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Identify and quantify adventitious agents present in your sample

The safety of vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, cell and gene therapy products and other biologically-derived products is strictly regulated and required for a product release. Specific in-vivo and in-vitro assays are utilized to assess the purity of biologics. However, performing numerous tests on each product requiring clearance is laborious, lengthy and expensive.

Implementing Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) within your safety testing programme offers unparalleled specificity, reliability, accuracy and speed. NGS is a unique, unbiased approach that detects both known and unknown contaminants. It is unmatched by conventionally applied methods. Notably, detection of adventitious agents with NGS is encouraged by the World Health Organization (WHO), European Pharmacopeia (Ph. Eur.) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

With our proprietary sample preparation, combined with tailored sequencing and bioinformatics solutions, we enhance your quality control throughout the entire manufacturing process. Our assays are compatible with a wide range of products (raw materials, ancillary reagents, virus seeds, cell substrates, cell banks, pre-production cells, pre-filtered harvest, post-production cells, control cells, post-filtered harvest and final product), and have the capacity to identify a contamination of any origin, whether it is viral, bacterial or fungal.

Mirjam Rademaker Detection of adventitious agents

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Our solutions

Comprehensive Viral Panel

A hybridization-based target enrichment solution that is capable of detecting > 3,000 different viruses, including > 15,000 viral strains in a single reaction

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Viral Metagenomics

Detect and characterize the diversity and abundance of viruses, including those that may be previously unknown, with an agnostic approach

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Comprehensive viral panel

Use of biologically-derived material in biomanufacturing carries significant risk of viral contamination. Viruses can infect and replicate within living cells, potentially contaminating the final product and rendering it unsafe for use. Viral clearance is, therefore, a crucial step in biomanufacturing pipeline.

NGS offers an unparalleled level of sensitivity and accuracy for detecting and identifying viruses, making it an essential tool for biomanufacturers seeking to maximize the safety and efficacy of their products.

Our Comprehensive Viral Panel, a hybridization-based target enrichment solution, is capable of detecting > 3,000 different viruses, including > 15,000 viral strains in a single reaction. Our proprietary workflow can detect viruses of all genome types: single-stranded RNA, double-stranded RNA, single-stranded DNA, and double-stranded DNA.

Twist workflow final 01 Detection of adventitious agents

Certified as a Twist NGS ProLab

NGS prolab thumbnail Detection of adventitious agents

Technical leaflets

Are you curious about clinical diagnostics and pharma / biotech applications of our Comprehensive Viral Panel? Download our technical leaflets that not only summarize key benefits of using NGS but also provides validation data on sensitivity and specificity.

GenomeScan has completed a service validation and acquired Twist NGS ProLab certification. A Twist NGS ProLab offers you a reliable option for your lab to evaluate and incorporate new NGS workflows or enable scaling with larger or more complex sequencing studies. As a Twist NGS ProLab, GenomeScan is certified and fully supported to run Twist Target Enrichment and Library preparation solutions, giving you confidence in obtaining high-quality sequencing data so you can focus on your research.

Request a full list of viruses detected by our Comprehensive Viral Panel here.

Apart from our validated workflow, please also note the disclaimer applicable to Twist products – “For research use only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.”

Clinical diagnostics applications

Pharma / biotech applications

Viral metagenomics

In contrast to targeted approaches, direct viral metagenomics solution involves extracting and sequencing genetic material (either DNA, RNA) or both from the sample, which is then analyzed using our proprietary bioinformatic tools to identify and classify viral sequences. The goal is to detect and characterize the diversity and abundance of viruses, including those that may be previously unknown. This technique is “agnostic” because it does not require prior knowledge of the viral genomes that may be present in the sample. It is, thus, particularly useful in identifying novel strains.

Are you curious how our metagenomics pipeline performs compared to several commonly used bioinformatics workflows? Download our benchmark report!

Benchmark report

03.2015 Flowcell image in NextSeq 500 Detection of adventitious agents

Key benefits

Our NGS-based solutions for detection of adventitious agents:

  • replace multiple tests with a single, comprehensive assay
  • de-risk and accelerate your manufacturing processes
  • improve sensitivity and accuracy of your biosafety testing
  • reduce costs
detection of adventitious agents service specification Detection of adventitious agents

Service specifications

We have summarized key information about our detection of adventitious agents service into a service specification sheet.

Download sheet

Let's get the conversation started for your next NGS project

Let us help you to design and implement a comprehensive detection of adventitious agents programme tailored to your specific requirements. Please fill out the form below or email us directly at geneticQC@genomescan.nl and we will get in touch with you to discuss your requirements.