Agilent and MGI Agree to Collaborate to Promote Deep Integration of Laboratory Information System and Sequencing Platform

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) and MGI Tech have signed an agreement to conduct more in-depth cooperation in high throughput sequencing, which will give full play to their respective advantages in laboratory information management and sequencing platforms and provide the industry with a more efficient and reliable high throughput sequencing overall solution.

Recently, at the 14th International Conference on Genomics in Shenzhen, Agilent and MGI held the “MGI DNBSEQ™ & Agilent Genohm Signing Ceremony.” Frederik Decouttere, Senior Director and General Manager of Agilent Genohm, signed a cooperation agreement with Liu Jian, Executive Vice President of MGI, with John Sadler, Agilent Vice President and General Manager of Software and Informatics Division, and Duncan Yu, President of MGI, witnessing the signing ceremony.

DNBSEQ™ is the basic core technology of MGI’s sequencing instrument, including DNA single-chain circularization and DNB preparation, patterned array slides, DNB loading, cPAS (combinatorial probe anchor synthesis), paired-end sequencing, and base calling algorithms, etc. The technology has the important characteristics of high accuracy, low duplicate rate, and low index hopping, which can effectively avoid the accumulation of errors in traditional PCR sequencing. With DNBSEQ™ as the core, MGI has developed a series of sequencing platforms covering high, medium and low throughput and various application scenarios.

Agilent SLIMS is a comprehensive laboratory management solution that combines laboratory information management systems (LIMS) and electronic lab record (ELN) functions, including electronic lab notebooks, sample management, workflow management, order management, and data display boards. The five main functional modules can be applied to biological sample bank, medical industry QA/QC, high-throughput sequencing, analytical laboratories, clinical diagnosis and other industries, which is in line with the requirements of laws and regulations in many regions of the world.

Through this cooperation, Agilent’s SLIMS laboratory information system will be deeply integrated with MGI’s DNBSEQ™ series of sequencing platforms and other diversified life science instruments to achieve seamless connection between hardware and software.

Prior to the signing ceremony, Senior Director and General Manager of Agilent Genohm, Frederik Decouttere, shared the previous experience of SLIMS and MGI in the MGI lab in Australia. The cooperation began in 2017, which achieved the seamless connection between MGI’s sequencing platform and SLIMS, and completed the inventory management and online version management of the experimental process according to the customized requirements of the Australian MGI lab.

Based on this good foundation, both parties are full of confidence in future cooperation. Liu Jian, Executive Vice President of MGI, said: “This cooperation has fully utilized the advantages of both parties, and we look forward to further enhancing the efficiency of laboratory operations to provide better service for more customers in the application field through cooperation between the two parties.”

John Sadler, Agilent Vice President and General Manager of Software and Informatics Division, said: “The Agilent SLIMS teams look forward to a long-term and fruitful cooperation with MGI.”

This collaboration is important for many applications in the sequencing industry. In recent years, with the large-scale rise of clinical-level high throughput sequencing applications, the requirements for laboratory data management have continuously increased. The question of whether the sequencing platform is highly integrated with the laboratory information management system has become a constraint for laboratory efficiency.

About MGI

Shenzhen MGI Tech Co., Ltd. (referred to as MGI) is committed to building core tools and technology to lead life science through intelligent innovation. MGI focuses on R&D, production and sales of sequencing instruments, reagents, and related products to support life science research, agriculture, precision medicine and healthcare. MGI is a leading producer of clinical high-throughput gene sequencers, and its multi-omics platforms include genetic sequencing, mass spectrometry, medical imaging, and laboratory automation.

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is a global leader in life sciences, diagnostics and applied chemical markets. With more than 50 years of insight and innovation, Agilent instruments, software, services, solutions, and people provide trusted answers to customers’ most challenging questions. The company generated revenues of $4.91 billion in fiscal 2018 and employs 15,500 people worldwide. Information about Agilent is available at www.agilent.com.

About SLIMS

SLIMS is a comprehensive laboratory management solution that combines laboratory information management systems (LIMS) and electronic lab record (ELN) functions, including electronic lab notebooks, sample management, workflow management, order management, and data display boards. The five main functional modules can be applied to biological samples, medical industry QA/QC, high-throughput sequencing, analytical laboratories, clinical diagnosis and other industries, which is in line with the requirements of laws and regulations in many regions of the world.