Novel sequencing by synthesis platform to greatly reduce the cost of nucleic acid sequencing

PROJECT SUMMARY Ultima GenomicsIncproposes to develop a novel high throughput sequencing technology platform that will reduce cost$ Gbasesubstantially compared with state of the art commercial technologiesThe new technology to be developed in the SBIR project will particularly benefit DNA sequencing applications that are cost constrainedsuch as sequencing large populationsgenerating methylation and transcriptome profiles for millions of single cellsand enabling liquid biopsy applicationsTarget customers include genome centersCROsresearch labsand clinical labsThe company is pioneering a series of inter related innovations that mutually reinforce one another in a virtuous circle to achieve much lower costIn Phaseof the FastTrack projectthe company will integrate these separate innovations into an alpha prototype and prove the feasibility of the platform by performing shotgun sequencing of human genome reference samplesIn Phasethe company will further develop the core platform technologybuild a beta instrument that achieves highly competitive specifications for accuracyread lengththroughputtime to answerand costand validate performance rigorously using multiple reference samplesBy dramatically reducing sequencing costUltima Genomicsandapostechnology will directly impact a wide range of scientific capabilities with direct relevance for public healthincluding characterization of tumorsdetection of early stage cancers through blood testand personalized precision medicine PROJECT NARRATIVE The proposed project will develop new instrumentation and methodologies that will substantially reduce the cost to perform genome scale sequencingThis cost reduction will accelerate a diverse range of biomedical research efforts that aim to understand the genetic factors that play a role in human disease and to develop new diagnostics and therapeuticsIt will also make both existing and new sequencing based diagnostic tests more affordableso they can become routine constituents of standards of care!