Applied Biosystems launches next-generation DNA sequencing platform

Applied Biosystems has announced the global commercial availability of the SOLiD system, its highly anticipated next-generation DNA sequencing platform.

Marking the company’s entry into a new era of life-science research, the SOLiD system has enabled new ways of performing genetic analysis applications.

It has been noted that this has the potential to set new standards for how scientists are able to approach complex challenges associated with understanding the biological basis for health and diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

"In the new era of next-generation life sciences, higher-throughput sequencing technologies with application flexibility should enable researchers to use a single system to make meaningful associations between variations in the kinds and quantities of DNA sequences and disease," commented Shaf Yousaf, president for Applied Biosystems’ molecular and cell biology systems division.

"New approaches to studying genetic variation are expected to profoundly affect pharmaceutical development programmes as researchers study how individual genotypes are linked to how people respond to treatments for disease," Mr Yousaf explained.

Leading research institutions around the world, including the Hubrecht Institute in The Netherlands, are already using the SOLiD System to conduct a wide range of applications, including rare variant detection, epigenetic profiling, transcriptome analysis, and serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE).