Sophia Genetics and Qiagen on Wednesday announced that they are collaborating to pair Qiagen’s QIAseq reagent technology with the Sophia DDM platform to use next-generation sequencing (NGS) to enhance tumor analysis.
The Sophia DDM cloud-based platform uses machine learning to call, annotate, and pre-classify variants from raw NGS data.
Under the collaboration, customers will be able to order QIAseq panels that can be processed through the cloud-based Sophia DDM platform. Initially, the partnership will support somatic variant detection using QIAseq Targeted DNA Pro panels for homologous recombination repair (HRR), a biomarker test to determine if tumors have certain mutations making them sensitive to PARP inhibitors.
The firms plan to then expand the pairing to other areas, including the use of custom-made solutions. The collaboration with Sophia is the first partnership in Qiagen's QIAseq Platform Partnership program.
“We have a strong and longstanding relationship with Qiagen and have used their products as part of our ‘bundle solution’ for years,” said Kevin Puylaert, vice president of business development at Sophia Genetics, in a statement.
