Otogenetics Ramps High Throughput NGS Clinical Sequencing Services with Swift 2S® Turbo

ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Swift Biosciences, Inc., a leader in the commercialization of DNA and RNA library preparation kits for Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS), has signed an agreement to supply its Swift 2S® Turbo DNA Library Kits to Otogenetics Corporation, a high throughput NGS clinical lab offering Prenatal Testing, Deafness Testing, Hereditary Cancer Risk Assessment, clinical exome, rare diseases, and other tests for personalized medicine and clinical trials.

Otogenetics evaluated many kits and ultimately adopted Swift 2S Turbo due to its ability to provide consistent data, easy automation, and cost savings. Swift's Field Automation Team was deployed to ensure seamless compatibility of the 2S Turbo workflow with Beckman robotic liquid handlers and get the lab up and running during the lab's downtime, so as not to impact operations.

"Swift's field support and automation teams played an instrumental role onboarding the 2S Turbo kit to our high throughput robotics platforms," said Brantley Wyatt, General Supervisor and Senior Laboratory Technologist at Otogenetics Corporation. "The time savings and efficiencies achieved have enabled us to double the daily throughput to our NGS sequencing-based clinical testing and services."

The collaboration will help Otogenetics ramp its hereditary disease and personalized medicine service areas and initiatives by supercharging its clinical Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) offerings. Sequencing the exome allows researchers and clinicians to obtain decision-making data for genetic variants responsible for Mendelian diseases such as Huntington's disease, somatic variants linked to various cancers, and underlying genetic components for complex diseases, such as Alzheimer's, autism, and major chronic diseases of cardiovascular systems and diabetes. It was also critical that Swift's solution provided support for Otogenetics's own sequencing adapters, plates, and other consumables, which are all fully compatible with the 2S Turbo "Flexible" kit option.

"We recognize the wide variety of workflow challenges facing a high throughput lab like Otogenetics as they strive to constantly increase throughput, reduce turnaround time, and save on spending. At Swift, we formed a small field-based task force representing our automation and library chemistry experts, and fully appreciated the opportunity to partner with Otogenetics in tackling technical barriers and solving them together," said Francesco Criscuolo, Swift's Field Automation Scientist.

Otogenetics has been running its optimized clinical NGS testing and exome sequencing workflow using the Swift kits since early 2020 and has plans to further scale its operations throughout the year.

About Swift Biosciences

Swift Biosciences develops and commercializes NGS Library Preparation Kits that enable technologies for genomics, translational, and clinical research. Our proprietary technologies expand the range of sample inputs to extend the applications of next-generation sequencing (NGS).  Swift Library Kits are designed to maximize data output, provide the most comprehensive coverage available on the market, and reduce sequencing costs.  Our research use only products are designed to facilitate library normalization and to analyze DNA and RNA samples for applications including Liquid Biopsy (circulating, cell-free DNA), Methylation Sequencing, Whole Genome, Exome and Transcriptome Sequencing as well as Chromatin studies, from low input quantities from Formalin-Fixed, Paraffin-Embedded samples.  The mission of Swift is to provide research tools for long term improvements in the health of individuals and their communities all around the world, specifically in the fight against cancer and understanding the complexities of inherited diseases.  The tools developed in our efforts are directly applicable to research in agrigenomics, biotechnology, metagenomics, and the pharmaceutical industry. For more information, visit SwiftBioSci.com and follow Swift Biosciences on Twitter (@SwiftBioSci).

About Otogenetics

Otogenetics was funded with NIH business grant support and began offering NGS as a service to the commercial market in 2011 and launched its first clinical genetic test in the same year; – sequencing more than 100 genes associated with Syndromic and Non-Syndromic Hearing Loss. Since the company has offered US clinics and hospitals numerous genetic tests and served renowned Academic and Research Institutions and Clinical Diagnostic Laboratories in more than 30 countries.

Otogenetics holds CLIA Certification of accreditation for high complexity testing and is licensed in Georgia, California, Florida, and Pennsylvania to provide clinical genetic testing. Otogenetics is CAP-accredited for NGS testing.

CONTACT: Camille Cappello, (858) 220-8521, [email protected]

SOURCE Swift Biosciences

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