Currently the clinical genomics landscape in Australia is strongly influenced by a couple of major players heavily driven by profit to provide a limited number of mainstream services. This results in the lack of availability and accessibility of technology and resources for small and medium customers, and more broadly, the stagnation of technological development. The mission of GNOMIX is to fill this gap and adapt to a wider base of customers with specific sequencing needs, budget, and timeframe.

The GNOMIX laboratory located in Adelaide, South Australia, is accredited by National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) to ISO/IEC 17025 standards for laboratory testing. The lab is equipped with a DNBSEQ-G50 Genetic Sequencer* in conjunction of a MGISP-100 Automated Sample Preparation System. Since inception, GNOMIX has supported numerous innovative projects from home and abroad including clinical trials, primary research, high-impact publications, large commercial projects and is rapidly expanding in both capacity and capability.

"GNOMIX is not aiming to compete with major pathology laboratories", Chief Scientist Dr. Scott Grist said, "We aim to fit in a niche of providing tailored and responsive services to our clients' needs. DNBSEQ-G50* accompanied by MGISP-100 liquid handling robot, makes an ideal scale for us as a start-up and has good capacity for expansion."

DNBSEQ-G50* is a compact and flexible benchtop genetic sequencer. With the design allowing a choice of two (2) different size Flow Cells, it enables high flexibility and a perfect balance between speed and affordability. The Flow Cell Small (FCS) mode allows short turnaround time, and Flow Cell Large (FCL) mode allows lower cost per sample. Coupled with flexible read length options for both FCS and FCL, DNBSEQ-G50 can support a wide range of research and clinical applications such as low-pass Whole Genome Sequencing, targeted sequencing, small Whole Genome Sequencing, RNA Sequencing and Whole Exome Sequencing, and more.

MGISP-100 Sample Preparation System is a perfect adjunct to DNBSEQ-G50 to meet small and agile sequencing needs. MGISP-100 is an automated workstation specialised in high-throughput sequencing library preparation. Integrating 8-channel pipettes, MGISP-100 can automatically process samples in batches, free the lab technician from time-consuming repetitive procedures, increase the stability of library preparation, and reduce the total operational costs, which significantly enhances the overall efficiency in the laboratory.

Throughout the COVID pandemic, GNOMIX has expanded its client base and gained strong foothold in the national sequencing arena with initial outreach to international markets. "DNBSEQ-50* has just the right starting scale for small experiments for the start-up stage." Dr. Grist said, "As we expand our business into the next stage, we are also looking at acquiring a DNBSEQ-G400 instrument*."

Empowered by the proprietary technology DNBSEQ™, MGI provides a suite of genetic sequencers ranging from small and medium, high and ultra-high throughput to suit different sequencing applications, including DNBSEQ-G50*, DNBSEQ-G99*, DNBSEQ-G400*, DNBSEQ-T7*, DNBSEQ-T20×2RS* and more.

Australia is a well-established player in the global medical genetics field and is recognised a global and regional hub for biomedical innovation. Sharing the MGI's vision of enabling people to live better and healthier lives, GNOMIX is committed to contributing to the development of precision health in Australia and internationally.

However, the current industry bottleneck remains that many innovative biomedical research organisations and biotech companies do not have the access to the resources or capabilities to support their research and development.

"I think the industry needs to move away from the tendency towards large facilities. Large facilities have evolved for economic purposes, but they have been quite poor at providing timely services." Dr. Grist said, "My view is that we need to democratise genomics services. What I mean by that is that we need them to be more broadly based and more accessible."