WaferGen and its Partner, BGI, Establish Proof-of-Concept with WaferGen's SmartChip™-Based Single Cell Analysis Technology

FREMONT, Calif., Feb. 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- WaferGen Bio-systems, (NASDAQ: WGBS) announced today successful proof-of-concept of its single cell technology, which is based on the Company's proprietary SmartChip^TM platform.   WaferGen's scientists have successfully isolated single cells and produced excellent results in downstream processing of these individual cells, including RNA sequencing. 

Single cell analysis has become increasingly important for scientists attempting to unlock the underlying mechanisms of complex diseases, such as diabetes and cancer, where heterogeneous samples present a substantial challenge in understanding the molecular basis of pathological changes.  Governments and private institutions have committed significant investments toward single cell basic and clinical research, with the ultimate goal of implementing precision medicine that could transform healthcare.

It is expected that WaferGen's SmartChip^TM single cell solution will produce thousands of single cells per chip, which would be a 50-fold increase in throughput as compared to existing technologies.  In addition, the per cell cost could be a fraction of what it is today, thereby allowing researchers and clinicians to obtain substantially richer and higher quality data on their samples.  WaferGen intends to launch an Early Access Program for this technology in the second quarter of 2015.

"BGI has developed a robust system for preparing single cell genome and transcriptome sequencing libraries on a SmartChip^TM, which we have found to be an ideal technology for single cell analysis," said Dr. Xun Xu, Deputy Director and VP of R&D, BGI.  The SmartChip^TM platform offers workflow simplicity, dramatically increased throughput and reduced cost.  We intend to use it in our day-to-day operations, and also offer it as a service to our customers.  We have been applying the SmartChip^TM platform in a variety of applications with excellent success, and look forward to continuing our productive work with the WaferGen team."

"The establishment of proof-of-concept for our single cell analysis technology is a significant milestone for WaferGen," said Ivan Trifunovich, WaferGen's President and Chief Executive Officer.  "Precision medicine is at the forefront of healthcare research, as evidenced by President Obama's recently announced $215 million Precision Medicine Initiative, and we think our SmartChip^TM platform has the potential to play an important role in this area."

About WaferGen

WaferGen Bio-systems, Inc. is a life science company that offers innovative genomic solutions for clinical testing and research.  The SmartChip MyDesign^TM Real-Time PCR System is a high-throughput genetic analysis platform for profiling and validating molecular biomarkers via microRNA and mRNA gene expression profiling, as well as single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping.  The SmartChip TE^TM System is a novel product offering for target enrichment geared towards clinical Next-Gen sequencing (NGS).  The Seq-Ready^TM TE System, powered by SmartChip^TM massively-parallel single plex PCR technology, is an innovative one-step target enrichment and library preparation solution. The Company now also offers the Apollo 324^TM product line used in library preparation for NGS.  These three complementary technologies offer a powerful set of tools enabling more accurate, faster and cheaper genetic analysis based on Next-Gen Sequencing and Real-Time PCR.

For additional information, please see http://www.wafergen.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended that are intended to be covered by the "safe harbor" created by those sections. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as "believe," "expect," "may," "will," "should," "could," "seek," "intend," "plan," "estimate," "anticipate" or other comparable terms. Forward-looking statements may address the following subjects among others: statements regarding the sufficiency of our capital resources, expected operating losses, expected revenues, expected expenses, expected cash usage and our expectations concerning our competitive position and business strategy. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, as a result of various factors including those risks and uncertainties described in the Risk Factors and in Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and our subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. We urge you to consider those risks and uncertainties in evaluating our forward-looking statements. We caution readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Except as otherwise required by the federal securities laws, we disclaim any obligation or undertaking to publicly release any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein (or elsewhere) to reflect any change in our expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

Investor Contacts:

LifeSci Advisors, LLC
Brian Stollar
[email protected]

WaferGen Bio-systems, Inc.
Ivan Trifunovich
[email protected]
(510) 651-4450

SOURCE WaferGen Biosystems, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.wafergen.com