NEW YORK – Forensic DNA sequencing firm Verogen said on Tuesday that it is partnering with Eurofins to implement next-generation sequencing into routine casework.
In a three-phase pilot project to be conducted by Eurofins Forensic Services and a Eurofins forensic lab based in Nantes, France, the partners will validate Verogen's MiSeq FGx platform. "The goal of the project is to create an implementation model that can be easily replicated within Eurofins Forensics and its partners," the firms said in a statement.
"We are constantly looking at ways to provide new forensic insights to our customers," Stanislas Le Chevalier, national division leader of Eurofins Forensics, France, said in a statement. "This partnership allows us to leverage Verogen technology and harness the expertise of the trusted forensic leaders across the Eurofins network. Together, we aim to demonstrate the capability of the MiSeq FGx Sequencing System as a cost-effective alternative to classical capillary electrophoresis technologies in forensic genetics."
Verogen, an Illumina spinoff, offers NGS-based genotyping for standard forensic biomarkers, namely autosomal and Y chromosome short tandem repeats, or STRs, as well as newer ones, including single-nucleotide polymorphisms.
The company also noted that it launched a new kit, the ForenSeq MainstAY workflow, which targets 52 total core autosomal and Y-STR loci accepted by global databases. The kit comes in 96- and 384-reaction sizes.
The MiSeq FGx has been approved for use with the national DNA databases of France and the Netherlands.