MGI offers complete sequencing portfolio in the Middle East

With genomics and precision medicine on the rise globally, the past decade has seen rapid progress made by many countries in the Middle East in establishing national genome projects and relevant collaboration, joining global efforts in unraveling the secrets of human genomes at large scale.

In view of burgeoning genomic needs, MGI announced its expansion with an office in Dubai in 2019 to support universities, hospitals, healthcare institutions and other customers and partners in the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. "We have witnessed incredible growth in the genomics sector in the region as recent biomedical breakthroughs and large genomic studies gain momentum," said Dr Roy Tan, General Manager of MGI Asia Pacific. "As we put down roots here, MGI is committed to serving customers and partners in the Middle East and realising the vision of enabling people to live better and healthier lives."

With a local presence and an ever-growing regional team, MGI has been bringing its innovative, cutting-edge genomics technologies to the Middle East. Recently, MGI rolled out its full portfolio of sequencing platforms in the region by adding three additional sequencers to its product offering - DNBSEQ-E25*, DNBSEQ-G99*, and DNBSEQ-T20×2* - at MEDLAB Middle East 2023. Together with its flagship products DNBSEQ-G50*, DNBSEQ-G400*, and DNBSEQ-T7*, MGI now offers 2.5-7.5 Gb per run on DNBSEQ-E25* to 72 Tb per run on DNBSEQ-T20×2* to accommodate a range of application needs for customers and partners.

Based on the proprietary DNBSEQ technology, DNBSEQ-E25* is a portable, accessible, and user-friendly sequencer with a very low data throughput. Built on the newly designed self-luminous biochemical system, DNBSEQ-E25* has upgraded its sequencing system, flowcells and testing kits. Equipped with built-in bioinformatics, it is designed to run sequencing and generate reports on the go. Its ease of setup means it is ready to run in ten minutes, coupled by a quick turnaround time that takes only five hours from sample to FASTQ data.

On the other hand, DNBSEQ-G99* features ultra-fast applications among sequencers with the same low to mid-range throughput on the market. It adopts triangular matrix signal spots on sequencing flow cell for the first time, among other innovations in biochemistry, optics, fluidics, temperature control and more. The result is a higher density of data output with an overall throughput of 8-48 Gb per run, making the DNBSEQ-G99* especially suitable for targeted sequencing and small genome sequencing.

Lastly, equipped with six slides and two imagers, as well as robotic arm rotation, DNBSEQ-T20×2* features ultra-high throughput applications including WGS, WGBS, WES, RNA-seq, single cell, STOmics, and more. With open-type large sequencing slide, DNBSEQ-T20×2* could run six slides simultaneously, producing up to 22 Tb of data per day; while one set of DNBSEQ-T20×2RS* can sequences up to 50,000 WGS samples per year, bringing the cost of whole human genome sequencing to less than $1 per Gb.

MGI's sequencing technologies have been pivotal in supporting the healthcare system in the Middle East, namely in the fight against Covid-19. In Saudi Arabia, for example, it contributed to the rapid detection and surveillance of the Omicron variant and was responsible for the discovery of the first case of the variant in the country, by way of MGI sequencers that were supplied to the Ministry of Health. In addition to providing some of the main tools that have helped healthcare providers and authorities to combat the pandemic, MGI has also been playing a key role in facilitating genomics research and applications across the region through partnerships.

Last May, MGI and King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC) in Saudi Arabia signed an agreement to steer an international collaborative research programme, powered by MGI's technologies in genomics and bioinformatics for health and diseases. The strategic partnership aims to utilize DNBSEQ technology-based platforms to improve genome sequencing and data quality across a wide range of applications, including human genome sequencing, transcriptome sequencing, infectious diseases, and microbial organisms research, such as Covid-19 monitoring and epidemiology. It also envisions the establishment of a high-throughput sequencing center in KAIMRC equipped with MGI's products.

"With the Middle East a key region for MGI, we shall continue to empower all types of customers and partners to grow their genomics capabilities. Through our proven technology, expertise, and innovation, we are on track to support the whole region in developing genomics at scale," Dr Tan added. "We will usher in a new era for genomics in the Middle East with our complete portfolio of sequencers, covering different throughputs and diverse application needs."

*Unless otherwise informed, StandardMPS and CoolMPS sequencing reagents, and sequencers for use with such reagents are not available in Germany, Spain, UK, Sweden, Belgium, Italy, Finland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Portugal, Austria and Romania. Unless otherwise informed, StandardMPS sequencing reagents, and sequencers for use with such reagents are not available in Hong Kong.