BGI Forms Partnership with GENNET for Non-invasive Fetal Trisomy Test

-Aiming to significantly improve reproductive health in Czech and Slovak Republics-

Copenhagen, Denmark, and Shenzhen, China – BGI, the world’s largest genomics organization, and GENNET, a center for genetics, fetal medicine and assisted reproduction, jointly announced that they have entered a collaborative agreement on non-invasive fetal trisomy (NIFTY) test with the aim to significantly improve reproductive health in Czech and Slovak Republics. The agreement was signed by Dr. Ning Li, Director of BGI Europe and Ing. Milos Andel, Executive Officer from GENNET.

Fetal chromosomal aneuploidy disease is one of the most common birth defects. Unfortunately, there is no effective method to cure this disease, but the key is to prevent by prenatal testing.  NIFTY is a blood-based aneuploidy test that analyzes fetal DNA in maternal blood to detect chromosomal Trisomy by next-generation sequencing. It is a non-invasive screening test requiring only a 5ml blood sample from pregnant women at 12 weeks or later, and it provides highly accurate and reliable prenatal test results for Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome), Trisomy 13 (Patau Syndrome), and Trisomy 18 (Edwards Syndrome).

Under the partnership, GENNET will offer the regional knowledge and distribution network. BGI will provide the genomic platform as well as sequencing and bioinformatics expertise. The combination of two organizations’ advantages will efficiently detect fetal chromosomal abnormalities in pregnant women and improve reproductive health in Czech and Slovak Republics and other European countries.

Ing. Milos Andel said, “We are looking forward to cooperate with the largest genomics center in the world. We are pleased that we will cooperate with BGI on NIFTY project which will change the future of prenatal testing. ”

Regarding this exciting partnership in Czech and Slovak Republics, Ning Li said, “We are delighted to partner with GENNET. BGI is offering NIFTY test with breakthroughs in bioinformatics analysis.  GENNET’s long experience in fetal medicine makes it a natural choice for us to cooperate here in Czech Republic. We are looking forward to having more  collaboration together on medical genomics and medical diagnostics in the near future.”

About GENNET

The GENNET was established in 2005. Dedicated, high-caliber genetics experts join forces with reputable gyneacologists, embryologists and andrologists to achieve excellence. For more information please see http://www.gennet.cz/en/

About BGI

BGI was founded in 1999 with the mission of being a premier scientific partner to the global research community. The goal of BGI is to make leading-edge genomic science highly accessible through its investment in infrastructure that leverages the best available technology, economies of scale, and expert bioinformatics resources. BGI, which includes both private non-profit genomic research institutes and sequencing application commercial units, and its affiliates, BGI Americas, headquartered in Cambridge, MA, and BGI Europe, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, have established partnerships and collaborations with leading academic and government research institutions as well as global biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, supporting a variety of disease, agricultural, environmental, and related applications.

BGI has established a proven track record of excellence, delivering results with high efficiency and accuracy for innovative, high-profile research which has generated over 250 publications in top-tier journals such as Nature and Science. These accomplishments include sequencing one percent of the human genome for the International Human Genome Project, contributing 10 percent to the International Human HapMap Project, carrying out research to combat SARS and German deadly E. coli, playing a key role in the Sino-British Chicken Genome Project, and completing the sequence of the rice genome, the silkworm genome, the first Asian diploid genome, the potato genome, and, most recently, have sequenced the human Gut metagenome, and a significant proportion of the genomes for 1,000 genomes. For more information about BGI please visit www.genomics.cn or www.bgiamericas.com.

Contacts:

Catherine Wen Gao
Marketing Communication Manager
BGI Europe
+45 8173 0147
[email protected]

Lucie Benešová
Marketing Manager
GENNET Lab, s.r.o.
Na Poříčí 26, 110 00 Praha 1
Mob.: +420 724 947 005
www.gennet.cz