Illumina and biosecurity firm Concentric by Ginkgo have pledged to expand biosecurity capabilities to help countries “modernize defenses" against emerging biological threats.
Concentric by Ginkgo, the biosecurity and public health unit of Ginkgo Bioworks, and Illumina have entered into a co-marketing agreement for work on pathogen monitoring programs across Concentric's global network.
“Concentric aims to accelerate deployment of our early warning and bioradar programs for governments worldwide as they seek to modernize defenses against biological threats,” Matt McKnight, general manager for biosecurity at Ginkgo Bioworks, said in a statement.
"Sustained genomic monitoring capacity is urgently needed to drive risk identification and collective response ahead of potential pandemics and emerging biothreats," he added.
Concentric says that over a dozen countries are “actively scoping and hosting” biosecurity programs with its platform of integrated services.
Illumina specializes in DNA sequencing, array-based technologies, instruments, consumables, and software.
Under their agreement, the two firms intend to market their products, expand the “bioradar” monitoring network and help build local capacity for biosurveillance.
Luke Hickey, vice president of marketing at Illumina, said the partnership would help “empower countries to protect the health of their citizens from infectious threats.”
"We now have the sequencing solutions available to ask valuable and complex questions of samples, to really understand the nature of circulating pathogens with a holistic, comprehensive approach," Hickey said.
