NEW YORK – Pacific Biosciences said Monday after market close that it will partner with Singapore's National Precision Medicine (NPM) program to conduct population genomics studies using Revio HiFi sequencing.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
As part of the collaboration, carried out under the NPM program led by Precision Health Research, Singapore (PRECISE), PacBio said it will help generate high-quality phased methylome and genomic data for a multi-thousand-sample cohort using HiFi whole-genome sequencing.
The research efforts include generating 60X HiFi data for Pan-Asian reference genomes, 20X HiFi data for multiomic analyses, and 30X HiFi data to study cancer and rare disease. Macrogen Asia Pacific will carry out the sequencing as the appointed service provider.
In addition, PacBio said it will advance its local sequencing infrastructure in Singapore, including establishing a centralized library preparation facility and sequencing lab for high-throughput projects.
The company will also deploy Amazon Web Services cloud storage and workflow capabilities to achieve secure and efficient data processing and delivery for PRECISE researchers and clinicians.
"I am delighted that PRECISE has selected our Revio system for their extensive, flagship long-read sequencing project in Singapore," PacBio President and CEO Christian Henry said in a statement. "This project exemplifies Revio's unique ability to provide differentiated solutions for large-scale, multi-thousand-sample, whole-genome sequencing projects."
In midmorning trading on the Nasdaq, shares of Pacific Biosciences were up more than 4 percent to $1.61.
PRECISE is also working with Oxford Nanopore Technologies to sequence 10,000 genomes representing Singapore’s diverse population for the NPM program. Currently in its second phase, the NPM program aims to harness the genetic insights from Singapore's diverse population, including Malay, Indian, and Chinese communities, to boost precision medicine in the country.