Menu

Genetic testing

Achieve best-in-class accuracy and unambiguous
results on a single, scalable platform.

Connect with a PacBio scientist

Transform your clinical lab with innovative precision
and unmatched efficiency

Consolidate and streamline multiple genetic tests on a single platform. PacBio HiFi sequencing supports the development of genetic tests by providing unbiased coverage, minimizing the need for re-testing and supplemental assays when new variants are discovered, and allowing more focus on operational efficiency at scale.

HIGH-QUALITY, HIGH-EFFICIENCY, HIFI SEQUENCING ENABLES:

 

  • Consolidation of multiple assays
  • Scalable, automation friendly library prep solutions for whole genome and targeted panels
  • Methylation detection without any additional workflows
  • Complete, accurate, haplotype-phased variant calling in clinically-relevant regions of the genome
  • Discovery power for applications like rare disease diagnostics, carrier screening,  pharmacogenomics (PGx), HLA, and hereditary cancer

Null

PureTarget

Targeted native DNA sequencing at scale. Panels enabling carrier screening and neurological disease that are scalable and flexible.

Learn more

Null

Rare disease

Increase rare disease solve rates and better understand biological mechanisms of disease.

Learn more

targeted sequencing white icon

Targeted sequencing

Comprehensively sequence clinically-relevant genes of interest cost-effectively at scale.

Learn more

Null

Clinical research

Get detailed information into complex genetic regions by detecting structural variants and repeat expansions to accelerate personalized medicine in clinical research.

Learn more

Spotlight

Pre-clinical Playbook

Expand your lab’s capabilities with HiFi sequencing. Sign up for access to guidance and tips on workflow, installation and operational planning, validation considerations, and real-world examples. Download the Playbook to confidently implement HiFi sequencing in clinical research and development settings.

Sign up for access

PureTarget Carrier Panel

A curated panel of hard-to-sequence genes, built to ACMG guidance and designed to reduce the need for add-on assays. PCR-free library prep starting with as little as 1 µg of DNA delivers accurate HiFi sequencing with methylation.

Automated workflows capable of processing 100,000 samples a year on Revio + SPRQ. Batch 8 – 48 samples per run on Vega and return results fast.

Get started

PureTarget Repeat Expansion Panel

A comprehensive panel of 38 tandem repeats associated with15 spinocerebellar ataxia conditions (including SCA27B gene FGF14), Friedreich ataxia, ALS/FTD, Huntington disease, Fragile X, myotonic dystrophy and more.

PCR-free library prep starting with as little as 1 µg of DNA that delivers >100X coverage per target. Comprehensive genotyping includes repeat expansion sizing, repeat motif resolution, methylation, and mosaicism.

Get started

Spotlight

Closing the gap

Authors describe how HiFi targeted enrichment-based sequencing offers a cost-efficient and scalable approach to assess 389 medically-relevant yet challenging “dark” genes. Mahmoud M, et al. (2024) Closing the gap: solving medically-relevant genes at scale

Read more

Blog

Get more for less — Single-gene testing with HiFi sequencing

For cost-effective assay consolidation, with all the benefits of HiFi long-read sequencing, amplicon workflows can be useful for high-volume testing of clinically-relevant genes.

Learn more

Blog

Transforming complex single-gene assays

Learn how Berry Genomics adopted HiFi technology to overcome challenges of complex single-gene assays, including repeat expansions and pseudogenes. Read how they streamlined workflows and improved confidence in characterizing disorders such as thalassemia, spinal muscular atrophy, and fragile X syndrome.

Read blog

Poster

Enabling scale with automated library prep solutions

Learn more about automated protocols for DNA shearing and size selection, which remove library prep bottlenecks, improve throughput, and dramatically lower cost.

Learn more

HiFi Sequencing for Pharmacogenomics

HiFi sequencing, provides high-resolution insight into PGx loci, which include complex variants such as pseudogenes, tandem repeats, and CNVs. Compared to other technologies, long-read HiFi sequencing allows for accurate detection of structural and complex variants, direct haplotype phasing, and coverage of rare variants. With read lengths of up to 25 kb and 99.9% accuracy, HiFi sequencing enables PGx discovery and translational research to help drive personalized medicine and potentially improve patient care.

