NEW YORK – SPT Labtech announced Tuesday that it is partnering with Roche to comarket next-generation sequencing library preparation workflows for both PCR and PCR-free applications.
The collaboration will leverage SPT Labtech's automated liquid handling platform Firefly to offer fully automated workflows for Roche's research-use-only Kapa EvoPlus and Kapa EvoPlus PCR-Free kits. The combination of the technologies "enables significant time savings in the laboratory for whole-genome sequencing applications," SPT Labtech said in a statement. Users will have the ability to run 96 samples at once, it noted.
Roche's Kapa kits require minimal input material and have a tunable enzymatic DNA fragmentation process. They are designed to offer consistent fragmentation performance, resistance to fragmentation inhibitors, and the ability to minimize sequencing artefacts, Cambridge, UK-based SPT Labtech said.
SPT Labtech's Firefly solution combines multiple capabilities, including pipetting, dispensing, incubating, and shaking within a benchtop unit.
The collaboration "represents a further advancement for the genomics community, offering an optimized, reliable, and efficient approach to NGS library preparation," said Paul Lomax, head of genomics at SPT Labtech. "By significantly reducing manual labor and time requirements, researchers can redirect their focus to more critical aspects of their work, thus accelerating the pace of scientific discovery and innovation."
Lomax noted that the firm is also working toward automating Roche's Kapa Library Quantification Kit.