German sequencing service provider GATC Biotech said today it plans to sequence and analyze 100,000 human genomes by 2014 on the Illumina HiSeq 2000 and the Pacific Biosciences RS, which it recently announced it would purchase (IS 8/21/2010).
GATC said the genomes would be sequenced for pharmaceutical and diagnostic firms as well as for academic research.
Kerstin Stangier, the company's director of business development, said that GATC will have sequenced and analyzed more than 100 human genomes by the end of this year.
In order to achieve its goal of 100,000 genomes, GATC Biotech plans to open a business unit for human genome analysis, which will focus on sequencing and analysis of human samples "of all sizes; from small enriched regions to entire genomes." The new unit will be located at the company's headquarters.
Stangier, who will also head the new business unit, said that the company has streamlined its human sequencing process as part of its work for the International Cancer Genome Consortium.
In May, the company was awarded a contract from a German research consortium to sequence pediatric brain tumors for the ICGC (IS 5/25/2010).
Stangier said that its sequencing setup includes "a LIMS-controlled production workflow with automated library preparation and an extensive bioinformatics pipeline [that] can be adapted to any project goal."