NEW YORK – MGI Tech and King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC) said on Tuesday that they have signed a memorandum of understanding for a strategic collaboration in the areas of genomic science and biotechnology.
Financial and other terms of the collaboration were not disclosed.
The partnership will leverage BGI affiliate MGI’s DNBSeq technology to improve KAIMRC’s genome sequencing capacity and data quality across a wide range of applications, including human genome sequencing, transcriptome sequencing, infectious disease research, and microbial organism research, such as COVID-19 monitoring and epidemiology.
The partners also envision establishing a high-throughput sequencing center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-based KAIMRC, which will house MGI’s sequencing platforms, laboratory automation, and bioinformatics products. MGI, based in Shenzhen, China, will also join forces with KAIMRC for business development, marketing, public communications, and genomics education.
“MGI is an invaluable strategic partner in our journey towards establishing state-of-the-art genomic sequencing capabilities in Saudi Arabia,” Ahmed Alaskar, executive director of KAIMRC, said in a statement. “Precision medicine is the future of healthcare, and this partnership paves the way for new and innovative approaches in this field.”