Healthcare industry

Press release - 23/11/2009

GATC Biotech soon opens sequencing laboratory in London

GATC Biotech Europes leading sequencing service provider for industrial and academic research announces that it will open a sequencing laboratory in London to provide scientists in UK and Ireland with single sample sequencing services. The GATC London Laboratory will be situated in the London BioScience Innovation Centre LBIC and will start operations on January 4 2010.

GATC, one of the leading sequencing provider will be a part of the Eurofins Group as of July 2017 to create the leading company in the worldwide sequencing market.

Press release - 30/06/2009

febit First to Offer Newly Published Mouse Genome on a Chip for DNA/RNA Detection and Enrichment

In the near future, Next-Generation Sequencing technologies will lead to a rising number of completed genomes of model organisms and other species of interest, as demonstrated by the updated mouse genome. This accelerated development will generate a variety of tools available in the short term for the application of the new data into experiments. febit’s technology enables the conversion of new sequence data into biochips for gene expression…

Press release - 05/12/2012

Next Generation Sequencing of GATC Biotech AG accredited by German DAkkS

Being the first in Europe, the Next Generation Sequencing Laboratories of the Constance Genome and Diagnostics Centre has been accredited according to ISO 17025 from the national accreditation body for the Federal Republic of Germany (DAkks). The independent governmental institution has acknowledged the high quality standard of the sequencing service on technology platforms Illumina HiSeq and Roche GSFLX sequencing.

Scientists of the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology at the Mannheim Medical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg are to benefit from access to cutting-edge sequencing technology. The next-generation sequencer is the first of its kind at the University of Heidelberg.

Article - 08/11/2010

Individual genome sequencing – for whom?

Next-generation sequencing technologies are fast and effective. This is exactly the reason why the International Cancer Genome Consortium, of which the German Cancer Research Center is part, has set itself the goal of sequencing thousands of individual cancer genomes. Private companies also offer the possibility of sequencing genomes for private clients. It looks as if the problematic vision of “googling your genes” might become reality.

Press release - 29/03/2012

GATC Biotech’s NightXpress sequencing service goes Europe-wide

GATC Biotech, Europe’s leading sequencing provider, now offers its overnight sequencing service NightXpress Europe wide. This unique overnight service has been made possible by the recently opened European Custom Sequencing Centre in Cologne. In Constance, the company’s headquarters, GATC Biotech is building up the European Genome and Diagnostics Centre.

Article - 18/10/2010

DNA analysis is becoming more automated

GATC Biotech AG is already on the lookout for next generation sequencing technologies in the form of real-time single-molecule sequencing. In an interview with BIOPRO Thomas Pohl CTO of GATC Biotech AG explains why the company is continuously expanding its existing equipment with the latest global technologies.

Article - 12/08/2013

A complete exome sequence in one week

The exome is the part of the genome that is formed by exons i.e. the DNA regions that code for proteins and other functional products. Though comprising only about 1 of the total genome the majority of disease-causing mutations occur in the exome. Selectively sequencing the coding regions of the genome is quicker than whole-genome sequencing. Therefore exome sequencing plays an important role in the diagnosis of genetic diseases and cancer.…

Article - 08/09/2016

A diamond might make sequencing more accurate

DNA sequencing techniques have been developed along the lines of faster, further, cheaper. State-of-the-art methods make it possible to handle large projects in a relatively short period of time. However, the error rate is still very high. Dr. Maria Fyta and her team at the Institute for Computational Physics at the University of Stuttgart have carried out quantum-transport calculations which suggested that specific chemical modifications in the…

Press release - 13/10/2010

GATC Biotech to be First European Service Provider for the PacBio RS

GATC Biotech announced today that it has agreed to purchase the PacBio RS platform, a single molecule, real-time (SMRT™) sequencing technology. The new PacBio RS will be the fifth sequencing technology for GATC Biotech. The system is planned for installation in early 2011.

Press release - 09/02/2011

The human genome’s breaking points

A detailed analysis of data from 185 human genomes sequenced in the course of the 1000 Genomes Project, by scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, in collaboration with researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK, as well as the University of Washington and Harvard Medical School, both in the USA, has identified the genetic sequence of an unprecedented 28.000 structural…

Dr. Martin Burow, a proven expert in the field of prenatal diagnostics, has joined the LifeCodexx team as Head of Commercial Operations.

