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Opentrons Labworks, Zymo Research Partner on Microbiome Analysis Tech

NEW YORK — Zymo Research has signed an agreement to automate its ZymoBiomics microbiome and metagenome analysis chemistries on Opentrons Labworks' Flex laboratory automation platform, the companies said on Thursday.

Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The recently launched Opentrons Flex is a programmable liquid handling platform that comes in different versions including ones for automating popular next-generation sequencing library preparation kits and magnetic bead-based protein purification workflows.

Zymo's ZymoBiomics products include kits for the purification of microbial DNA and RNA for microbiome and metagenome analyses, as well as microbial community standards.

"By streamlining and standardizing microbiome analysis through the combined use of the Opentrons Flex platform and Zymo's chemistries, this partnership can accelerate the progress and influence of microbiome research," Marc Van Eden, VP of business development at Zymo, said in a statement.

The collaboration marks the latest in a series for New York-based Opentrons and Irvine, California-based Zymo, which previously struck deals to automate different Zymo chemistries on Opentrons' OT-2 pipetting robot.

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