Bionano Genomics Announces Sites within the UK’s National Health System have Adopted its Saphyr System for Optical Genome Mapping

SAN DIEGO, April 21, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bionano Genomics, Inc. (Nasdaq: BNGO) announced the adoption of its Saphyr system for optical genome mapping (OGM) by two large laboratories belonging to the National Health System (NHS) of the United Kingdom. King’s College Hospital in London and the NHS Regional Genetics Laboratory in Belfast City Hospital have adopted Saphyr systems through the company’s reagent rental program, which entails a commitment to purchase consumables over time in connection with the placement of a system. Both sites are using Saphyr to characterize the genomes of patients with heme malignancies. The site in Belfast will also evaluate Saphyr for the detection of structural variants (SVs) in patients with developmental delay, infertility, rare disease, and other genetic diseases as well.

Dr. Anwar Alhaq, Lead Clinical Scientist and Deputy Clinical Director for NHS Haematology & Pathology at King’s College Hospital, London said: "Timely identification of genomic structural variants is vital for providing diagnostic, prognostic and treatment decisions for hematological malignancies. The South East Haematological Malignancy Diagnostic Service based at King’s College Hospital currently uses a combination of techniques such as karyotyping, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and SNP arrays to provide a comprehensive analysis of all cytogenetic aberrations. These techniques are expensive, labor-intensive and time consuming and require a diverse and skilled workforce."

Dr. Alhaq added "A number of other pilot studies have already demonstrated the clinical validity of OGM for identifying SVs in both acquired and constitutional abnormalities. We are undertaking a pilot validation study of the Saphyr system to introduce a single, automated cytogenetic workflow providing high-resolution analysis of the genome in a timely manner, ultimately to benefit patient outcomes. We hope that this will ultimately replace the need for the wide range of cytogenetic methods currently used in diagnostic laboratories and will lead to a quicker turnaround time with better defined SV data."

Dr. Shirley Heggarty, Consultant Clinical Scientist at the NHS Regional Genetics Laboratory in Belfast City Hospital said: "As part of a modernization program of the Northern Ireland Regional Genetics Laboratory (NIRGL) we were looking to refresh and update certain of our cytogenetic facilities. Currently NIRGL relies on traditional cytogenetic techniques such as karyotyping, FISH and SNP array to identify the chromosomal changes in patients. When evaluating our options for the future, what was attractive about the Saphyr system is that it has the potential to replace several different clinical tests in one assay, avoiding the need for us invest in additional multiple cytogenetic instruments, savings us time and streamlining our workflow."