European Research Consortium Receives $1.6M from EU to Develop Array-Based Sequencing Technology

NEW YORK, Aug. 26 (GenomeWeb News) - A consortium of European companies and research institutions has received $1.6 million in funding from the European Commission to develop an array-based sequencing-by-synthesis technology from Quiatech, the Uppsala, Sweden-based company said on Wednesday.

Quiatech, as the project coordinator, will be responsible for dispersing the funds, according to Torbjorn Pettersson, a company spokesperson.

Besides Quiatech, members of the consortium are Asper Biotech of Tartu, Estonia; Fermentas of Vilnius, Lithuania; the University of Frankfurt in Germany, Tartu University in Estonia, and Silex Microsystems of Järfälla, Sweden.

The aim of the two-year project, to commence at the end of August, is to develop an array platform with thousands of oligonucleotide features for sequencing by synthesis. In a second phase, for which they may involve additional partners, the members plan to commercialize the resulting technology.