seqWell Announces LongPlex Product to Address Multiplexing Challenges in Long Read Library Prep

February 05, 2024 at 08:00 AM EST

New solution to help customers scale assays on long-read sequencing platforms

seqWell, a global provider of genomic library workflow solutions, today announced the early access availability of their new LongPlex^TM 8kbp Multiplexing Kit, the company’s first product optimized to address workflow needs in long-read sequencing.

LongPlex kits are designed to help researchers achieve a higher level of multiplexing with a simple enzymatic library barcoding workflow optimized for use with long read sequencers such as the PacBio Revio™ and Sequel II® systems. With seqWell’s transposase-based LongPlex technology, researchers can efficiently fragment and index DNA samples, and pool multiple samples together for preparing sequencing-ready libraries with up to 96 samples at a time, without the need for mechanical shearing devices.

seqWell has seen high customer demand for the LongPlex kits, which are now available in early access commercialization. The early access configuration of the LongPlex kits are optimized for library workflows requiring fragments less than 10kbp, and designed to support a wide range of research applications including human long-read target capture assays, microbial genomics, and long read low-pass genotyping.

"We are thrilled to have been allowed early access to the LongPlex kit and are particularly excited to introduce our microbial genomics customers to the improved reliability and increased multiplexing options at an economy that finally makes sense for small genomes," said Dan Snyder, Director at the commercial sequencing services provider SeqCenter.

"The ability to generate cost-effective long read data will be transformational in allowing us to produce highly accurate population-scale agricultural genotypes," said Josh Clevenger, Faculty Investigator at HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. "Library workflows have been a major bottleneck to taking full advantage of this capability, and we are excited to work with seqWell's technology to use new library methods that advance the state of the art in highly multiplexed long read sequencing."

seqWell will present posters and data on use of its LongPlex kits in applications including multiplexing human long read target capture for pharmacogenomics, as well as PCR-free microbial whole genome sequencing, at the annual Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) meeting being held February 5-8 in Orlando, Fla.

“As customers continue to rapidly adopt the higher-throughput Revio system, we’ve seen increased demand for new library prep tools that facilitate scale up and multiplexing of more samples,” said Amit Patel, Director of Product Marketing at PacBio. He added, “seqWell and PacBio share the common goal of enabling scalable multiplexed long read applications, and we look forward to seeing new products from seqWell hit the market and reduce bottlenecks in our customers’ library prep workflows.”

“seqWell has been successful in growing a foothold in the short-read genomics library prep ecosystem by offering simple, scalable workflows that enable customers to unlock new demanding multiplexed sequencing applications and make the most of their sequencing platform technologies,” said Joe Mellor, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at seqWell. “With the LongPlex technology we aim to bring these capabilities to a wider community of researchers seeking to harness the new and rapidly improving abilities of long-read sequencers. We look forward to seeing what our customers discover with these newly enabling products.”

For more information, visit www.seqwell.com.

About seqWell

seqWell creates scalable genomics technologies that simplify workflows and help enable every life scientist to unlock transformative discoveries with sequencing. seqWell offers a range of next-generation library prep products and workflows that allow customers to achieve higher levels of sample multiplexing quickly and easily. Learn more about us at www.seqwell.com or follow us on LinkedIn.