WaferGen Bio-systems Announces the Launch of Exome Capture Solutions on Its Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Sample Preparation Platform Apollo 324™

FREMONT, Calif., Oct. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- WaferGen Bio-systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: WGBS) announced the launch of an automated solution for Agilent's SureSelect^XT Target Enrichment workflow on the Apollo 324^TM Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) sample preparation system.  WaferGen responded to customers' unmet needs for a cost effective and flexible automated target capture solution. The Apollo 324^TM protocols were designed to enable researchers to utilize Agilent's SureSelect^XT Reagent Kits with a decreased turnaround time, thereby improving throughput with the expanded flexibility to prepare a wide range of samples per run.  This solution will be of great use to clinical CLIA labs, as well as clinical research institutions.

"The bottleneck of implementing exome capture on a routine basis is that existing workflows are long and tedious and it can be challenging to get reproducible results. We participated in WaferGen's Apollo 324 Early Access Program for automating SureSelect exome capture and showed that WaferGen's platform massively reduced our hands-on time and gave us the flexibility to prepare any number of samples per run with consistent results. With the Apollo 324, we can now offer a full scale exome service to our customers," stated Dr. Jason Steel from The Center for Personalized Diagnostics at Arizona State University.

As previously announced, technical data will be presented at the American Society for Human Genetics 2014 Annual Meeting in San Diego in a paper titled "Automation of hybridization based capture technologies on the Apollo 324 NGS Library Prep System" on Tuesday, October 21, 2:00 – 3:00 pm.

The Apollo 324^TM NGS Library Prep System is a compact and flexible system that enables rapid and full walk-away automation of a wide variety of Next Generation Sequencing applications. WaferGen also offers complete solutions with PrepX^TM reagent kits that are designed specifically for ease-of-use with Apollo 324^TM automated protocols. PrepX^TM reagents are color-coded and prealiquotted with the necessary volume per reaction, significantly reducing hands-on time and operator error. WaferGen continues to develop new applications for Apollo 324^TM, including second generation whole exome solutions and plans to launch additional solutions in the first quarter of 2015.

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.

Investor Contacts:
ICR, Inc.
Bob Yedid
[email protected]
646-277-1250

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

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SOURCE WaferGen Bio-systems, Inc.

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