Singular Genomics Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:OMIC) and TwinStrand Biosciences, Inc. today announced a collaboration to develop highly sensitive next generation sequencing (NGS) solutions for the Singular G4 Sequencing Platform for cutting-edge applications like minimal residual disease (MRD) detection. MRD is a key prognostic indicator that is important for risk stratification, treatment planning and drug development across oncology. Current non-duplex sequencing methods for measuring MRD produce an abundance of sequencing errors which obscure these low-frequency, cancer-derived mutations.
Singular Genomics and TwinStrand have partnered to combine their respective technologies of Q50+ High Definition Sequencing (HD-Seq™) and TwinStrand Duplex Sequencing™ to co-develop ultra-sensitive MRD applications. With the speed and flexibility of the G4 platform, the technologies together are designed to offer a high-performance tool that detects rare variants in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and cells with orders of magnitude, greater sensitivity and specificity than other non-duplex NGS-based liquid biopsy assays. The combination of these two technologies offer greater efficiency, thus enabling lower sequencing costs, compared to duplex sequencing on other platforms. We believe the combination of technologies from Singular and TwinStrand will lead to more clinically relevant turnaround time at lower overall costs while providing the highest level of accuracy on a benchtop sequencer.
“We are thrilled to work with TwinStrand, a highly respected leader in the important and growing field of rare variant detection in translational cancer research,” said Drew Spaventa, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Singular Genomics. “Working together and leveraging our collective technologies, we have the opportunity to set a new standard in ultra-high accuracy, high efficiency sequencing for applications like MRD detection.”
“This exciting collaboration with Singular Genomics combines the individually powerful elements of our respective technologies into a unified high-performance platform that achieves an unprecedented combination of sensitivity, speed, modest cost and benchtop deployability without tradeoffs,” said Jesse Salk, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of TwinStrand. “We are excited to explore a broad array of medically-important opportunities to deliver the highest quality data to our scientific and clinical research community.”
This collaboration is designed to strategically expand the product offerings for both companies. Both parties are excited to continue this foundational partnership and hope to provide innovative solutions to the sequencing market beyond initial MRD applications.
