NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) - Knome said today that China’s Beijing Genomics Institute will provide the sequencing services for its whole-genome consumer genomics offering.
Under an exclusive agreement, BGI will handle genome sequencing, assembly, and annotation for Knome, which said in November that it will offer its service to an initial 20 customers for $350,000.
Knome, based in Cambridge, Mass., said it is packaging the genome sequencing and analysis from BGI with its own “analytic tools, security protocols, and genetic interpretation services.”
Jorge Conde, Knome CEO, said in statement that the company chose BGI because of its array of advanced sequencers, its large bioinformatics team, and because “they are actually one of only three groups in the world that have completely sequenced a human genome.”
BGI, which is based in Shenzhen, has more than 120 sequencers, 10 supercomputers and 500 terabytes of storage. Its sequencers include a mix of Applied Biosystems 3730xl sequencers, Amersham MegaBace sequencers, seven Illumina Genome Analyzers, and two ABI SOLiDs.
Conde told GenomeWeb Daily News sister publication In Sequence today that the initial approach will "probably" use the Illumina instrument.
In December, BGI announced its plans to offer sequencing services at “dramatically reduced cost and improved speed,” but did not provide further pricing or performance details.