References:

  1. McInnes G, Lavertu A, Sangkuhl K, Klein TE, Whirl-Carrillo M, Altman RB. Pharmacogenetics at Scale: An Analysis of the UK Biobank. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2021 Jun;109(6):1528-1537. doi: 10.1002/cpt.2122. Epub 2020 Dec 17. PMID: 33237584; PMCID: PMC8144239.
  2. Chanfreau-Coffinier C, Hull LE, Lynch JA, DuVall SL, Damrauer SM, Cunningham FE, Voight BF, Matheny ME, Oslin DW, Icardi MS, Tuteja S. Projected Prevalence of Actionable Pharmacogenetic Variants and Level A Drugs Prescribed Among US Veterans Health Administration Pharmacy Users. JAMA Netw Open. 2019 Jun 5;2(6):e195345. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.5345. PMID: 31173123; PMCID: PMC6563578.

(Adapted from Figure 1A) Two key variants that determine *2, *3, and/or *6 alleles in NUDT15 (red boxes) could not be phased accurately with high-depth short-read NGS. In contrast, HiFi sequencing detected and phased these variants, as well as a defining *9 variant.

(Adapted from Figure 1A) Two key variants that determine *2, *3, and/or *6 alleles in NUDT15 (red boxes) could not be phased accurately with high-depth short-read NGS. In contrast, HiFi sequencing detected and phased these variants, as well as a defining *9 variant.

Spotlight

High resolution phasing of star alleles improves prediction to drug response

HiFi amplicon sequencing was used in this study to sequence and phase NUDT15 variants for accurate star (*) allele diplotyping, which is associated with response to thiopurine drugs. This included a sample that was previously mischaracterized by short-read sequencing due to phasing ambiguity, which resulted in an incorrect predicted drug response phenotype. Additionally, HiFi sequencing enabled novel star (*) allele discovery (NUDT15*1.007, *20) as well.

HiFi sequencing for pharmacogenomics in action

Highly scalable pharmacogenomic panel testing with hybrid capture and long-read sequencing

With long-read PacBio HiFi sequencing and Twist Bioscience hybrid capture technology, we describe a pre-designed PGx panel that is comprehensive and cost-efficient, allowing for scalable application to precision medicine research programs.

View poster

Enabling research in pharmacogenomics

With robust coverage of difficult-to-sequence and difficult-to map regions, combined with high accuracy variant calling and unambiguous haplotype resolution through direct phasing, HiFi sequencing is a powerful tool in PGx.

Read blog

From sample to star alleles

We demonstrate the use of the Twist Alliance Long-Read PGx panel for use with PacBio HiFi sequencing systems, with an analysis pipeline that includes primary analysis (on-instrument), bioinformatics tools for secondary and tertiary analysis, star allele calling with Pangu and PharmCAT, and interpretation and reporting with PharmCAT and custom EHR clinical decision support (CDS) (e.g. Epic Best Practice Alerts).

View poster

Sprite decoration

Explore

Did you know we have a comprehensive library of reports, papers, and videos related to genetic testing?

Explore resources

Access the full spectrum of polymorphisms across the HLA system

Highly accurate long reads — HiFi reads — with single-molecule resolution make Single Molecule, Real-Time (SMRT) sequencing technology ideal for generating unambiguous, phase-resolved imputation-free HLA typing, so that you can:

  • Span complete HLA class I genes and long amplicons of HLA class II allowing for four field HLA genotyping
  • Fully phase polymorphisms with allele specificity across SNP-poor regions of HLA genes
  • Achieve unambiguous allele-level segregation without imputation
  • Detect variants in regulatory regions within 5’ UTRs, introns, and 3’ UTRs
  • Fully characterize minor variants in polyclonal samples, such as cancer or transcripts
  • Obtain direct evidence for new HLA alleles through de novo, reference-free consensus generation

Blog

SMRT Sequencing Provides Higher-Resolution HLA Typing Associated with Improved Patient Survival Rates

In a study just published in the Journal of Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, scientists at the Anthony Nolan Research Institute demonstrated that ultra-high-resolution HLA typing performed with SMRT sequencing identified stronger matches associated with improved survival rates among patients who received hematopoietic cell transplants.

Learn more

Spotlight

Creating the gold standard for HLA reference alleles

The IPD-IMGT/HLA database has provided the community with a repository of observed HLA alleles and sequences for over 20 years. This resource is used to assign official allele designations, which have implications in clinical research and genetic testing of HLA loci. Since “long read sequencing is able to generate complete fully phased sequences for an entire HLA gene” (Barker, et al. Nucleic Acid Res (2023)), PacBio has been instrumental in the development and expansion of this critical resource.

Read more

Adapted from Figure 1 from Kishore and Petrek, Front Genet (2018).  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6210504/

Talk with an expert

If you have a question, need to check the status of an order, or are interested in purchasing an instrument, we're here to help.