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GeneFirst Limited is proud to have the recent paper titled Adaptor Template Oligo-Mediated Sequencing (ATOM-Seq) is a new ultra-Sensitive UMI-based NGS library preparation technology for use with cfDNA and cfRNA accepted for publication by Scientific Reports. The paper is the culmination of many years of innovation, development, and optimisation by the R&D team at GeneFirst and its collaborators for its proprietary ATOM-Seq technology.

Liquid biopsy testing utilising Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) is rapidly moving towards clinical adoption for personalised oncology. However, before NGS can fulfil its potential any novel testing approach must identify ways of reducing errors, allowing separation of true low-frequency mutations from procedural artefacts, and be designed to improve upon current technologies.

Current NGS technologies have inherent limitations that arise from the nature of PCR and ligation-based approaches. Because of this, new library preparation approaches that are better able to assess the full spectrum of nucleic acids present in a liquid biopsy sample—including single stranded, short, and damaged DNA and/or RNA molecules—could lead to significant improvements to clinical testing.

GeneFirst’s recent publication highlights the strengths and flexibility of ATOM-Seq to address a number of these major limitations of both PCR- and ligation-based approaches. ATOM-Seq is ligation free, simple, efficient, flexible, and streamlined making it extremely ideal for use on very challenging clinical material. GeneFirst have demonstrated the detection of known single nucleotide variants (SNVs) down to allele frequencies of 0.1% using as little as 20-25ng of cfDNA material, including the added ability to detect fusions from RNA. This illustrates that ATOM-Seq is not only appropriate but highly suitable for clinical testing by showing high concordance rates between paired cfDNA and FFPE clinical samples.

GeneFirst’s ATOM-Seq technology forms the underpinning principle for the XCeloSeq NGS product range, which is available in 2021. The portfolio includes cancer specific panels such as our Breast Cancer cfDNA kit and a range of fusion kits.

About GeneFirst:

GeneFirst, based in Oxford, UK, is a molecular diagnostics company specialised in developing innovative solutions for infectious diseases and cancer testing using its suite of patented and proprietary breakthrough technologies. The GeneFirst mission is to provide simple, reliable and effective molecular solutions to aid the accurate diagnosis of diseases and improvement of patient management.

For more information please contact:

Winnie Wu

+44 (0) 1865 407400
winnie.wu@genefirst.com