Complete Genomics Announces Updated Mission and New Partnerships on 18th Anniversary

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 14, 2023 /CNW/ -- Complete Genomics, Inc., a pioneering genomics company, today unveiled updated mission/vision statement to reflect renewed ambitions in taking on more for a better world, in celebration of its 18^th anniversary. Aligned with this new mission, Complete Genomics announced multiple donations for advancing genomics education and cancer care, as well as key partnerships with several biotechnology companies.

A New Mission for the Next Chapter

"Our revitalized mission/vision statement have been created in close collaboration with the executive leadership team and inspired by our conversations and experiences with employees, customers, partners, and entire stakeholder ecosystem," said Dr. Radoje (Rade) Drmanac, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Complete Genomics. "They reflect the company charting a new future as we set out to provide more complete, powerful, and accessible NGS/MPS products and solutions powered by our uniquely innovative technologies."

The new mission and vision statement, "Driving genomics forward with complete sequencing solutions that improve lives," emphasizes Complete Genomics' priority in improving overall human health by empowering its customers and partners operating sequencing labs with the unlimited potential of genetic sequencing for research, health, and industrial applications. It also celebrates the company's progress and impact on the field of genomics and healthcare over the last 18 years.

Founded in 2005, Complete Genomics was first to introduce massively parallel DNA sequencing using DNA nanoarrays, as invented by Dr. Drmanac and his team, now widely known as DNBSEQ™. Five years later, the company made another breakthrough by achieving human genome sequencing cost for just $5,000 per genome. Since that time, numerous technologies and products had been released, including CoolMPS* sequencing chemistry invention in 2016, the single-tube long fragment read (stLFR) technology **in 2019, as well as the ultra-high-throughput DNBSEQ-T7RS* sequencer, our most powerful sequencer at the time, also in 2019, to enable human genome at as low as $500. Earlier this year, the company continued to set the pace for the industry with the announcement of the revolutionary DNBSEQ-T20×2RS* at the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) conference, ushering in an exciting sub-$100 human genome era to dramatically expand routine usage of WGS and single cell omics. "We are committed to continued innovation in sequencing technologies to redefine what is possible in genomics and related applications", said Drmanac.

Contributing to Society through Philanthropic Grant Program

To commemorate the tremendous progress accomplished over the years, Complete Genomics has made several donations which including ones to California-based non-profit Cancer Commons, Vanderbilt University in the U.S. to develop better software for stLFR analysis, and to a scholarship program in Serbia, Dr. Drmanac's home country, through the Divac Foundation. Spanning the next three to four years, the scholarship program aims to support local students in pursuing their studies in genomics and facilitating scientific discovery.

"The scholarship program echoes our new mission to make a difference to society and in the genomics field. Through this, students can explore meaningful and groundbreaking work in the field of genomics including bioinformatics and Complete Genomics helps the growth of the industry by nurturing more brilliant minds," said Dr. Drmanac. "I would like to particularly dedicate this to my home country, Serbia, where I completed my studies, grew my passion for genomics and conceptualized the first massively parallel sequencing technology using DNA microarrays in 1988."

Meanwhile, Complete Genomics donated Balkan Genome Project, leading by IMGGE, the leading Serbian Molecular Genetic (MG) research institution, to sequence thousand Balkan genomes.

Advanced Partnerships to Benefit Customers

Since Complete Genomics' commercial relaunch in the US this year, the company has garnered significant interest and commercial engagement. As part of its celebration, the company announced partnerships with several biotechnology companies.

A few highlights captured here: Invivoscribe, a San Diego based-vertically-integrated biotechnology company, is develop and biomarker tests on DNBSEQ-G99RS* platforms for oncology and cancer research. "We are thrilled to partner with Complete Genomics worldwide as they offer NGS platforms with excellent performance metrics, but also cost-efficient instruments and reagents," said Jeffrey Miller, CEO and CSO at Invivoscribe.

Other ecosystem partnership such as AccuraGen, a California-based medical diagnostics company, "We are excited about the performance of Complete Genomics novel sequencing technology and platform DNBSEQ-T7RS* in combination with AccuraGen's proprietary assay technology.  When testing for Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) or cancer recurrence, you need ultra-high sensitivity when looking for trace quantities of circulating tumor cells in the blood.  The partnership with Complete Genomics allows us to have best in class performance for our Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) assays for Research Use Only (RUO)," said George Cardoza, CEO of AccuraGen Inc.. 

"These new partnerships are votes of confidence in Complete Genomics and our advanced truly accessible complete sequencing solutions," said Drmanac. "As we continue to grow in the great state of California, Complete Genomics has come a long way. We will continue to deliver on the promise of benefitting more people through affordable genetic analyses, helping them live longer healthy and more productive lives."

About Complete Genomics

Complete Genomics is a pioneering life sciences company that provides novel, end to end DNA sequencing solutions. It has been at the forefront of high throughput sequencing technology development since its inception in 2005. Our products have powered over 4,000 publications across a wide array of applications. To learn more, visit www.completegenomics.com.

* Unless otherwise informed, StandardMPS and CoolMPS sequencing reagents, and sequencers for use with such reagents are not available in Germany, Spain, UK, Sweden, Italy, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Hong Kong (CoolMPS is available in Hong Kong). The product with "RS" in its name is For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

** stLFR related product is Only for Sale in the United States, and for Research Use Only.

SOURCE Complete Genomics

Wenhui Liu, [email protected]