Article - 10/05/2010

CeGaT: DNA and RNA sequencing specialist

Sequencing service providers are facing new challenges due to the enormous technological progress made in this field. The market requires technically feasible solutions reliable and rapid sequence analyses in which entire genomes can be analysed within a couple of days or weeks. This can only be achieved with state-of-the-art high-throughput technologies. Tübingen-based CeGaT GmbH has been offering DNA and RNA sequencing using state-of-the-art…

Press release - 01/08/2012

Combination of businesses of SYGNIS and GENETRIX’ subsidiary X-Pol proposed

SYGNIS Pharma AG and GENETRIX announced today, that the biotechnology companies SYGNIS and GENETRIX have signed a binding Term Sheet under which the companies propose to combine the GENETRIX’ DNA sequencing subsidiary X-Pol Biotech and SYGNIS. Goal is to develop and market X-Pol Biotech, S.L.’s DNA sequencing technologies and products.

Article - 27/06/2011

The EURAT project at the Marsilius Kolleg in Heidelberg

Bioinformaticians, human geneticists, molecular biologists, oncologists, pathologists, lawyers and theologians are all participating in the project “Ethical and legal aspects of the total sequencing of the human genome” (EURAT) being carried out at Heidelberg University’s Marsilius Kolleg. The project partners are developing a common viewpoint and working out solutions for problems arising from the possibilities of total genome sequencing.

Dossier - 26/11/2012

Genetic diagnostics: technology reaches the limits of what is medically reasonable

Rapid progress in sequencing technologies is poised to set the imagination of biomedical researchers on fire. Experts now believe that progress is about to make possible what seemed to be utopian a few years ago – it seems likely that it will soon be possible to sequence the human genome in only a few minutes and store and automatically analyse it using tiny automates. However, is everything that is technically feasible also reasonable?

Press release - 01/05/2009

Gaining insights into potato cells

Viruses and bacteria are the lifeblood of GATC a family-run biotechnology company that is continuing to grow in spite of the current economic downturn. At the moment GATC is working on the sequence of one particular vegetable - and the company has submitted a building application to add another 1000 square metres to the existing 800.

A large international group of researchers including researchers from the University of Constance has succeeded in sequencing the genome of a marine alga. Microalgae which belong to the phytoplankton are the basis of the marine food chain.

Article - 24/03/2014

DNA – from Watson and Crick to modern molecular biology

Watson and Crick deciphered the structure of DNA around 60 years ago and thus provided the key to understanding how genetic information is passed on. Since this discovery, which laid the foundation for molecular biology, new insights and developments have significantly changed many research areas and have also found their way into our everyday lives. DNA sequencing, genetic fingerprinting or personalised medicine – Watson and Crick’s heritage is…

Press release - 04/11/2011

Alternate ending – living on without telomerase

Scientists of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have discovered an alternative mechanism for the extension of the telomere repeat sequence by DNA repair enzymes.

Press release - 12/11/2012

GATC Biotech joins a new EU research network for young researchers

Seven European research institutions and GATC Biotech have formed a consortium providing cutting-edge training in the scientific study of the human past. The BEAN (Bridging the European and Anatolian Neolithic) Initial Training Network has been awarded four years of funding from the European Commission through the Marie Curie Actions program. It is a new multinational and multidisciplinary Marie Curie Research initiative exploring the origins of…

Article - 21/01/2016

Genome research as information research

DNA sequencing has become indispensable in modern science. Innovative advances that will bring about changes in the life sciences and medicine are due to rapid developments in genome analysis technologies. In the interview below, Peter Pohl, CEO and co-founder of GATC Biotech AG, explains why DNA sequencing will become even more important in future.

To ensure that sepsis patients receive appropriate antibiotics as quickly as possible, Fraunhofer IGB researchers have developed a diagnostic procedure that uses high-throughput sequencing of blood samples and delivers results much faster than conventional culture-based techniques. Thanks to the latest single-molecule sequencing techniques, this process has now been further improved so that pathogens can be identified after just a few hours.

febit holding gmbh announced today the launch of the first human cancer biochip for HybSelectâ, febit’s highly automated technology for sequence capture, enabling targeted Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS). The new catalog cancer biochip features 115 important genes which are reported to be associated with common types of cancer by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.