Twist Bioscience releases two NGS panels to surveil COVID-19 strains and other emerging viruses

Twist BioScience (CA, USA) Havre released two new products for research purposes only, the SARS-CoV-2 NGS assay and the comprehensive viral research panel, which have been designed to characterize target viruses and pinpoint strains or mutations that have the potential to become a public health concern.

The SARS-CoV-2 NGS Assay

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nov. 19, 2020– Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ: TWST), a company enabling customers to succeed through its offering of high-quality synthetic DNA using its silicon platform, and Biotia, Inc., a company that uses proprietary analytical software for infectious disease diagnostics, today announced the availability of an important new research tool for the sequencing and surveillance of COVID-19.

The companies have developed the SARS-CoV-2 Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) Assay, an NGS-based assay for research-use only (RUO). The SARS-CoV-2 NGS RUO Assay is a highly sensitive nucleic acid hybridization capture-based assay used for the detection, characterization, and environmental monitoring of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It utilizes Twist Bioscience’s unique ability to rapidly develop virus-specific panels by DNA synthesis and Biotia’s comprehensive data analysis software and reporting capabilities.

The SARS-CoV-2 NGS Assay was validated on a NextSeq^® sequencer and identifies all SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid sequences, to allow for surveillance of how the genetic sequence of the virus is changing. In contrast, a majority of SARS-CoV-2 tests based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) only identify limited genetic markers of the virus. A recent study compared the performance of three different commercially available NGS library preparation kits confirming that hybridization capture results in more even coverage across all sequences in a sample when compared to PCR-based NGS assays. In addition, the SARS-CoV-2 NGS Assay reports the full sequence of the virus, enabling improved understanding of mutations, genetic variations and the evolution of the virus as it is transmitted.

“While there are many available high-throughput diagnostic tests available for COVID-19, our solution provides sequence data that enables researchers the ability to sequence and surveil the evolution of mutations in the virus over time and geography,” said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience. “Importantly, while many labs are conducting individual sequencing runs for each patient sample, this assay and the accompanying software provide a way to batch about 100 patient samples together, providing actionable information that can then be used to inform public health particularly as we see second and third waves of COVID escalating.”

“We are fortunate to be in a position where we can devote our time and resources to fight this global pandemic,” commented Niamh O’Hara, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Biotia. “This novel and insightful COVID-19 solution is an important step to make NGS-based infectious disease surveillance more widely available and to advance COVID-19 research and control.”

Biotia presented data from the assay at the Infectious Disease Week (IDWeek) 2020 Annual Meeting that identify 124 genetic mutations not previously described, including 26 in the functionally important spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. The end-to-end solution was validated on 120 clinical samples (60 positive, 60 negative), and confirmed that the SARS-CoV-2 NGS Assay powered by the COVID-DX Software could be used to detect viral RNA in laboratory research settings. It also provided insight into genetic variants to track transmission, identify risk, and predict outcome and therapeutic response. [Nagy-Szakal et al., SARS-CoV-2 NGS Assay Powered by Biotia COVID-DX Software, IDWeek 2020]

“This test spans both diagnostic methods and vaccine research,” noted Christopher Mason, Ph.D., co-founder of Biotia, “We believe this end-to-end solution brings needed tools into the fight against COVID-19, as well as pioneering these capture methods for tracking other pathogens in the future.”

About the Solution

The SARS-CoV-2 NGS Assay is an RUO end-to-end solution intended for the quantitative detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from nasopharyngeal (NP), oropharyngeal (OP), anterior nasal and mid-turbinate nasal swabs as well as from nasopharyngeal wash/aspirates, nasal aspirates and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) specimens from individuals. The SARS-CoV-2 NGS Assay, which includes Twist Bioscience’s SARS-CoV-2 synthetic RNA controls, detects all strains of SARS-CoV-2 in samples with as few as 800 viral copies per milliliter.

The complementary Biotia COVID-DX software provides an RUO report including the presence or absence of SARS-CoV-2 virus, the full sequence of the virus, genetic variants and phylogenetic analysis. FASTQ files (sequencing output) can be generated in laboratories nationwide and submitted to Biotia COVID-DX (v1.0), a cloud-based software to generate RUO reports. Access to the Biotia COVID-DX software is provided through a unique order number emailed to a researcher that includes credits for each kit purchased.

The Comprehensive Viral Research Panel

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nov. 16, 2020– Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ: TWST), a company enabling customers to succeed through its offering of high-quality synthetic DNA using its silicon platform, today announced the availability of the Twist Comprehensive Viral Research Panel, a next-generation sequencing (NGS) panel that includes more than 3,000 viral genomes to enable identification of new and divergent viral species in a single sample. The panel will be bundled with an analysis platform from One Codex to enable an easy-to-use, complete end-to-end workflow that begins from the Twist library preparation and target enrichment panel and continues through publication-ready visualizations.

“With a renewed focus on public health and the impact of viral identification and containment, we are launching the Twist Comprehensive Viral Research Panel for researchers globally,” said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience. “We do not know when the next pandemic will arrive. Through tools like this, we can identify, detect, characterize and monitor an extensive range of viral diseases to inform societal decisions.”

About

This innovative product contains over one million unique probes to screen for 3,153 viral human and non-human pathogens. It is designed using sequences compiled from viral genomes across RefSeq, FluDB & VIPRdb databases and represents all viral families containing at least one virus known to infect humans. The panel covers all viral genome types (ssDNA, dsDNA, ssRNA, and dsRNA) and allows for quick capture and sequencing of unknown pathogens and highly divergent viral strains. The panel detects viral co-infections and can be used to differentiate between several viruses that may cause similar symptoms. Importantly, it can be used for metagenomic surveillance applications in complex sample types including stool.

An End-to-End Solution Including One Codex Platform

The Twist Comprehensive Viral Research Panel includes analysis on the One Codex platform allowing customers to generate easy-to-share publication-ready visuals and viral identification reporting for a complete solution from panel to results. One Codex is the leading bioinformatics platform for microbial genomics, supporting taxonomic and functional analysis of next-generation sequencing (NGS) data.

The product is available for Research Use Only. View the Product Sheet for more information.