Ann Arbor, MI

Daicel Arbor Biosciences, a division of Chiral Technologies, Inc and worldwide leader in next generation sequencing (NGS) target enrichment, is joining the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC) as a sponsoring partner.

The IWGSC is an international, collaborative consortium of wheat growers, plant scientists, and public and private breeders dedicated to the development of genomic resources for wheat scientists and breeders. These resources aim at facilitating the production of wheat varieties better adapted to environmental challenges, with higher yields, enhanced nutritional quality, and improved sustainability.

Sponsors are an essential part of the IWGSC. They participate in IWGSC-led projects and, as members of the Coordinating Committee, they help shape the IWGSC priorities, strategic plans, and activities. Jacob Enk, Ph.D., NGS R&D Manager, will represent Daicel Arbor Biosciences in the IWGSC Coordinating Committee.

“We are very pleased to have Daicel Arbor Biosciences come on board,” said Kellye Eversole, Executive Director of the IWGSC. “We have been working with the Daicel Arbor Biosciences team for a while now and they have been instrumental in providing our members and the wheat community with state-of-the-art genomic resources. Their leadership will be an invaluable addition to the IWGSC Coordinating Committee as we move forward with our activities to further build the foundation to accelerate wheat breeding.”

“We look forward to continuing what has already been a wonderfully productive relationship with the IWGSC,” said Jacob Enk. “Our aim at Arbor is to provide cost-effective scientific tools for crop breeding and genomics. Becoming a sponsoring partner of the IWGSC helps to serve that goal through providing insights on exactly what its active, well-organized research community needs to be successful.”

The IWGSC and Daicel Arbor Biosciences have had a fruitful partnership since 2018 that led to the release, in October 2019, of Daicel Arbor Biosciences’ myBaits® Expert Wheat Exome capture panel designed using the reference genome for bread wheat cv. Chinese Spring, IWGSC RefSeq v1.0, which was fully annotated and published by IWGSC members. The panel utilizes over two million probes to cover 200 megabases of high confidence exons in the genome and is compatible with both hexaploid and tetraploid cultivars of wheat. Daicel Arbor Biosciences is currently developing new iterations and expansions of the exome panel based on requirements of IWGSC members.

About Daicel Arbor Biosciences
Daicel Arbor Biosciences, a subsidiary of Chiral Technologies, Inc. (part of Daicel Corporation), is a development and manufacturing company founded by scientists to serve our peers in molecular biology applications. We are a passionate organization of scientists determined to deliver cost-effective, user-friendly products to researchers of genetics and synthetic biology. The team at Daicel Arbor Biosciences prides themselves on providing exceptional customer service and timely technical support to new or advanced users on our array of products. We routinely collaborate with our customers and research partners to develop innovative solutions to address their unique applications. For more information, visit http://www.arborbiosci.com/ and follow Daicel Arbor Biosciences on Twitter (@ArborBio).

About the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium
The IWGSC, with 2,400 members in 70 countries, is an international, collaborative consortium, established in 2005 by a group of wheat growers, plant scientists, and public and private breeders. The goal of the IWGSC is to make a high-quality genome sequence of bread wheat publicly available, in order to lay a foundation for basic research that will enable breeders to develop improved varieties. The IWGSC is a U.S. 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. www.wheatgenome.org

For more information, contact:
Isabelle Caugant
Communications Director
International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium
communications@wheatgenome.org

Ann Arbor, MI

– Swift Biosciences and Daicel Arbor Biosciences, a division of Chiral Technologies, jointly announced a partnership to offer a complete workflow for RNA-Seq library preparation and targeted enrichment of the SARS-CoV-2 genome. An enabling offering for epidemiological research and public health surveillance, the partnership leverages Swift’s patented Adaptase® technology within the Swift RNA Library Kits combined with myBaits technology from Daicel Arbor Biosciences for hybridization-based target enrichment of the virus for whole genome sequencing.

“We are very pleased to partner with our local colleagues in Ann Arbor, to synergize Swift’s library prep technology with Arbor’s myBaits capture technology”, said Drew McUsic, Ph.D., Swift’s Director of Product Management. “As research and public health labs continue to study mutation profiles of the virus across thousands of collected specimens, our collaboration puts a high performing NGS workflow in their hands to efficiently prepare samples for analysis, even when heavily degraded or otherwise incompatible with PCR-based approaches.”

Hybridization-based target enrichment can retrieve target sequences that have significant genomic rearrangements or mutations relative to the reference used for probe or primer design. This allows the Swift and Arbor workflow to be robust to structural nucleotide variants segregating within the SARS-CoV-2 population.

“We have been providing the SARS-CoV-2 panel free of charge to research labs studying the evolution of the novel coronavirus and are excited to partner with Swift Biosciences on this effort,” stated Alison Devault, Director of Genomics at Daicel Arbor Biosciences. “Detection of viral mutations is heavily reliant on sample preparation prior to sequencing and Swift’s RNA library prep meets the sensitivity required for this virus.”

The two companies’ combined product offering includes modules for RNA fragmentation and reverse transcription, library preparation and amplification, indexed adapters, capture probes, blockers, and wash buffers for SARS-CoV-2 enrichment. No ribosomal RNA depletion or other enrichment or depletion steps are required. Customers in North America may purchase the full set of reagents directly from either Swift or from Daicel Arbor Biosciences.

About Swift Biosciences

Swift Biosciences, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, develops enabling technologies for genomics, translational and clinical research. Swift’s technologies expand the range of sample inputs to broaden applications of next-generation sequencing (NGS). The company has developed unique intellectual property (IP) to enhance adapter ligation to both single and double-stranded DNA, improve multiplexed PCR for targeted sequencing, and enable novel solutions for NGS workflows. Swift’s new RNA Library Kits are the fastest on the market and powered by Swift’s Adaptase® technology, which allows stranded RNA library construction directly from first-strand cDNA.

Swift’s portfolio enables new applications in multiple industries, including agrigenomics, pharmaceutical, academic, biotechnology, and oncology research fields. All products are for research use only. For more information, visit and follow Swift Biosciences on Twitter (@SwiftBioSci).

About Daicel Arbor Biosciences

Daicel Arbor Biosciences, a subsidiary of Chiral Technologies, Inc. (part of Daicel Corporation), is a development and manufacturing company founded by scientists to serve our peers in molecular biology applications. We are a passionate organization of scientists determined to deliver cost-effective, user-friendly products to researchers of genetics and synthetic biology. The team at Daicel Arbor Biosciences prides themselves on providing exceptional customer service and timely technical support to new or advanced users on our array of products. We routinely collaborate with our customers and research partners to develop innovative solutions to address their unique applications. For more information, visit http://www.arborbiosci.com/ and follow Daicel Arbor Biosciences on Twitter (@ArborBio).

Download a pdf of the press release.

For more information on Daicel Arbor Biosciences, contact:

Michele Gentile

Daicel Arbor Biosciences

For more information, contact:

Camille Cappello
Swift Biosciences
cappello@swiftbio.com