Technology

Our technology, initially conceived by Nobel Laureate Sydney Brenner and Sam Eletr, founder of Applied Biosystems, is based on a number of key innovations.  Specifically, the company is exploiting two validated concepts to improve the re-sequencing process and enable new genomic analyses:

Tagging and pooling. Individual samples are biochemically tagged so that each genome can be tracked through next-generation DNA sequencing workflows. Allocating a code that may be kept confidential protects the identity of individuals in the population. Mixing of samples allows the simultaneous interrogation of all genomes in a single experiment, instead of in as many experiments as there are genomes in a population.

Complexity reduction. Reducing sequence complexity improves hybridization kinetics and increases the efficiency of extraction of regions of interest.  Planned enhancements allow researchers to further reduce sequencing costs by only processing DNA strands that exhibit sequence variation.

The population library created using our technology seamlessly integrates into next-generation DNA sequencing workflows, replacing initial sample preparation steps.  When sequencing variants are detected in the population library, we can identify which members of the population are different from the wild-type sequence in a given region of interest.  These data can be used for genotype-phenotype comparisons.

PGT’s technology is backed by an increasingly strong and broad intellectual property portfolio. Five patents have now been issued by the USPTO covering labeling and sorting of populations, novel amplification and detection methods; claims have been allowed on others that are expected to issue shortly, and additional filings are underway on both method improvements and new applications.