PacBio and Twist Bioscience launch the first targeted enrichment combinations for HiFi sequencing

MENLO PARK and SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.
, October 19, 2022 – PacBio (NASDAQ: PACB) is a leading developer
of high-quality, high-accuracy sequencing solutions.
Twist Bioscience is a company
that leverages its silicon-based platform to deliver high-quality synthetic DNA to help customers succeed.
The companies today announced the launch of the first off-the-shelf long-read gene panels
.
These fixed Twist consortium combinations are designed to cost-effectively capture target areas
in a high-throughput manner.
Customers can also develop fully customizable and scalable combinations of their own design for sequencing
via PacBio HiFi reads.

Christian Henry, President and CEO of PacBio, said, "Our customers are always looking for a way to focus on long-read experiments and maximize throughput
.
Through this partnership with Twist, we have developed products that are available from scratch and which we believe already have this capability
.
This collaboration helps us quickly deliver new solutions to our customers and advance our mission to deliver on our promise to
improve human health through genomics.
" ”

Dr.
Emily M.
Leproust, CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience, said: "These combinations, developed in collaboration with PacBio, allow customers to sequence parts of the genome, helping researchers explore the role of genetics in drug responses and discover hard-to-read regions such as 'dark matter genes' and genes
associated with neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases 。 Providing scientists with NGS tools that allow them to conduct further research and better understand the role of certain genes in disease could one day translate into breakthroughs
in patient treatment.
Although these are long-read combinations, the Twist Alliance portfolio was developed in collaboration with experts in various fields and is compatible
with any sequencing technology.
”

PacBio and Twist have collaborated with researchers at several leading institutions to develop two consortium combinations
.
One combination covers nearly 400 challenging medically relevant genes, while the other aims to capture 50 pharmacogenomic genes
.
Many challenging genes are located in so-called "dark matter regions" of the human genome, which are difficult to sequence or accurately map
with standard short-read-long sequencing techniques.
Developed in collaboration with researchers at a leading institution, the "dark matter genes" portfolio queries and detects nearly 400 difficult-to-sequence medically relevant genes, such as SMN1 and SMN2, GBA and LPA, which are associated
with spinal muscular atrophy, Alzheimer's disease and cardiovascular disease, respectively.
The pharmacogenomics portfolio contains a large amount of evidence for the implementation
of diagnostic and treatment guidelines.

In addition to the new features offered by the Long Reading Combo, PacBio has partnered with Twist to demonstrate the high level of accuracy
achievable with sequencing by binding (SBB) chemistry technology.
Essentially, SBB is good at resolving homopolymer runs and repeat regions
.
When applied to whole exome sequencing, it promises the most complete coverage of uncomplicated genes and previously difficult to sequence genes, simplifying the workflow by reducing the
need for orthogonal experiments.

About the Twist Alliance combo

In collaboration with leading research institutions around the world, Twist has curated a range of high-quality targeted enrichment combinations for applications ranging from carrier screening to cancer diagnosis and whole exome sequencing
.
The Twist Alliance portfolio combines the advantages of Twist's precise and highly homogeneous oligonucleotide synthesis with the expertise
of leading scientific partners.

These well-designed targeted enrichment panels increase the sequencing depth of the gene of interest while reducing the overall sequencing volume
.
They are able to detect the target sequence more sensitively and detect variation
with greater confidence.

About PacBio

PacBio (NASDAQ: PACB) is a leading life sciences technology company that designs, develops and manufactures advanced sequencing solutions that help scientists and clinical researchers solve complex genetic problems
.
The products and technologies we are developing stem from two highly differentiated core technologies, including the existing HiFi long-read sequencing and the emerging SBB® short-read sequencing technology, with a focus on accuracy, quality, and integrity
.
Our products provide solutions for a wide range of research applications, including human germline sequencing, animal and plant science, infectious diseases and microbiology, oncology, and other emerging applications
.
For more information, please visit www.
pacb.
com and follow @PacBio
.

PacBio's products are for research use only and are not intended for diagnostic procedures
.

About Twist Bioscience

Twist Bioscience is a leading and fast-growing synthetic biology and genomics company that has developed a disruptive DNA synthesis platform
to industrialize bioengineering.
The platform's core patented technology opens up a new way to
make synthetic DNA by "writing" DNA on a silicon chip.
Twist is leveraging its unique technology to manufacture more products based on synthetic DNA, including synthetic genes, next-generation sequencing (NGS) preparation tools, and antibody libraries
for drug discovery and development.
Twist also seeks longer-term opportunities
in the digital storage of DNA data and the exploration of biologics.
Twist manufactures products in a wide range of industries
, including healthcare, industrial chemicals, agriculture, and academic research.