University of Liverpool’s Centre for Genomic Research Named as a Certified Provider of Target Enrichment Services for Next-GeneSequencing

Agilent Technologies Inc. (Singapore) today announced that the University of Liverpool’s Centre for Genomic Research has become the UK’s first Certified Service Provider for the Agilent SureSelect Target Enrichment System for next-generation sequencing.

The CGR has been conducting research at the leading edge of genomic technologies and data analysis in Liverpool, England, for over a decade. With a diverse portfolio of projects including metagenomics, plant and animal studies, cancer genomics and human genetics, the CGR is constantly exploring new technologies and making innovative approaches and applications available to researchers investigating fundamental and applied biology.

SureSelect has been shown to greatly increase the speed and efficiency of next-generation sequencing by enabling researchers to focus experiments on genomic regions of interest rather than sequencing the entire genome. Since it was introduced in 2009, SureSelect has been instrumental in more than 250 published studies covering research into a wide range of heritable disorders and complex diseases.

“We have relied on SureSelect in our research efforts to produce consistent results that we and our collaborators can be confident in,” said professor Andy Cossins, head of the Institute of Integrative Biology and co-director of the Centre for Genomic Research. “Achieving certified status is an important step for the CGR and will allow us to expand our sequencing leadership.”

“The CGR is a highly regarded collaborator in the sequencing community, and we're pleased that they are now enabling more researchers across the UK to access the market-leading platform for target enrichment,” said Kathleen Shelton, senior director of Genomics Marketing at Agilent. “Their certification is a great complement for our SureSelect portfolio and will be a great benefit to collaborators.”

To be certified, the CGR participated in comprehensive on-site training and then passed a rigorous set of requirements to demonstrate expertise and skill.

The SureSelect portfolio now includes more than 21 products, and many more are in development. SureSelect is compatible with major sequencing platforms such as Illumina, SOLiD and 454. Users of Agilent’s eArray design tool can improve the efficiency of their research by easily designing custom products to target any genomic regions of interest. SureSelect also allows customization of catalog kits with the addition of custom content.