s Sequel IIe system, the entire 16s rRNA gene is sequenced. This technology enables precise long-read sequencing (HiFi reads) generated by circular consensus sequencing. As a result, the full-length gene can now be analyzed at CeGaT.

CeGaT’s Full-Length 16S Sequencing is featured by the following:

  • fast turnaround times and the highest sequencing accuracy
  • analysis of the complete 16S rRNA gene (V1-V9 regions)
  • HiFi long reads of approx. 1,500 bp
  • simultaneous analysis of multiple samples

Please use the potential of precise Full-Length 16S Sequencing and benefit from our many years of experience in NGS and diagnostics and our accredited laboratory procedures. We gladly advise you on your study or research project.

For more information, please get in touch with us at rps@cegat.com.

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Our Service for Your Clinical Study: Benefit from CeGaT’s Many Years of Experience

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Our service provides you with our expertise in next-generation sequencing (NGS). You will receive support in all steps of your clinical study to achieve the best possible results within the shortest time.

NGS is the basis of precision medicine and provides the most comprehensive data to answer your clinical questions. NGS helps to better understand diseases and to develop drugs in a targeted manner. With many years of experience, we are aware of the challenges associated with analyzing clinical samples and can be flexible to meet your needs. We support university hospitals and companies from the biotech and pharmaceutical industries with, e.g., genome, exome, and transcriptome sequencing, as well as analyses from liquid biopsies or HLA typing. Together we determine the optimal choice of NGS services for your clinical trial and assist you in the following:

  • trial design,
  • preparation of study-relevant documents,
  • communication with study centers,
  • long-term data storage and
  • storage of samples.

Throughout the whole project, you will be supported by a dedicated expert. For the collection of clinical samples, we provide you with customized sampling kits. In addition, our experienced logistics team will be happy to advise you on sample shipment and take care of the entire organization.

All steps of the process are performed in-house. Accredited workflows (DIN EN ISO 15189, DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025, CAP, CLIA) guarantee reliable results.

Benefit from a direct exchange to plan and adapt your project, set quality standards, and evaluate the results.

To start your clinical study contact us now at rps@cegat.com.
You can find an overview of our clinical study service here:

To our Clinical Study Service

Illumina NovaSeq™ X Plus: CeGaT is One of the First Companies to Order Illumina’s Brand New Sequencer

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CeGaT is expanding its NGS laboratory with the brand new NovaSeq™ X Plus from Illumina. This strategically important step enables CeGaT to serve the growing global demand for sequencing services and molecular genetic analysis and to make Illumina’s latest sequencing platform available to its customers.

On Monday, October 3rd, 2022, Illumina unveiled its latest advancement – the new series of sequencers, NovaSeq™ X Plus. This platform, coupled with state-of-the-art sequencing chemistry, enables a new dimension of samples to be sequenced in parallel. “We are looking forward to the new challenge and will provide our customers with the well-established quality on the NovaSeq™ X Plus. We will make diagnostic standards available to all researchers and physicians on this sequencer as well,” says Dr. Jiri Ködding, Director Operations.

“We are delighted that CeGaT has chosen to invest in its future with the NovaSeq™ X Plus series to meet its increasing demand for sequencing and genetic analyses,” said Paula Dowdy, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Illumina for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. “We are reinventing the industry once again with a technology that increases the speed, scale, and accuracy of sequencing that furthers our understanding of genetic diseases to improve human health.”

In addition to the new NovaSeq™ X Plus, CeGaT will continue to use the existing NovaSeq™ 6000 sequencers. This will significantly increase the total sequencing capacity of the owner-operated company in Tübingen. All analyses will be still performed in-house.

Ongoing investment in state-of-the-art technologies

CeGaT invests in state-of-the-art equipment and is constantly expanding its product portfolio for international customers. Rapid turnaround times and the processing of large sample volumes are made possible in this way. Just in April 2022, CeGaT acquired a sixth NovaSeq™ 6000. With the six existing NovaSeq™ 6000s, CeGaT can generate data volumes of up to 36 terabases in less than two days. This sequencing capacity is now significantly expanded by the NovaSeq™ X Plus.

CeGaTs Sequencing Services

New Video and Tech Note: Discover the Great Potential of Single-Cell RNA Sequencing

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Single-cell RNA sequencing has revolutionized biological research and generated fascinating new insights into cancer biology, immune cell diversity, and tissue development. We wanted to let our customers be part of this revolution: One year ago, we expanded our product portfolio with the single-cell RNA sequencing technology from 10x Genomics. Learn more about this exciting technology and its applications in the newest product video and Tech Note.

Complex biological systems, like a growing tumor or the immune system, are composed of heterogeneous cell populations and cellular subtypes. With single-cell RNA sequencing, scientists now have a powerful tool to understand this complexity better. At CeGaT, we provide high-throughput single-cell RNA sequencing using the state-of-the-art Chromium system from 10x Genomics in combination with the latest NGS technology. The individual transcriptomes of 500 – 10,000 single cells can be analyzed in one sample with this workflow. Watch our brand-new product video to learn more about the basics of this workflow.

Our latest Tech Note demonstrates that our optimized single-cell RNA sequencing workflow is a robust tool to detect rare cell populations down to a relative abundance of 0.5%. Our analysis also shows that the technical variability of the method is low and generates reproducible results. Furthermore, the Tech Note illustrates how single-cell RNA sequencing can be used to monitor changes in the immune cell composition of a cancer vaccination patient over time. Read more about our findings here.

View Our Tech Note

To start your single-cell RNA sequencing project, all we need from you is a frozen single-cell suspension. Optimally, you provide us with 1 million cells with cell viability higher than 90%. After receiving your cells, we will take care of all further steps, including library preparation, sequencing, and data analysis.

For further information, please get in touch with us at rps@cegat.com.
More About Single-Cell RNA Sequencing