Oxford Gene Technology (OGT), The Molecular Genetics Company, has launched its CytoSure™ Medical Research Exome Array at the 64th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG)

Developed with leading molecular genetics experts at Emory University, the new array is highly targeted and exon-focussed, enabling the accurate detection of medical research relevant microdeletions and microduplications. The high-density array (1x1M) contains over 4,600 hand-curated genes, which have been grouped into disease- and syndrome-specific panels. This research-validated gene content can also be customised for varying array formats (2x400K, 4x180K or 8x60K) and diseases, enabling researchers to create bespoke solutions to suit both their content and throughput requirements.

Genetic disorders are rarely caused by an isolated mutation within a single gene, and one or many genes can contribute to one or multiple disorders. It is therefore vital to assess many different genes in order to gain a true picture of the underlying genetic landscape. OGT’s new array meets the needs of the medical research community by providing coverage of hand-curated, medically relevant genes on one array, enabling the detection of single or multiple exonic copy number variations (CNVs). As such, the array is an ideal complement to other genomic technologies, such as next generation sequencing (NGS), to provide accurate analysis of the full mutation spectrum. James Clough, Executive Vice President Commercial at OGT, said: “The new CytoSure Medical Research Exome Array is the latest addition to OGT’s portfolio and is another example of our commitment to providing high-quality and reliable tools to advance and improve research. The hand-curated, customisable and research-validated gene content, was made possible through OGT’s much-valued collaboration with leading molecular genetics experts at Emory University.”

At ASHG, OGT invitied delegates to a workshop titled ‘Arrays and NGS — High Resolution Analysis of the Medical Exome’ Speakers included Professor of Human Genetics, Madhuri Hegde, Executive Director at Emory Genetics Laboratory and Dr Mike Evans, Chief Executive, OGT. Attendees of the workshop learnt about the development of OGT’s new CytoSure Medical Research Exome Array and how this technology is being used to complement NGS and Sanger sequencing for the accurate detection of point mutations and single exon copy number aberrations.

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