After an extensive and promising testing phase using Oxford Nanopore’s portable NGS device the MinION, ViruSure acquired the long-read platform and the High-throughput PromethION device, which arrived just recently at the Techgate facility.

With the acquisition of the PromethION, significantly larger data sets can be generated in single runs when compared to its smaller sibling. With these larger data sets we will evaluate the necessary adaptions to our laboratory and IT infrastructures. Additionally, Oxford Nanopore is constantly improving their chemistries to allow for better accuracies in NGS runs, as happened with the latest release of sequencing kits. These kits increased single read accuracies up to 99%, which will also be integrated into our current experimental set-ups.

ViruSure’s dedicated team of experts is working full speed to make it possible to offer our customers NGS-based solutions soon.

The PromethION will further be used for conducting a spiking study together with other industry leaders and regulatory experts of the Advanced Virus Detection Technologies Interest Group (AVDTIG). The aim of this study is to demonstrate virus detection capabilities of long-read NGS technologies. ViruSure joined the AVDTIG a year ago to gain insights into current regulatory opinions and to contribute to the rapidly developing field of NGS with our own pertinent experience and expertise.

Stay tuned for further updates regarding our NGS progresses.