ChunLab TrueBac ID

Korean bioinformatics firm ChunLab has launched TrueBac ID, a cloud-based platform that combines proprietary algorithms and a manually curated reference database for bacterial identification targeting more than 12,000 species. The system can provide a full identification report within 30 minutes after a user uploads a genome assembly or raw shotgun sequencing data as a FASTQ file. The report provides fully resolved taxonomic classification, antimicrobial resistance genes, and virulence genes to facilitate correct diagnosis and appropriate therapy. In a recently published study, TrueBac ID was able to accurately identify 34 of 36 clinical isolates (94.4 percent) that were not identified using three commercially available MALDI-TOF MS systems. ChunLab said that it is providing the service for free to all users until the end of 2019 with certain restrictions. In 2020, the company plans to add functions such as strain typing to the platform.