Inqaba Biotec and UNISA Launch Africa’s First PacBio Revio DNA Sequencing Platform.

Inqaba Biotec, in partnership with the University of South Africa (UNISA), is thrilled to announce the acquisition of Africa’s first PacBio Revio sequencing platform. This groundbreaking development marks a significant milestone in the continent’s genomic research capabilities.

The state-of-the-art PacBio Revio system is being acquired through a collaborative partnership between Inqaba Biotec and UNISA, the capital cost of which is being jointly shared by the two partners. The Revio will be located at Inqaba Biotec’s facilities in Pretoria and jointly operated with UNISA. This partnership underscores a mutual commitment to advancing scientific research and providing cost effective access to cutting-edge sequencing technologies.

Inqaba Biotec has started to offer next generation sequencing (NGS) services to the wider community on both the PacBio Revio and the PacBio Onso system (independently acquired by Inqaba Biotec). It is worth noting, Inqaba Biotec has more than 17 years of experience in the NGS space having used the PacBio Sequel IIe itself for over 3 years.

The Revio and Onso systems are PacBio’s latest and most technologically advanced sequencers to date, both offering unique advantages over the many other NGS sequencers currently available on the market.

The Revio system, with its 25M SMRT cell sees a 3x boost in its per SMRT cell output, as well as a 15x boost in the overall run output as we are now able to run 4 SMRT cells simultaneously. Coupled with the shorter run times of 24 hours, we will now be able to sequence in the region of 1300 human sized genomes per year. Furthermore, customers will be pleased to know that HiFi data costs have more than halved.

The Onso system on the other hand, is a short-read system allowing us to produce data in the typical paired-end and single-end formats clients are accustomed to. However, the major and most exciting difference is its exceptional data quality.

The Onso system quality footprint of >90% Q40+ data, means customers need up to 4-fold less data to achieve the same sensitivity as compared to regular SBS based sequencing technologies. And yes, data cost has significantly improved as well.

Dr Oliver Preisig, executive director of Inqaba Biotechnical Industries (Pty) Ltd trading as Inqaba Biotec states: “Inqaba Biotec is eager to have the data from our Revio (and Onso) systems in the hands of our African life scientists and we are confident that both systems will drive research and development in the academic and personalized genomics spheres in Africa and globally.”

PacBio’s VP and General Manager of EMEA, Neil Ward, also comments:

“PacBio are delighted that the Onso and Revio platforms are now available to researchers in Africa. We’ve had a long-standing and successful partnership with Inqaba Biotec and we are excited to see how these new technologies will help drive further understanding of the diversity of African genomes. The African BioGenome Project has bold aims, and we’re proud that the long and accurate, HiFi sequencing data will be foundational for the generation of new reference genomes and transcriptomes for many African species. The Onso system will also allow researchers to perform a wide range of NGS experiments with a new level of accuracy. African researchers now have access to the latest long and short-read sequencing systems, and we can’t wait to see what they discover next.”

In addition, here is what some of our esteemed colleagues have to say in response…

“The decision to partner with Inqaba Biotec in the purchase and operation of the PacBio Revio third generation long read DNA sequencing system is a strategic one for UNISA, in line with our niche Area in Biotechnology. It is critical that such systems are placed in high throughput environments, where they can be fully utilised by skilled application specialists, to ensure the highest data quality and the most cost-efficient operation. This public-private partnership will achieve that aim to the benefit of Inqaba Biotec, UNISA and the wider genomics community.” Said Prof. Ntanganedzeni Mapholi, the Deputy Executive Dean at the UNISA College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, who has been leading the partnership process for UNISA. She goes on to note that, “The system will ensure we are able to meet the aims of the Africa BioGenome Project, and other related genomic initiatives, through the development of the latest generation of de novo reference genome assemblies.”

Also commenting on this development was Prof. Anne Muigai, Deputy Vice Chancellor, National Defence University-Kenya, and Chairperson of the AfricaBP and Dr ThankGod Echezona Ebenezer, Founder of the AfricaBP (https://africanbiogenome.org/). Here is what they had to say:

“One of the barriers in genomics and bioinformatics in Africa has been a lack of access to the latest technologies and products. We in the African BioGenome Project (AfricaBP) are therefore delighted and excited to learn that Inqaba Biotec and UNISA have co-invested in the very latest Long Read Sequencing platforms available – the PacBio Revio. This means that rapid sequencing is possible right on the continent and will no doubt have a huge impact on enabling AfricaBP sequence 100,000 genomes in the shortest time possible. Congratulations to Inqaba Biotec and UNISA on this significant and huge development.”, said Prof. Anne Muigai.

“Inqaba Biotec and the University of South Africa (UNISA) are strong partners of AfricaBP, including opening their scientific facilities to African scientists and making its equipment accessible in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa and investing in locally led genomics science respectively. I am particularly proud and impressed to see this partnership underway, and this is a testament to the role of the AfricaBP in providing the ecosystem for more partnerships in African biodiversity genomics science. The acquisition of the PacBio Revio and Onso by Inqaba Biotec and UNISA further encourages AfricaBP to use such genomic infrastructure, especially to increase yield, obtain high-quality genomic data, and carry out short- and long- read sequencing in the same genomic facility”, Dr ThankGod Echezona Ebenezer, Founder and Co-Chair, African BioGenome Project, former Bioinformatician at the University of Cambridge, UK, and an Independent Contractor for the Wellcome Trust, UK.

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