Target Enrichment System for Next-Generation Sequencers Expanded

Agilent Technologies Inc have announced the expansion of the HaloPlex target enrichment system which will now be available on Ion Torrent’s Personal Genome Machine, a benchtop sequencing solution.

The HaloPlex system features a unique paired-end design, which positions reads at both target ends using a single-end sequencing run. By taking advantage of the extra coverage that the paired-end design provides, researchers will be able to save sequencing costs and time.

“The HaloPlex technology makes it possible for us to capture specific sets of genes in a single reaction,” said Peter Ray, head of molecular genetics at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. “So far we have gotten great coverage of the mutations we were looking for. By combining HaloPlex with Ion Torrent we are able to generate sequencing data for our targets in a single day.”

HaloPlex continues to break barriers common to other target enrichment technologies and can now enable larger capture sizes during desktop sequencing – up to 5Mb or approximately 2,000 genes on a MiSeq personal sequencer. HaloPlex offers greater efficiency and improved performance and, with the update released today, it allows researchers to process up to 250,000 amplicons in the same tube.

“HaloPlex is helping to transform target enrichment, especially for desktop sequencers,” said Olle Ericsson, Director of Marketing, DNA sequencing at Agilent. “We are overcoming previous barriers with the fastest, most flexible and most innovative target enrichment platform on the market.”

HaloPlex is a flexible and customisable product that enables users to create designs in less than 10 minutes to enrich thousands of genomic targets, using the no-charge Web Design Wizard .

Agilent acquired Halo Genomics of Uppsala, Sweden, and the HaloPlex platform in December, 2011. HaloPlex technology complements the existing Agilent SureSelect target-enrichment system.