Annoroad Adds Two PacBio Sequel II Systems to Strengthen Its Position as a Leading Third-Generation Sequencing Center in Asia

On August 6, 2019, Annoroad announced the acquisition of two additional PacBio Sequel II sequencing platforms. This move marks Annoroad’s further investment in its third-generation sequencing service platform, following its initial introduction of the PacBio Sequel II system in April 2018, which made it one of the first providers globally to offer PacBio Sequel II sequencing services. The company stated that this expansion will further enhance Annoroad’s large-scale third-generation sequencing capabilities worldwide, improve turnaround times and service quality, deliver a superior experience to partners, and continue to provide core tools for basic research and translational outcomes across multiple fields of life sciences.

Leveraging years of industry expertise, Annoroad has established robust large-scale R&D and service capabilities, including a comprehensive third-generation sequencing experimental service platform and a mature bioinformatics analysis system. The company has forged collaborative partnerships with thousands of research institutions both domestically and internationally, resulting in numerous co-authored publications. Currently, Annoroad’s product and service offerings encompass third-generation genome assembly, human resequencing, animal and plant resequencing, and full-length transcriptome sequencing.

Li Zhimin, CEO of Annoroad, stated, “Third-generation sequencing technology is demonstrating significant application potential in fields such as basic research and clinical applications, owing to its unique technical characteristics and advantages. Annoroad will continue to maintain a deep strategic partnership with PacBio, dedicated to building a second- and third-generation genomic database specifically for the Chinese population and a gene bank of important agricultural germplasm resources, thereby jointly promoting the in-depth application of third-generation sequencing in medical basic research, clinical translational research, and agricultural molecular breeding.”

Dr. Michael Hunkapiller, CEO of Pacific Biosciences, commented, “We are delighted that Annoroad has chosen to expand its investment in SMRT sequencing technology, increasing its long-read sequencing capacity to over terabases per day. As a service provider, Annoroad has established a strong reputation and has already achieved significant success with our new Sequel II system. We look forward to seeing what they accomplish next.”

VCBeat has learned that, in addition to reintroducing PacBio instruments, Annoroad recently announced the launch of Phase II of its ATCG (Annoroad Typical Chinese Genomes Database) project. This initiative aims to establish a “second-generation + third-generation” genomic database for the Chinese population, facilitating the discovery of reliable variants unique to this population and further promoting the application of third-generation sequencing in health research among Chinese individuals.