CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom (PRWEB)
January 09, 2023

Next Gen Diagnostics announces the publication in mSphere of a study validating the accuracy of its fully automated bioinformatics platform for the detection of transmission of infection. Titled “Large-scale evaluation of a rapid fully automated analysis platform to detect and refute outbreaks based on MRSA genome comparisons” and led by University of Cambridge Professor and NGD Scientific Advisory Board member Sharon Peacock, the study compared the detection of transmission clusters by the gold standard manual bioinformatics pipeline developed by the Peacock group for previous seminal publications on hospital transmission with the automated NGD system. Analyzing 3,311 case pairs, the paper reports that both the manual bioinformatics system and the NGD automated pipeline identified the same 66 transmission clusters. The authors concluded “…that [NGD’s] automated transmission detection tool worked at least as well as a researcher-led manual analysis and indicates how such tools could support the rapid use of MRSA genomic epidemiology in infection control practice.”

“We have seen our system enable the power of prospective sequencing to detect transmission and guide intervention to stop outbreaks,” noted Paul A. Rhodes, Ph.D., Next Gen Diagnostics CEO. “Now with this new publication from Professor Peacock’s group the accuracy of the NGD automated bioinformatics system’s computation of SNP-level relatedness between infections has been quantitatively validated. By combining high quality automated bioinformatics with our low-cost automated microfluidic library preparation system we will make prospective sequencing practical as the new paradigm for the detection of transmission and prevention of outbreak in hospitals, where transmission of drug resistant infection is such an appalling problem.”

NGD has combined world-class fully automated bioinformatics, validated in published clinical studies, with a revolutionary microfluidic sample preparation system to offer a low cost, overnight complete pathogen WGS service. NGD’s exclusive microfluidic sample preparation system reduces reagent volumes >10-fold, is highly compact and automated, and enables 48 bacterial samples to be simultaneously processed in an instrument the size of a desktop computer using a disposable the size of a single plate.

“We knew that a rigorous quantification of the accuracy of the NGD automated bioinformatics system was a key prerequisite for its consideration in clinical use,” said Professor Peacock, NGD Scientific Advisory Board member. “With this study, coupled with our earlier work1 reporting the successful clinical application of the NGD system to detect outbreaks, the time has come to consider prospective sequencing combined with automated bioinformatics as a foundation of hospital infection control practice.”

About Next Gen Diagnostics

NGD, founded by Paul Rhodes, the former CEO of Specific Diagnostics, along with Sanger Institute group leaders, has built and validated world-leading automation of pathogen bioinformatics enabling high throughput low cost clinical use of WGS. In addition, NGD holds the exclusive rights to a transformative microfluidic sample preparation system for all clinical and commercial applications of pathogen WGS. NGD offers high volume turn-key sequencing services to enable detection of transmission in hospitals, and is working with leading collaborators in the US, Europe and Israel to be the first to bring WGS-based regulated diagnostics to patient care. NGD is based in the US, with an office in Cambridge, UK and a subsidiary in Israel. For press inquiries, please contact: press@nextgen-dx.com

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