Clear Labs Launches Microbial Surveillance Whole Genome Sequencing Solution

News Image

Clear Labs, a leader in next-generation sequencing automation workflow solutions, announces the launch of the Clear Dx™ Microbial Surveillance WGS, a fully-automated, end-to-end whole genome sequencing (WGS) solution for bacterial and fungal isolates. This groundbreaking application sets a new standard for speed, efficiency and simplicity in pathogen characterization.

Clinicians and public health professionals rely on genomic data to identify and manage outbreaks and antimicrobial resistance, but the existing methods are labor-intensive and time-consuming, hampering effective action. With Clear Dx™ Microbial Surveillance WGS, Clear Labs helps labs address this challenge by providing a turnkey solution that automates the entire WGS process for up to 12 microbial isolates in just 27 hours. This represents a substantial time reduction compared to traditional manual workflows, and the new Clear Labs product requires only minutes of hands-on time.

“Clear Labs is dedicated to empowering our customers with the tools they need to identify and combat pathogens in their communities and institutions,” stated Sasan Amini, Ph.D, Co-Founder and CEO of Clear Labs. “Microbial Surveillance WGS enables near real-time outbreak identification, as opposed to days or weeks later. This could translate into faster intervention, fewer illnesses, better patient outcomes, and reduced economic burden.”

Laboratories contribute to federally funded sequencing initiatives that require strict submission and acceptance criteria. Clear Labs’ technology aligns seamlessly with these initiatives, conforming to existing standards and facilitating a smooth transition from a manual workflow to a fully automated workflow. Amini commented, “Proper funding and advanced technology can help clinicians and public health authorities effectively combat emerging infections. Microbial infections affect millions of people annually and cost the country billions of dollars each year. By filling a critical gap in the equation, we believe our solution can make a substantial impact.”

The Nebraska Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) has been a long-term collaborator of Clear Labs on the Clear Dx™ System and was excited to help validate the new Microbial Surveillance WGS solution. “Staff at the Nebraska laboratory welcomed the opportunity to work with Clear Labs early in the pandemic and was very interested in expanding the collaboration to include a fully automated workflow for bacterial WGS,“ expressed Dr. Pete Iwen, Director of the NPHL. “The rapid time to result and ease of use enables our lab to get more sequencing done much faster, which provides our stakeholders with actionable information that positively impacts public health.”

Clear Labs’ Microbial Surveillance WGS represents a significant advancement in the field of pathogen characterization, offering unparalleled speed, automation, and accuracy. With this groundbreaking solution, Clear Labs continues to redefine the landscape of whole genome sequencing and empower laboratories to safeguard health more efficiently than ever before.

The Clear Dx™ Microbial Surveillance WGS solution provides:


  • Sample-to-answer, End-to-end Automation: Eliminate manual handling and time-consuming processes. With Clear Dx™, labs benefit from fully-automated library preparation and management, including cDNA synthesis, target amplification, indexing, and nucleic acid clean-up. This automation ensures greater accuracy and consistency in sample processing.
  • Simplified WGS Workflow: Clear Dx™ simplifies the entire whole genome sequencing workflow, minimizing hands-on time to    about 30 minutes. Unlike existing manual WGS workflows that require several dozen touch points, Clear Dx™ requires one touch point and significantly reduces the complexity and manual intervention, enabling operators to perform whole genome sequencing with minimal training required.
  • Faster Results: Time is of the essence, and Clear Dx™ delivers. With Clear Dx™ technology, labs can expect faster results, with a turnaround time of just a single day compared to the several days (sometimes weeks) required by traditional methods. Rapid sequencing enables you to obtain critical genomic data quickly, empowering timely decision-making.
  • Improved Consistency and Accuracy: Clear Dx™ automation eliminates human variability and ensures uniformity throughout the sequencing process, leading to reliable and reproducible results.
  • Decreased Labor Costs and Increased Lab Productivity: Clear Dx™ optimizes a lab’s efficiency by reducing manual labor and reducing time required for repetitive tasks.

Whole genome sequencing of pathogenic isolates has many applications in a broad range of settings, including hospital labs, public health labs, and commercial laboratories: “A rapid, fully automated whole genome sequencing platform can help epidemiologists, infection control specialists, microbiologists to more quickly identify antimicrobial resistant organisms and understand if they have an outbreak on their hands,” said Amini. “We believe hospitals can save money, avoid penalties, and improve patient outcomes with this technology.”

Additionally, Clear Labs aims to aid the battle against antimicrobial resistance, another major initiative within the clinical and public health communities. “The identification of antimicrobial resistance signatures is critical to understanding how these organisms are evolving, exchanging genetic information, and informs our use and development of antibiotics, which are becoming increasingly less effective,” said Amini. “Our platform can deliver those insights much more quickly and more importantly in an actionable timeframe.”

For more information about Clear Dx and Microbial Surveillance WGS, please contact sales@clearlabs.com.

About Clear Labs

Clear Labs harnesses the power of next-generation sequencing (NGS) to simplify complex diagnostics for clinical and applied markets. By creating the only fully-automated platform that brings together DNA sequencing, robotics and cloud-based analytics, Clear Labs democratizes genomics applications to deliver increased clarity. Clear Labs’ turnkey platform accelerates outcomes and improves accuracy. With a novel approach, Clear Labs is helping the world better understand, track and mitigate tomorrow’s novel pathogens. For more information, visit www.clearlabs.com/.

Share article on social media or email:

Read more here: Source link