160 billion reads a day – new sequencing system arrives at SciLifeLab

The AXELIOS 1 sequencing system from Roche Diagnostics has arrived at the SciLifeLab National Genomics Infrastructure. The system builds on an entirely new sequencing strategy and will be used for research and development projects.

The system is designed for high-throughput DNA sequencing with near real-time analysis – done in parallel with sequencing. This is an important addition to the technologies available at the National Genomics Infrastructure (NGI) at SciLifeLab, and will be used for research and development projects.

An entirely new strategy to sequencing called “sequencing by expansion”, or SBX technology, is used. The system generates high accuracy data by transforming the DNA to an expanded synthetic molecule called an Xpandomer. The Xpandomer is 50X longer than a regular DNA molecule and is designed to improve signal-to-noise ratio during rapid single-molecule sequencing.

AXELIOS 1 has broad research applications including whole-genome sequencing, RNA sequencing, single-cell RNA-seq, methylation and other genomic research workflows.

The platform can also support read lengths extending to approximately 1,500 bp under appropriate sample and library-preparation conditions.

In its rapid mode, the instrument is capable of generating up to 40 billion reads per run, and up to 160 billion reads per day, making it very competitive for read counting applications.

The system is operated by our National Genomics Infrastructure in Uppsala in collaboration with SciLifeLab Clinical Genomics.

Learn more about and get in contact with the National Genomics Infrastructure.