Element Biosciences to Present at ASHG 2023

Element will share details on its novel sequencing methodology and host a workshop on higher accuracy sequencing for improved variant detection

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Element Biosciences, Inc., developer of the Element AVITI^™ System, an innovative DNA sequencing platform that is disrupting the genomics industry, will present new data from customers in oncology and immunology and highlight AVITI's higher accuracy sequencing for research in rare and undiagnosed genetic disease and other research applications at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) annual meeting on Nov. 1-5, 2023, in Washington D.C.

Data generated on the AVITI platform will be featured in a poster by Phase Genomics on next generation cytogenomics, where Hi-C DNA sequencing has the potential to provide data in one workflow that currently requires multiple distinct assays. This is important for labs because workflow consolidation has the potential to simplify lab operations, reduce costs, and use limited samples more efficiently. In addition, running OncoTerra on the AVITI could speed turnaround time, as fewer samples can be batched while still meeting cost targets.

Element, a silver sponsor of ASHG 2023, will be at Booth 1223 to introduce its products and applications, including its $200 genome program, as well as a new grant program, the AVITI Accelerator Grant, in partnership with co-sponsor AUGenomics.

Element will also share results from a research study with the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), part of the City of Hope, that identified the likely genetic causes of neurological disorders in children. The findings were recently posted to medRxiv.

Using AVITI, the research study leveraged a novel design of sequencing the parents at half the coverage of the child so that the entire trio could be sequenced on a single flow cell, while retaining the ability to identify de novo variants. The sequencing, which took under 48 hours to complete, and cost $1,680 per trio, was performed by FYR Diagnostics, a service provider and early Element customer. With its new Cloudbreak chemistry, Element has further reduced the runtime to 38 hours.

"At ASHG, we are excited to share examples of how the AVITI system is igniting the next round of genomics discovery with high quality, affordable data for any application, at any scale," said Shawn Levy, PhD, CTO and SVP of Applications at Element Biosciences. "And we are only at the beginning with Avidity sequencing, with clear paths to continued gains in performance and capabilities."

Customers are responding to the exceptional quality AVITI is bringing to their projects.

"We are a service lab, so the argument that the quality we can promise is better than we can provide with other sequencers makes it much, much easier to convince our clients that they are in good hands with the sequencing," said Lutz Froenicke, PhD, director of the DNA Technologies and Expression Analysis Cores at the UC Davis Genome Center. "What personally impresses me is that the company came up with a sequencing chemistry that is so different from anything else, and it works amazingly well."

Highlights:

Platform Talk: Thursday, Nov. 2, 1:45 – 2:00 PM
Patrick Kennedy, Research Technician, Samuel A. Myers Lab at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology 
"Discovery of novel signaling-to-transcription networks in T cell activation coupling base editor screens with single cell multiomics"

Poster presentations: Thursday, Nov. 2, 3:00 to 5:00 PM ET

Stephen Eacker, Ph.D., Vice President of Research and Development at Phase Genomics
"Next-generation cytogenomics using proximity ligation technology on the AVITI genome sequencing platform"

Semyon Kruglyak, Ph.D., VP of Informatics, Element Biosciences
"An efficient design for whole genome trio sequencing identifies causal variants in rare neurological disorder cases"

Lunch Workshop: Friday, Nov. 3, 12:30 – 1:30 PM ET

Speakers

• Keri Ramsey, BSN, RN, Clinical Co-Director, Center for Rare Childhood Disorders, TGen
  "An efficient design for whole genome trio sequencing leads to high diagnostic yield in rare neurological disorder cases"
• Semyon Kruglyak, Ph.D., VP of Informatics, Element Biosciences
  "Accurate human genome analysis with Element Avidity sequencing"

About Element Biosciences, Inc.
Element Biosciences is a multi-disciplinary life science company focused on developing disruptive DNA sequencing technology for research markets. Through innovating every fundamental element of a sequencing system, Element empowers customers with affordable, high-quality data and an improved user experience, which in turn will accelerate scientific discoveries and broaden the use of genomic research. To learn more about Element, please visit www.elementbiosciences.com

Media Contact:

Kristi Heim
Element Biosciences
[email protected]

SOURCE Element Biosciences